Editing Canaan (section)

=== Hebrew Bible ===
Canaan and the Canaanites are mentioned some 160 times in the [[Hebrew Bible]], mostly in the [[Torah]] and the books of [[Book of Joshua|Joshua]] and [[Book of Judges|Judges]].<ref name="Killebrew 2005 96">{{harvnb|Killebrew|2005|p=96}}</ref>

They descended from [[Canaan (son of Ham)|Canaan]], who was the son of [[Ham (son of Noah)|Ham]] and the grandson of [[Noah]]. Canaan was [[Curse of Ham|cursed with perpetual slavery]] because his father Ham had "looked upon" the drunk and naked Noah. The expression "look upon" at times has sexual overtones in the Bible, as in Leviticus 20:11, "The man who lies with his father's wife has uncovered his father's nakedness..." As a result, interpreters have proposed a variety of possibilities as to what kind of transgression has been committed by Ham, including the possibility of castrating or raping his father or maternal incest.{{sfn|Goldenberg|2005|p=258}}<ref name="Stiebert2016">{{cite book |author=Johanna Stiebert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cUDqDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA106 |title=First-Degree Incest and the Hebrew Bible: Sex in the Family |date=20 October 2016 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-567-26631-6 |pages=106–108 |access-date=5 November 2018 |archive-date=29 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429062510/https://books.google.com/books?id=cUDqDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA106#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> However, some believe that ''Canaan'' was the perpetrator of the crime, based on the surrounding verses.<ref name="Kugel_1998_223">{{Cite book |last=Kugel |first=James L. |title=Traditions of the Bible |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1998 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QUkaVq_GlJUC&pg=PA222 |isbn=9780674791510 |page=223}}</ref>

According to the [[Table of Nations]], Canaan was also the ancestor of other nations, which were collectively considered to be Canaanite:
{{blockquote|Canaan is the father of [[Sidon#Biblical Sidon|Sidon]], his firstborn; and of the [[Biblical Hittites|Hittites]], [[Jebusite]]s, [[Amorite]]s, [[List of minor biblical tribes#Girgashites|Girgashites]], [[Hivite]]s, [[Arqa|Arkites]], [[List of minor biblical tribes#Sinites|Sinites]], [[List of minor biblical tribes#Arvadites|Arvadites]], [[List of minor biblical tribes#Zemarites|Zemarites]], and [[List of minor biblical tribes#Hamathites|Hamathites]]. Later the Canaanite clans scattered, and the borders of Canaan reached [across the Mediterranean coast] from [[Sidon]] toward [[Gerar]] as far as [[Gaza City|Gaza]], and then [inland around the [[Jordan Valley (Middle East)|Jordan Valley]] ] toward [[Sodom and Gomorrah|Sodom, Gomorrah]], [[Admah]] and [[Zeboim (Hebrew Bible)|Zeboiim]], as far as [[Lasha]].|{{bibleverse|Genesis|10:15–19|NIV}}}}

Other passages in the Bible offer different lists of the exact names of the Canaanite tribes. For example, {{bibleverse|Genesis|15:19-21|}} lists the [[Kenites]], [[Kenizzites]], [[Kadmonites]], [[Biblical Hittites|Hittites]], [[Perizzites]], [[Rephaim]], [[Amorites]], [[Canaanites]], [[Girgashites]], and [[Jebusites]]. In contrast, {{bibleverse|Exodus|3:8|}} only lists the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. How those other Biblical lists of Canaanite tribes agree with the genealogical listing of [[Canaan (son of Ham)|Canaan]]'s sons has been subject to much discussion. It has further been argued that the Biblical term Canaanite is actually [[synecdoche]], referring to both the broader Canaanite nation and to a specific Canaanite tribe within that nation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Klein |first=Reuven Chaim (Rudolph) |date= |title=Nations and Super-Nations of Canaan |url=https://tobias-lib.ub.uni-tuebingen.de/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10900/148214/jbq_462_kleincanaan.pdf |journal=Jewish Bible Quarterly | issn=0792-3910 |volume=46 |issue=2 |pages=73–85}}</ref>

