Canaanites
Ancient Semitic-speaking people of the Southern Levant, whose culture largely overlapped with early Israelite culture.
Canaanites were an ancient Semitic-speaking people of the Southern Levant during the late 2nd millennium BC. The term is used in the Bible as an ethnic catch-all for various indigenous populations in the region. Biblical scholar Mark Smith, citing archaeological findings, suggests that Israelite culture largely overlapped with and derived from Canaanite culture.
- Territorial extent
- From Sidon to Gerar, Gaza, and as far as Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Lasha (Genesis 10:19)
- Listed among nations
- Canaanites appear alongside Amorites, Girgashites, Jebusites, Hittites, Perizzites, and Hivites (Genesis 15:21; Exodus 3:8; Exodus 23:23)
- Present in Abraham's time
- The Canaanite was then in the land when Abram passed through to Sichem (Genesis 12:6) and dwelled there during strife between Abram's and Lot's herdsmen (Genesis 13:7)
- Marriage prohibition
- Abraham and his servant swore not to take a wife for Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites (Genesis 24:3, 37)
- Divine judgment
- God promised to drive out the Canaanites before Israel (Exodus 23:23, 28; Exodus 33:2; Exodus 34:11)
Lore & Background
The name 'Canaanites' is attested as the endonym of the people later known to the Ancient Greeks as Phoenicians (c. 500 BC), and was also used as a self-designation by the Punics of North Africa during Late Antiquity. The etymology of 'Canaan' is uncertain; one explanation derives it from the Semitic root knʿ ('to be low, humble, subjugated'), possibly meaning 'lowlands' or 'the subjugated'. An alternative suggestion links it to the Hurrian word for purple dye, but this proposal has generally been abandoned.
Reader's Guide
The source does not present Canaanites as genealogical descendants of a figure named Canaan. It describes them as an ancient Semitic-speaking civilization and region. The Bible uses 'Canaanites' as a demonym covering various settled and nomadic-pastoral groups. The source does not mention the Table of Nations or a specific ancestor named Canaan.
Did You Know?
- The name 'Canaan' appears in the Amarna letters (14th century BC) as Kinâḫna.
- Canaanite culture developed in situ from multiple waves of migration merging with earlier local cultures.
- The purple cloth of Tyre was a renowned Canaanite export, mentioned in Exodus.
Elsewhere in the Figures of Scripture universe
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