Canaan(chanaan, palestine)
“Lowland, or possibly 'to stoop'”
Summary
The fourth son of Ham and the name of the land promised to Abraham's descendants, comprising Palestine west of the Jordan.
☩Canaan the Person
Canaan was the fourth son of Ham and grandson of Noah. Following Ham's transgression against his father Noah, a prophetic curse was pronounced not directly upon Ham but upon his son Canaan: 'Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.' This curse was fulfilled when the Canaanites became subject to Israel. The posterity of Canaan was numerous, his eldest son Sidon founding the city of that name, and ten other sons becoming fathers of tribes dwelling in Palestine and Syria.
☩The Land of Canaan
The name 'Canaan' originally applied to the lowlands of Palestine, especially the coastal region and Jordan valley. It became synonymous with the entire land west of the Jordan, the territory promised to Abraham and his descendants. The land was also called 'the Land of Promise,' 'the Holy Land,' 'Immanuel's Land,' and 'the Lord's Land.' Scripture describes it as a land flowing with milk and honey, fertile and fruitful.
☩The Canaanite Peoples
From Ham came four main races, and from Canaan came the tribes that opposed Israel: Hittites, Hivites, Amorites, Jebusites, Perizzites, Girgashites, and Canaanites proper—seven nations greater and mightier than Israel. The Canaanites were originally Hamitic, though they acquired a Semitic tongue through intermingling with other races. Their civilization was marked by city-building and commerce, but also by profound moral corruption.
☩Divine Judgment
The iniquity of the Canaanites was great in Abraham's time but 'not yet full.' Despite the awful warning of Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction, Canaanite profligacy reached depths that required divine judgment. Israel was commanded to dispossess these nations not from bloodthirstiness but as instruments of divine justice against a people hopelessly corrupted after centuries of opportunity to repent. The New Testament references to Canaan recall both the famine that sent Jacob's sons to Egypt and God's granting the land to Israel.
Related Verses144 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Canaan," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. II (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.George Morrish, "Canaan," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 3.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Canaan," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).
- 4.James Orr (ed.), "Canaan; Canaanites," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. I (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 5.James Hastings (ed.), "Canaan," in Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, vol. I (T. & T. Clark, 1915–1918).