[[Ann E. Killebrew]] states that the biblical ethnogenesis of Canaan is problematic, because there is archaeological and linguistic evidence that suggests that the ancient Israelites were largely Canaanites themselves.<ref name="Killebrew 2005 96" /> In particular, they were a subset of Canaanite culture.<ref name="JonTubb" /><ref name="MarkSmith" /> Alternatively, other scholars have suggested that the Israelites originated from the [[Shasu]] and other seminomadic peoples from the desert regions south of the [[Levant]], only later settling in the highlands of Canaan.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Hebrew Bible: New Insights and Scholarship |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=inRKaf_To5sC&pg=PA11 |last=Rendsburg |first=Gary |year=2008 |chapter=Israel without the Bible |editor-first=Frederick E. |editor-last=Greenspahn |publisher=NYU Press |pages=11–12 |isbn=978-0-8147-3187-1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title="An Excellent Fortress for His Armies, a Refuge for the People": Egyptological, Archaeological, and Biblical Studies in Honor of James K. Hoffmeier |last=Rendsburg |first=Gary A. |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-57506-994-4 |pages=327–339 |editor-last=Averbeck |editor-first=Richard E. |chapter=Israelite Origins |editor-last2=Younger (Jr.) |editor-first2=K. Lawson |chapter-url=https://jewishstudies.rutgers.edu/docman/rendsburg/845-israelite-origins-hoffmeier-fs-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Oxford History of the Holy Land |last=Faust |first=Avraham |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2023 |isbn=978-0-19-288686-6 |editor-last=Hoyland |editor-first=Robert G. |pages=22–25 |chapter=The Birth of Israel |editor-last2=Williamson |editor-first2=H. G. M. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yxi2EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA22}}</ref> It has been also suggested that the Hamitic origin myth could be a reference to Canaan's colonization by the Egyptians in the Late Bronze Age, who were Hamites according to the Hebrew Bible.<ref name="Redford" />{{rp|45}}

Volkmar Fritz argues that there are also dissimilarities in the material culture of the early Israelites and Canaanites, suggesting that the [[Israelite highland settlement|new settlers]] were unrelated to the former inhabitants of the Canaanite cities. While Fritz agrees that there are some similarities between the two cultures, he argues that this resulted from close contact between them over a long period. In his view, cultural similarities developed when nomadic Israelites entered the land and gradually formed close economic relationships with Canaanites. The Israelites eventually became self-sufficient in the highlands but retained aspects of the shared Canaanite material culture.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fritz |first=Volkmar |title=The Emergence of Israel in the Twelfth and Eleventh Centuries B.C.E. |date=2011 |publisher=Society of Biblical Literature |isbn=9781589832626 |pages=135–38}}</ref>

Biblical scholar David Frankel argues that a narrative in the [[Books of Chronicles]] tenuously indicates the historical reality of Israel's ethnogenesis. In his view, the text makes reference to an established Israelite presence in Canaan before Joshua's conquest, which primarily consisted of [[Ephraimites]].<ref name="Frankel">{{Cite web |last=Frankel |first=David |date=April 8, 2015 |title=The Book of Chronicles and the Ephraimites that Never Went to Egypt |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-book-of-chronicles-and-the-ephraimites-that-never-went-to-egypt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240207090032/https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-book-of-chronicles-and-the-ephraimites-that-never-went-to-egypt |archive-date=February 7, 2024 |website=TheTorah.com}}</ref>

According to the Hebrew Bible, Canaan was located to the west of the [[Jordan River]]. The Canaanites were described as living "by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan" ([[Book of Numbers]] 13:29)<ref>{{bibleverse|Numbers|13:29|HE}}</ref> and "around Jordan" ([[Book of Joshua]] 22:9).<ref>{{bibleverse|Joshua|22:9|HE}}</ref> More specifically, they inhabited the Mediterranean coastlands ({{bibleverse|Joshua|5:1|NIV}}), including [[Lebanon]] corresponding to Phoenicia ({{bibleverse|Isaiah|23:11|NIV}}) and the [[Gaza Strip]] corresponding to [[Philistia]] ({{bibleverse|Zephaniah|2:5|NIV}}) and the [[Jordan Valley (Middle East)|Jordan Valley]] ({{bibleverse|Joshua|11:3|NIV}}, {{bibleverse|Numbers|13:29|NIV}}, {{bibleverse|Genesis|13:12|NIV}}). Numbers 34:3–12 provide even more [[Promised Land|specific boundaries]], which covered territory that was considered to be "small" by ancient standards.<ref>{{cite book |last=Munk |first=Salomon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=02EOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA2 |title=Palestine: Description géographique, historique et archéologique |publisher=F. Didot |year=1845 |pages=2–3 |language=fr |quote=Sous le nom de ''Palestine'', nous comprenons le petit pays habité autrefois par les Israélites, et qui aujourd'hui fait partie des pachalics d'Acre et de Damas. Il s'étendait entre le 31 et 33° degré latitude N. et entre le 32 et 35° degré longitude E., sur une superficie d'environ 1300 lieues carrées. Quelques écrivains jaloux de donner au pays des Hébreux une certaine importance politique, ont exagéré l'étendue de la Palestine; mais nous avons pour nous une autorité que l'on ne saurait récuser. Saint Jérôme, qui avait longtemps voyagé dans cette contrée, dit dans sa lettre à Dardanus (ep. 129) que de la limite du nord jusqu'à celle du midi il n'y avait qu'une distance de 160 milles romains, ce qui fait environ 55 lieues. Il rend cet hommage à la vérité bien qu'il craigne, comme il le dit lui-même de livrer par la ''terre promise'' aux sarcasmes païens. (Pudet dicere latitudinem terrae repromissionis, ne ethnicis occasionem blasphemandi dedisse uideamur) |author-link=Salomon Munk}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Munk |first1=Salomon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cbRUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP1 |title=Palästina: geographische, historische und archäologische Beschreibung dieses Landes und kurze Geschichte seiner hebräischen und jüdischen Bewohner |last2=Levy |first2=Moritz A. |publisher=Leiner |year=1871 |page=1 |language=de |author-link1=Salomon Munk |author-link2=Moritz Abraham Levy}}</ref>

