ויבא עד חברון כלב לבדו הלך שם ונשתטח על קברי האבות שלא יהא ניסת לחבריו וכו׳ כך פירש״י, והטעם לפי שלא בקש משה עליו רחמים כמו שעשה על יהושע. ד״א ויבא עד חברון דרך הפסוק לקרא לכמה מרגלים ואורבים לשון יחיד כדכתיב והאורב קם ממקומו. ויבא עד חברון, “he came as far as Chevron;” we have a sudden switch from the plural mode to the singular mode, which raises the question of who it was that the Torah speaks of in this verse. Our sages understand this to be a reference to Caleb whom they credit with the urge to pay his respects to the graves of the patriarchs and his desire to get moral support against the negative attitude of most of his companions. This is Rashi’s interpretation. He felt the need to do this as Moses had not prayed for him especially, as he had done for his colleague Joshua. An alternate interpretation of the line: “he came to Chevron:” it is customary for the Torah to apply the singular mode even when speaking about a number of spies or members of an ambush, as we know from Joshua 8,19 where we read: והאורב קם ממקומו, “and the ambush (the men comprising it) arose from where it had been hiding.”
ושם אחימן לפי שעתידין לומר וגם ילידי הענק ראינו שם מפרש לך הכתוב היכן ראום. ושם אחימן, the Torah mentions this giant by name as the spies later on in their report refer to descendants of a race of giants whom they had encountered, i.e. in verse 28, where we read: “we also saw a race of giants there.” The Torah wanted us to know where precisely the spies had come face to face with such people. (B’chor shor)[All this is part of the peculiar fact that although the spies reported faithfully what they had seen and where, they drew the wrong conclusions from their observations. Ed.]
וחברון שבע שנים נבנתה לפני צען מצרים ועדיין לא מתו הנפילים שהיו שם מימים קדמונים והכתוב בא להכחיש המרגלים שעתידים לומר ארץ אוכלת יושביה היא. וחברון שבע שנים נבנתה לפני צוען מצרים, “and the town Chevron had been built seven years earlier than the capital of Egypt, Tzoan.” The race of giants had not yet died out, as they had survived from earlier generations. The reason why this is of importance is to tell us that the conclusion drawn by the spies that the land of Canaan “consumes its inhabitants,” (verse 32) was contradicted by what they themselves reported as having seen.
לפני צען מצרים פירש לך הכתוב חשיבות א״י על חשיבות ארץ מצרים לפי שיצאו ממנה והיו בקיאים בה ומכירין בטובתה וחשיבותה. לפני צוען מצרים, “prior to Tzoan in Egypt.” The Torah reminds you of the importance of the land of Canaan, compared to the land of Egypt before they had emigrated from it. The spies had been aware of these historical facts, [and they should have concluded from this that the land of Canaan certainly does not “consume its inhabitants.” Ed.].