Page 10 - Biblical Backgrounds student textbook

Study Section 2: Canaanite Backgrounds and the Patriarchal Period
(Genesis 13-46)

2.1 Connect.

In modern scholarship and apologetics, the Canaanites have resurfaced as a important topic.
The issue is whether God was justified in having the Canaanites killed. This issue is
considered highly important by atheists and agnostics. They say this action demonstrates
that God is not good. That is an important issue to be certain, but to have a hope of
accurately answering it we must be able to answer foundations questions. Questions like
who were the Canaanites? Where were they originate from and where did they live? What was their
religious vulture? In this section we will examine these issues briefly. We will also see how the
Canaanites bring a more accurate picture of the patriarchal period.
2.2 Objectives.

1. Students should be able to summarize the origins and location of Canaan and Canaanites.

2. Students should be able to explain how the Canaanites government worked.

3. Students should be able to describe the nature of Canaanite religious practice.

4. Students should able to explain the significance and cultural conception of the devotion to
destruction of the Canaanites.
2.3 Canaanite Backgrounds and the Patriarchal Period.

Canaan was not a large piece of land. It was in what
would later be called Palestine. Voss explains that it
was 150 miles long (241.4 kilometers) and ranged
from 30-80 miles wide (48.28 – 128.75 kilometers). It
ranged from Dan in the North to Beersheba in the
South. The eastern boundary is the Jordan River. The Western
boundary was the Mediterranean Sea.
14
The origins of the Canaanite people is from the sons of Noah.
Noah had three sons. Ham, Shem, and Japheth. The
descendants of Japheth settled in Europe, Asia Minor (modern
Turkey), and in Iran. The descendants of Shem settled in
Northern and Eastern Africa, Modern Israel, and South Western Saudi Arabia. Canaan was the son of
Ham. John Holmes, in his course on biblical backgrounds, explains that the region of Canaan is described
in the Old Testament in the following ways in Scripture:
15

14 Voss, Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Manners and Customs, 29-30.
15 Both maps are taken from John Holmes course with permission.

9