[[John N. Oswalt]] observes that "Canaan consists of the land west of the [[Jordan River|Jordan]] and is distinguished from the area east of the Jordan." Oswalt then goes on to say that in Scripture, Canaan "takes on a theological character" as "the land which is God's gift" and "the place of abundance".<ref>{{cite book |first=John N. |last=Oswalt |chapter=<big>כנען</big> |editor1-first=R. Laird |editor1-last=Harris |editor2-first=Gleason L. |editor2-last=Archer |editor3-first=Bruce K. |editor3-last=Waltke |title=Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/theologicalwordb01harr |chapter-url-access=registration |location=Chicago |publisher=Moody |year=1980 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/theologicalwordb01harr/page/445 445–446]|isbn=9780802486318 }}</ref>

Whilst the inhabitants of Canaan are called Canaanites, they are also called [[Amorites]], similar to the citizens of the multi-ethnic Soviet Union being called Russian, and [[Biblical Hittites|Hethites/Hittites]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Levin |first=Yigal |date=October 8, 2013 |title=Who Was Living in the Land When Abraham Arrived? |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/who-was-living-in-the-land-when-abraham-arrived |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240128041317/https://www.thetorah.com/article/who-was-living-in-the-land-when-abraham-arrived |archive-date=January 28, 2024 |website=TheTorah.com}}</ref> [[Abraham]], the ancestor of the Israelites, was most likely an Amorite-Aramean, according to some early theories.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Paton |first=Lewis Bayles |date=1915 |title=Archaeology and the Book of Genesis |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3142695 |journal=The Biblical World |volume=45 |issue=6 |pages=353–361 |doi=10.1086/475296 |jstor=3142695 |access-date=2024-04-20 |archive-date=2024-04-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240420110951/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3142695 |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Conquest of Canaan====
{{Further|Deuteronomist#Deuteronomistic history|Seven Nations (Bible)}}

[[Yahweh]] promises the land of Canaan to [[Abraham]] in the [[Book of Genesis]] and eventually delivers it to [[Abraham's family tree|descendants of Abraham]], the [[Israelites]]. The Hebrew Bible describes the Israelite [[Book of Joshua#Entry into the land and conquest .28chapters 2.E2.80.9312.29|conquest of Canaan]] in the "[[Nevi'im#Former Prophets|Former Prophets]]" ({{transliteration|hbo|Nevi'im Rishonim}}, {{Script/Hebrew|נביאים ראשונים}}), viz. the books of [[Book of Joshua|Joshua]], [[Book of Judges|Judges]], [[Books of Samuel|Samuel]], and [[Books of Kings|Kings]]. These books give the narrative of the Israelites after the death of [[Moses]] and their entry into Canaan under the leadership of [[Joshua]].<ref>The Making of the Old Testament Canon. by Lou H. Silberman, The Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary on the Bible. Abingdon Press&nbsp;– Nashville 1971–1991, p1209</ref> The renaming of the [[Land of Canaan]] as the [[Land of Israel]] marks the [[Israelites|Israelite]] [[Book of Joshua#Entry into the land and conquest .28chapters 2.E2.80.9312.29|conquest]] of the [[Promised Land]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Land of Israel: National Home Or Land of Destiny |first=Eliezer |last=Schweid |translator-first=Deborah |translator-last=Greniman |year=1985 |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press |isbn=978-0-8386-3234-5 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/landofisraelnati00schw/page/16 16–17] |quote=... let us begin by examining the kinds of assertions about the land of Israel that we encounter in {{as written|pe|rsuing [sic]}} the books of the Bible. ... A third kind of assertion deals with the history of the Land of Israel. Before its settlement by the Israelite tribes, it is called The Land of Canaan |url=https://archive.org/details/landofisraelnati00schw/page/16 }}</ref>

