Page 10 - Biblical Backgrounds

Canaanite Backgrounds and the Patriarchal Period (Genesis 13-46)

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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
foundational questions. Questions like who were the Canaanites? Where did they originate from, and
where did they live? What was their religious culture? 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.

The Lesson ...

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.
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The origins of the Canaanite people are 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 Iran. The descendants
of Shem settled in Northern and Eastern Africa, Modern Israel, and Southwestern 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:
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Exodus 3:8

“and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that
land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the
Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.” (ESV)

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

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