והכנעני אז בארץ. פירש"י שהיה הולך וכובש מזרעו של שם שהארץ בחלקו של שם נפלה כשחלק נח לבניו הארץ. ותימה דבפרשת שלח לך פירש"י על קרא דוחברון שבע שנים נבנתה דמצרים נתן לבנו הגדול אלא שהיתה מבונה מכל טוב על אחת משבעה בצוען וכן מסיק בסוטה פרק ואלו נאמרין אלמא משמע דחברון שהיא מארץ ישראל נפלה בחלקו של חם. וי"ל דפלוגתא היא שהרי בת"כ מסיק מפני מה זכו הכנעניים לישב בארצם מ"ז שנה יותר מן המצריים כיצד ז' שנבנית חברון קודם צוען מצרים וארבעים שנה שישבו ישראל במדבר לאחר שחרבה מצרים לפי שבררו חלק לאברהם הצדיק ואמרו לו נשיא אלהים אתה בתוכנו: והכנעני אז בארץ, “and the Canaanites were in the land at that time.” Rashi interprets these words as meaning that at that period the Canaanites were in the process of capturing that land from the descendants of Shem whose king had ruled there in Jerusalem, then known as Shalem. It had been allocated to him by his father Noach. The difficulty with Rashi’s interpretation is that Rashi, when commenting on Hebron in Numbers 13,22, states that Hebron had been founded seven years earlier that Tzoan of Egypt. We know Cham had given that city (Chevron) to his oldest son [Kush and Mitzrayim having been twins? Compare table in Chronicles of Mossad Harav Kook Ed.]. It follows that Canaanites must have been in that land already long before Avraham came to it. This is also the conclusion in the Talmud, tractate Sotah folio 34. We must therefore assume that the details of this subject are the subject of a disagreement of the sages, and that Rashi was forced to side with one side, and chose this without mentioning that there is another opinion. [In the commentary of Haketav vehakabalah by Rabbi Mecklenburg, translated by this editor, the word שבעה in Numbers 13,22, is not understood as a number but as a reference to something superior, and the observation that fathers often treat younger sons with more affection than they have for the firstborn. According to the Bible, Canaan was Cham’s youngest son; (although that raises the question why Noach cursed him, instead of Cham’s eldest son) Ed. It is interesting that the Canaanites were allowed to exist without retribution by G–d for 47 years longer than the Egyptians, 7 years although they had been founded sooner, and 40 years because the first generation of Israelites had forfeited their right to inherit the land of Canaan as the result of the spies having badmouthed the land claiming that it devoured its inhabitants, and anyway could not be conquered by them. They were granted this extension because they agreed to have Avraham’s wife Sarah buried in Chevron.