The Canaanites ({{Hebrew Name|כנענים|Kna'anim|Kənaʻănîm}}) are said to have been one of seven "nations" driven out by the [[Israelites]] following [[the Exodus]]. The other nations were the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the [[Perizzites]], the [[Hivites]], and the [[Jebusites]] ({{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|7:1|NIV}}). One of the [[613 commandments]] prescribes that no inhabitants of the cities of six Canaanite nations, the same as mentioned in 7:1, minus the [[List of minor biblical tribes#G|Girgashites]], were to be left alive. ({{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|20:16|NIV}}).

==== Kingdom of Israel and Judah ====
After the Israelite conquest of Canaan, Canaan existed as a [[kritarchy]] and later, a monarchy.<ref>{{cite encyclopaedia |last1=Zettler |first1=Howard G. |encyclopaedia=-Ologies and -isms: a thematic dictionary |article=kritarchy |publisher=[[Gale Research Company]] |year=1978 |isbn=9780810310148 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ologiesismsthema0000unse |language=en |page=84}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Hellweg |first1=Paul |encyclopedia=The Wordsworth Book of Intriguing Words |article=kritarchy |series=Wordsworth reference |publisher=Wordsworth |year=1993 |isbn=9781853263125 |language=en |page=71}}</ref> Under the Israelite monarchy, the Israelite tribes were united as [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|one kingdom]]. However, it split into the [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]] and the [[Kingdom of Judah]].<ref>{{cite web |title=1 Kings 12 NIV |via= Bible Gateway |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%2012&version=NIV |access-date=2024-02-08 |archive-date=2024-02-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240208091814/https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%2012&version=NIV |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 738 BC, the [[Neo-Assyrian empire]] conquered the Kingdom of Israel. In 586&nbsp;BC, the Kingdom of Judah was annexed into the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]]. The city of [[Jerusalem]] fell after [[Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)|a siege]] which lasted either eighteen or thirty months.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Malamat |first1=Abraham |title=The Last Kings of Judah and the Fall of Jerusalem: An Historical—Chronological Study |journal=Israel Exploration Journal |year=1968 |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=137–156 |jstor=27925138 |quote=The discrepancy between the length of the siege according to the regnal years of Zedekiah (years 9-11), on the one hand, and its length according to Jehoiachin's exile (years 9–12), on the other, can be cancelled out only by supposing the former to have been reckoned on a Tishri basis, and the latter on a Nisan basis. The difference of one year between the two is accounted for by the fact that the termination of the siege fell in the summer, between Nisan and Tishri, already in the 12th year according to the reckoning in Ezekiel, but still in Zedekiah's 11th year which was to end only in Tishri.}}</ref> By 586 BC, much of Judah was devastated, and the former kingdom suffered a steep decline of both economy and population.<ref name="Grabbe2004">{{cite book |last=Grabbe |first=Lester L. |author-link=Lester L. Grabbe |title=A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period |publisher=T&T Clark International |year=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VK2fEzruIn0C |volume=1 |isbn=978-0-567-08998-4 |page=28 |access-date=9 October 2018 |archive-date=1 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701141234/https://books.google.com/books?id=VK2fEzruIn0C |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Significant figures ====
;Characters in the Hebrew Bible
{{columns-list|
* [[Canaan, son of Ham]] (Gen. 10:6)
* [[Sidon]], firstborn son of Canaan (Gen. 10:15)
* [[Heth]], son of Canaan (Gen. 10:15)
* [[Sihon]], king of Amorites (Deut 1:4)
* [[Og]], king of [[Bashan]] (Deut 1:4)
* [[Adonizedek]], king of [[Jerusalem]] (Josh. 10:1)
* [[Debir]], king of [[Eglon, Canaan|Eglon]] (Josh. 10:3)
* [[Jabin]], name of two kings of [[Tel Hazor|Hazor]] (Josh. 11:1; Judges 5:6)
}}