And thus do you find with Sancheriv, that when he came to entice Israel, what did he say to them? (II Kings 18:32) "… until I come and take you to a land like your land." It is not written "to a land more beautiful than your land," but "to a land like your land!"
R. Shimon b. Yochai says: He was a fool, who did not know how to entice. He may be compared to a man who went to marry a woman and said to her: "Your father is a king, and I am a king, your father is wealthy and I am wealthy, your father feeds you flesh and fish and gives you old wine to drink, and I, etc." This is not enticement! How does one entice? He says to him: "Your father is a commoner and I am a king, your father is poor and I am rich, your father feeds you greens and beans, and I will feed you flesh and fish, your father leads you to the bath-house on foot, and I will take you there in a sedan-chair." Now if one (Nevuchadnezzar) who desired to speak in praise of his land did not speak demeaningly of Eretz Yisrael, how much more so should one who desires to speak in praise of Eretz Yisrael (take care not to be stinting in his praise!) And it is written (Joshua 20:7) "Kiryat Arba (lit., "the city of the four") — this is Chevron." (It was so called) because four kings contended over it, each one saying "Let it be called by my name!" Now does this not follow a fortiori, viz.: If four kings contended thus over the "refuse" of Eretz Yisrael, how much more so is Eretz Yisrael (itself) to be lauded!