And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of {f} Anak, were. (Now {g} Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

(f) Which were a type of giant.

(g) Declaring the antiquity of it: also Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Jacob were buried there.

Wesley's Notes

13:22 By the south - Moses having described their progress from south to north, more particularly relates some memorable places and passages. They came - Heb. He came, namely, Caleb, as appears from Jos 14:9,12,14. For the spies distributed their work among them, and went either severally, or by pairs; and it seems the survey of this part was left to Caleb. Anak - A famous giant, whole children these are called, either more generally, as all giants sometimes were, or rather more specially because Arbah, from whom Hebron was called Kiriath - arbah, was the father of Anak, Jos 15:13. And this circumstance is mentioned as an evidence of the goodness of that land, because the giants chose it for their habitation. Before Zoan - This seems to be noted to confront the Egyptians, who vainly boasted of the antiquity of their city Zoan above all places.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

22. unto Hebron-situated in the heart of the mountains of Judah, in the southern extremity of Palestine. The town or "cities of Hebron," as it is expressed in the Hebrew, consists of a number of sheikdoms distinct from each other, standing at the foot of one of those hills that form a bowl round and enclose it. "The children of Anak" mentioned in this verse seem to have been also chiefs of townships; and this coincidence of polity, existing in ages so distant from each other, is remarkable [Vere Monro]. Hebron (Kirjath Arba, Ge 23:2) was one of the oldest cities in the world.

Zoan-(the Tanis of the Greeks) was situated on one of the eastern branches of the Nile, near the lake Menzala, and was the early royal residence of the Pharaohs. It boasted a higher antiquity than any other city in Egypt. Its name, which signifies flat and level, is descriptive of its situation in the low grounds of the Delta.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:21-25 The searchers of the land brought a bunch of grapes with them, and other fruits, as proofs of the goodness of the country; which was to Israel both the earnest and the specimen of all the fruits of Canaan. Such are the present comforts we have in communion with God, foretastes of the fulness of joy we expect in the heavenly Canaan. We may see by them what heaven is.