Why Only Caleb Went to Hebron and the Giants of Kiriath-arba

"They went up into the Negev, and he came to Hebron" (Numbers 13:22). This teaches that none went there except Caleb alone; and he went there to prostrate himself upon the graves of the fathers, and he said: Seek mercy upon me, that God, blessed be He, deliver us from the counsel of the spies. "And there were Ahiman." And why was his name called Ahiman? Because everyone who saw him thought of him as though a high mountain were falling upon him, and he would say: From where is this one who has come upon me ("ach me-ayin," whence)? "Sheshai" — for he was hard as marble (shayish). "Talmai" — why was his name called Talmai? Because he made the earth into furrows upon furrows (telamim). "The children of the giant ('Anak)." This teaches you that the Anakim are the children of the giant; and why were they called Anakim? Because they choke (me'ankim) the sun with their necks. And that place was called Kiriath-arba (City of Four) on account of the father and his three sons. "And Hebron was built seven years," etc. Now is it possible to say that Ham, who built both of them, first built a city for Canaan, who was his younger son, before he built a city for Mizraim, who was his elder son? Rather, why is it said "it was built seven years"? It teaches that it was built seven times over Zoan of Egypt. From here you learn the praise of the Land of Israel. For behold, Hebron was nothing but a burial place, and it was the lowliest of all the cities of Israel; and Zoan was the most praised of all the land of Egypt, for in it were the princes of Egypt, as it is said, "For his princes are at Zoan, and his ambassadors come to Hanes" (Isaiah 30:4). And the lowliest in the Land of Israel was more praised than the best in the land of Egypt sevenfold — all the more so for the other cities of the Land of Israel, which were far, far more praised. And there are those who explain: "seven years" literally — Hebron was built seven years before Zoan, and Scripture speaks of the praise of the Land of Israel. For behold, the one who built this also built that, and one who has two houses to build certainly builds the beautiful one first, and he places all the goodly stones in the first, and in the second he places only those remaining from the first, which are the refuse. And had Hebron not been more praised than Zoan, he would not have built it first.