13:22 When they went up through the Negev, they19 came20 to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai,21 descendants of Anak, were living. (Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan22 in Egypt.)
tc The MT has the singular, but the ancient versions and Smr have the plural.
20
tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the following clause. The first verse gave the account of their journey over the whole land; this section focuses on what happened in the area of Hebron, which would be the basis for the false report.
21
sn These names are thought to be three clans that were in the Hebron area (see Josh 15:14; Judg 1:20). To call them descendants of Anak is usually taken to mean that they were large or tall people (2 Sam 21:18–22). They were ultimately driven out by Caleb.
22
sn The text now provides a brief historical aside for the readers. Zoan was probably the city of Tanis, although that is disputed today by some scholars. It was known in Egypt in the New Kingdom as “the fields of Tanis,” which corresponded to the “fields of Zoar” in the Hebrew Bible (Ps 78:12, 43).