Canaan, son of Ham

Canaan, according to the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible, was a son of Ham and grandson of Noah.

Genesis narrative

Descendants of Canaan

According to the Table of Nations in Genesis 10 (verses 16-18), Canaan was the ancestor of the Canaanite tribes who occupied the ancient Land of Canaan: all the territory from Sidon to Gaza, and from the Cities of the Plain to Lasha. This territory is roughly the areas of modern day Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon. Canaan's firstborn son was Sidon, who shares his name with the Phoenician city of Sidon in present-day Lebanon.^[1] His second son was named Heth. His descendants, according to the Hebrew Bible, include:

1. Sidonites, possible ancestors of the Phoenicians.^[2][3]
2. Hittites, children of Heth.
3. Jebusites
4. Amorites
5. Girgashites
6. Hivites
7. Arkites
8. Sinites
9. Arvadites
10. Zemarites
11. Hamathites

According to traditional Ethiopian histories, Canaan's son Arwadi (= "the Arvadite") and his wife Entela crossed from Asia into Ethiopia in ca. 2100 BC, and the Qemant tribe were said to be descended from their son, Anayer. There is further an Ethiopian tradition that two other Canaanite tribes — the Sinites and Zemarites — also entered Ethiopia at the time it was ruled by the Kingdom of Kush, becoming the Shanqella and Weyto peoples respectively.^[4]

The Persian historian Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari (c. 915) recounted a tradition that the wife of Canaan was named Arsal, a daughter of Batawil son of Tiras, and that she bore him the "Blacks, Nubians, Fezzan, Zanj, Zaghawah, and all the peoples of the Sudan."^[5]

The German historian Johannes Aventinus (fl. c. 1525) recorded a legend that two of Canaan's other sons - the "Arkite" and the "Hamathite" - first settled in the area of Greece, giving their names to the regions of Arcadia and Emathia.

Curse of Canaan

Main article: Curse of Ham

According to Genesis 9:20-27, Noah became drunk then cursed his grandson Canaan, for the transgression of his father, Ham. This is the Curse of Canaan that the possible misnomer,^[6] "Curse of Ham", has been attributed to since Classical antiquity.^[7]

Ham's transgression: And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. (Genesis 9:22)

Genesis 9:24-27
²⁴ And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son [Ham] had done unto him.
²⁵ And he said, Cursed [be] Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
²⁶ And he said, Blessed [be] the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
²⁷ God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
(--Authorized King James Version)

Ibn Ezra suggests that Canaan was a participant in the offense against Noah.^[8]

According to the Book of Jubilees, Canaan was cursed twice. It chronologically places the first incident involving Noah's drunkenness 13 years after the deluge, in 1321 A.M. Later (10:29-34), both the Israelite conquest of Canaan and the curse are also attributed to Canaan's steadfast refusal to join his elder brothers in Ham's allotment beyond the Nile, and to his "squatting" instead on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, within the inheritance delineated for Arpachshad and Shem.

Pseudo-Berossus, on the other hand, contains a statement that it was Noah, aka Janus, who sent Canaan to live "in Damascus as far as the edge of Palestine".

Narrative criticism

Source critics, who follow Julius Wellhausen, typically view the curse of Canaan in Genesis 9:20-27, as an early Hebrew rationalization for Israel's conquest over Canaan.^[9] When Noah cursed Canaan in Genesis 9:25, he used the expression "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren."^NKJV By using the expression “servant of servants”, otherwise translated “slave of slaves”,^NIV this grammatical construction emphasizes the extreme degree of servitude that Canaan will undergo in relation to his "brothers".^[10] In the following passage, "of Shem... may Canaan be his servant,"^[9:26] the narrarator is foreshadowing Israel’s conquest of the promised land.^[11] Biblical scholar, Philip R. Davies explains that the author of this narrative used Noah to curse Canaan, in order to provide justification for the later Israelites driving out and enslaving the Canaanites.^[12]

From a different perspective, Umberto Cassuto connects Canaan serving Shem to mean the children of Canaan who served under Chedorlaomer, king of Elam,^{[Gen 14:4]} a descendant of Shem.^[13]

See also

• Land of Canaan
• Curse of Ham

References

1. ^ María E. Aubet. “The Phoenicians and the West: politics, colonies and trade”, (ISBN 0521795435, 9780521795432), 2001, p. 66
2. ^ James C. Prichard. Researches into the physical history of mankind, 1817, p. 447
3. ^ See also: Harvard University. The Canadian journal of science, literature and history, Vol. 13, p. 533
4. ^ Yohannes Wolde Mariam, Yealem Tarik, 1948 p. 105-6.
5. ^ Tabari's Prophets and Patriarchs
6. ^ Alida C. Metcalf. Go-betweens and the colonization of Brazil, 1500-1600, (ISBN 0292712766, 9780292712768), 2005, p. 163-164
7. ^ Goldenburg. The Curse of Ham, 2009, (ISBN 1400828546, 9781400828548), p. 157
8. ^ Sarna, 1989, p. 66
9. ^ Donald E. Gowan, Genesis 1-11: Eden to Babel, Wm. B. Eerdmans, ISBN 0802803377, p.110-15
10. ^ Ellens & Rollins. 2004, p.54
11. ^ Stephen R. Haynes. Noah's curse: the biblical justification of American slavery, 2002, (ISBN 0195142799, 9780195142792), p. 184
12. ^ The Old Testament World second edition. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press. 2005. pp. 121-122. ISBN 0-664-23025-3. 
13. ^ Williams. The Bible, Violence and the Sacred, 14-15

External links

• Encyclopedia Britannica Online Article (subscription/registration required)