BSN: The Canaanites

  • There is a separate article on the land of Canaan.
  • Canaan the man was the son of Ham (Gen 9:18; 10:6) who was second of the three sons of Noah.
  • The sons of Canaan are listed in Gen 10:15-20.
  • Esau married two Hittite women (Gen 26:34-35). The Hittites were descended from Heth (Gen 27:46), who was descended from Canaan (Gen 28:1; see also Gen 10:15 and Gen 36:2)
  • The term “Canaanites” is used in both a general and specific sense in the Bible. This passage is using the term in a specific sense – that is, they are one of the peoples living in the land called Canaan. In other passages, it may be used in a general sense – that is, referring to any and all of the nations living in Canaan. In somewhat similar fashion, the term “Americans” can be narrowly applied to the citizens of this country, but the term could also applied to the citizens of Canada, Chile, and of every country in between the two.
  • People explicitly identified as descendants of Canaan:
    • Canaanites – by their name
    • Sidonians (sons of Sidon) – Gen 10:15
    • Hittites (sons of Heth) – Gen 10:15; Gen 26:34-35; 27:46; 28:1; 36:2
    • Jebusites – Gen 10:16
    • Amorites – Gen 10:16
    • Girgashites – Gen 10:16
    • Hivites – Gen 10:17
    • Arkites – Gen 10:17
    • Sinites – Gen 10:17
    • Arvadites – Gen 10:18
    • Zemarites – Gen 10:18
    • Hamathites – Gen 10:18
  • The Canaanites were listed with other peoples in Ex 3:8, 17; 13:5; Dt 7:1-2 and elsewhere. When they are listed with other peoples, it is almost always with Canaanite peoples from the list above.
  • The Perizzites are the one exception to this rule. That is, they are often included in a list of these nations but they are the only one whose ancestry cannot be biblically connected to Canaan. On several occasions they are mentioned just in tandem with the Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30; Judg 1:4-5). There is a Hebrew word that means “rural person” which may have reference to this group. Thus the Perizzites represent a group that was Canaanite by virtue of where it lived, even if not by virtue of bloodline.

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