Page 11 - Advanced 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 an 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. Who were the
Canaanites? Where were they originate from and where did they live? What was their religious culture?
In this section we will examine these issues briefly.

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.

5. Student should be able to justify why God was just in commanding Joshua to kill all the Canaanites
while taking the land.

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. 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
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Mediterranean Sea.

The Canaanites are mentioned over 150 times in the Bible.
They were a wicked, idolatrous people descended from Noah’s
grandson Canaan, who was a son of Ham (Genesis 9:18).
Canaan was cursed because of his and his father’s sin against Noah (Genesis 9:20–25). In some
passages, Canaanites specifically refers to the people of the lowlands and plains of Canaan (Joshua
11:3); in other passages, Canaanites is used more broadly to refer to all the inhabitants of the land,
including the Hivites, Girgashites, Jebusites, Amorites, Hittites, and Perizzites (see Judges 1:9–10).

14 Voss, Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Manners and Customs, 29-30.

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