The Canaanites

Their History and Culture from Texts and Artifacts

Mary Ellen Buck

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781532618048
  9781498243254
• eBook ISBN:
  9781498243247
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern History

The term Canaanite will be familiar to anyone who has even the most casual familiarity with the Bible. Outside of the terminology for Israel itself, the Canaanites are the most common ethnic group found in the Bible. They are positioned as the foil of the nation of Israel, and the land of Canaan is depicted as the promised allotment of Abraham and his descendants. The terms Canaan and Canaanites are even evoked in modern political discourse, indicating that their importance extends into the present. With such prominent positioning, it is important to gain a more complete and historically accurate perspective of the Canaanites, their land, history, and rich cultural heritage. So, who were the Canaanites? Where did they live, what did they believe, what do we know about their culture and history, and why do they feature so prominently in the biblical narratives? In this volume, Mary Buck uses original textual and archaeological evidence to answer to these questions. The book follows the history of the Canaanites from their humble origins in the third millennium BCE to the rise of their massive fortified city-states of the Bronze Age, through until their disappearance from the pages of history in the Roman period, only to find their legacy in the politics of the modern Middle East.

1

Canaan And The Canaanites

“We are the descendants of the Canaanites that lived in the land of Palestine 5,000 years ago and continuously remained there to this day.”—Palestinian Authority Leader Mahmoud Abbas to the United Nations (February 2018)

“And after this, Avraham buried Sara his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah . . . in the land of Canaan.”—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quoting Genesis 23:10 at the start of a cabinet meeting (July 2017)

1.1 Introduction

Modern politicians of the Middle East leverage the terms “Canaan” and “Canaanite” as part of their political discourse, indicating the immense impact that ancient history can have on the formation and expression of culture. The term “Canaanite” will be familiar to anyone who has even the most casual familiarity with the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. The Canaanites feature prominently in the historical narratives of the Hebrew Bible, primarily in the texts of the Pentateuch and Joshua and Judges. Outside of the terminology for Israel itself, the term “Canaanite” is the most common ethnic descriptor found in the Hebrew Bible, occurring over 150 times, as well as three times in the New Testament, indicating its pervasive importance for the biblical narratives.1 The land of Canaan is regularly seen as the promised allotment of Abraham and his descendants, beginning when Abraham is called to journey from Ur of the Chaldeans to the land of Canaan in Genesis 11:31 and 12:5–6. Thus, the Canaanites are regularly positioned as the foil of the nation of Israel, until the partial displacement of the Canaanites from the land of Canaan under Joshua (Josh 17:18).

With such prominent positioning in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible as well as the political narratives of the modern Middle East, it is important to gain a more complete and historically accurate perspective of the Canaanites, their land, history, and rich cultural heritage.

So, who were the Canaanites? Where did they live? What did they believe? What do we know about their culture and history? And why do they feature so prominently in the biblical narrative?

Before delving into these questions, let us begin our investigation by examining the meaning of the terms “Canaan” and “Canaanite.”

1.2 Who Were the Canaanites?

There is some debate regarding the meaning of the terms “Canaan” and “Canaanite.” Michael Astour has claimed that the term “Canaan” goes back to a Northwest Semitic root (the Northwest Semitic language family includes languages such as Hebrew and Aramaic) kn‘ meaning “to be low,” referring perhaps to the lowlands or the land of the lowering sun on the western horizon of the Levant.2 Others, such as Itamar Singer, disagree, suggesting that the term “Canaan” derives from a Hurrian term kinaḫḫu meaning “purple” or “red,” referring to the beautiful purple-dyed cloth produced on the Phoenician coastland.3

Regardless of which interpretation should be accepted, it is clear that the term “Canaan” referred to the land along the coast of the Southern Levant, an area occupied today by Syria, Israel, Palestine, and Jordan. The term “Canaanite” therefore was used to refer to any individual or population residing in this region, beginning as early as the start of the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1800 BCE) until the final appearance of this term in the Roman period (ca. 400 CE). This means that as populations migrated into the region, though they may have retained their unique ethnic identities and cultures, they were often recognized by outside populations as “Canaanites” or residents of the land of “Canaan.” The benefit of applying this loose definition to the term “Canaanite” is the flexibility that this term allows as we trace their history back several thousand years in a single region. While the Canaanites from the third millennium were undoubtedly quite different from those in the first millennium, they shared one thing in common—their homeland.

1.3 The Land of Canaan

In the ancient world, life could only be supported by proximity to water and the ability to produce food for the population. Since much of the Middle East is arid desert, with little water, only certain territories could support life. In Mesopotamia, life was sustained by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and irrigation was used to bring river water to farms. In the Levant, the area along the Mediterranean coast, life was sustained by regular rainfall, which allowed for dry farming to occur. The map below features this area of the Fertile Crescent where the presence of water and arable land supported life in the ancient world.

Figure 1.1: The Fertile Crescent Map created by Dillon Paige

The land of Canaan, roughly corresponding to the area of the Southern Levant, covered the southwestern strip of the Fertile Crescent, occupying the territory of modern-day Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Palestine. We learn about the borders of the land of Canaan from numerous ancient sources including texts from Mari, Ugarit, Alalaḫ, and Amarna, but we glean the most detail from an Egyptian source from the late Nineteenth Dynasty, the Papyrus Anastasi I (ca. 1292 to 1189 BCE).4 This text describes the region of Canaan in great detail, beginning at the coast of Lebanon, extending beyond Joppa to the “end of the land of Canaan,” even to the city of Gaza. It shows that in the ancient Middle East, the territory of Canaan extended from the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountain ranges in the north, to the Negev desert to the south. From east to west, the land of Canaan was bordered by the natural boundaries of the Ard as-Sawwan Desert in modern-day Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea. The territory of ancient Canaan is demarked below in Figure 1.2.

Figure 1.2: The Land of Canaan Map created by Dillon Paige

The northern portion of the land of Canaan, also sometimes referred to as the Phoenician coast, was divided by large mountains and low-lying fertile valleys. These “mountainous promontories, which break up the region, hampered sea traffic, making certain areas independent of others. The territorial division is accentuated by a series of rivers that come down from the mountains and flow into the sea. In these areas the land is fertile, agriculture flourishes, and mountain timber is an important resource.”5 Over the course of history, in each of these fertile valleys relatively autonomous city-states flourished and maintained autonomous control.

To the south of the Phoenician coast, the area of modern-day Israel and Palestine, the land was divided into three main north/south topographical divisions: the coastal plain, the Shephelah (lowlands), and the hill country. The coastal plain was a flat, fertile area that supported farming and also allowed for easy passage for the purposes of trade and migration. The Shephelah marks the transition from the coastal plain to the higher hill country and is made up of a series of valleys and low-lying hills. Historically this area would also have been heavily farmed, but its valleys and hills hindered traffic through the region, and would also serve as a barrier to the interior of the land of Canaan. The hill country is marked by rugged and often impassable mountains, which could only be farmed if terraced.

To the east of the hill country, the mountains slope sharply down into the Jordan Valley, which hosts the lowest point on earth, the Dead Sea. The environs of this region are harsh, with high temperatures, though date palms can be supported in this region. This Jordan Valley once again slopes upward to the Jordanian highlands, which house important sites such as Petra. Further to the east and to the south, one encounters desert in which it is difficult to ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Chronology
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: Canaan And The Canaanites
• Chapter 2: The Emergence Of The Canaanites
• Chapter 3: Canaanites Under Egyptian Rule
• Chapter 4: Canaanites In The Iron Age
• Chapter 5: The Legacy Of The Canaanites
• Bibliography