Canaan (Hebrew: כְּנַעַן Kəna‘an – “submissive, topic”) was the son of Ham and grandson of Noah (Gen. 9:18). After Ham’s disrespect for Noah, the latter pronounced a curse not on Ham himself, however on his son Canaan: “cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers” (Gen. 9:25). Canaan turned the ancestor of the peoples recognized within the Bible because the Canaanites.
The Canaanites had been descendants of Canaan and the unique inhabitants of the land of Canaan, the world from Sidon to the southern borders of Gomorrah (Gen. 10:15–19). They had been divided into quite a few tribes (Hittites, Amorites, Jebusites, Perizzites, Hivites, Girgashites, and so forth.), who lived in fortified cities and and not using a frequent central ruler. Their language and names are Semitic and near Phoenician and Hebrew.
Religiously, the Canaanites had been distinguished by their developed paganism and cults of Baal, Ashtoreth, Molech, and so forth., accompanied by idolatry and severe ethical perversions. Subsequently, within the biblical perspective, they’re introduced as a individuals whose “measure of iniquity” was fulfilled (Gen. 15:16), and towards whom Israel obtained strict orders to separate and destroy (Ex. 23:32; Deut. 7:1–5). Nonetheless, the Israelites didn’t fully destroy the Canaanites; a major a part of them remained to stay amongst Israel, usually as tax collectors or topics (Judg. 1). This led to cultural and non secular mixing, idolatry, and severe penalties for Israel, particularly in the course of the period of the judges. Remnants of the Canaanite peoples are additionally talked about in later biblical intervals – below David, Solomon, and after the Babylonian captivity.
