Canaanite

Overview

• The peoples living in the land of Canaan — the land promised to Abraham — descended from Canaan, the son of Ham.
• Their deep corruption is why Scripture calls for their land to be cleansed; yet a Canaanite woman becomes a model of faith in the Gospel.

Summary

The Canaanites descend from Canaan, son of Ham, whom Noah cursed after the flood (Genesis 9.25; Genesis 10.15-19). Theirs is the land God promised to Abraham — "to your offspring I give this land" (Genesis 12.7) — a promise whose fulfillment God deliberately delays until the land's wickedness is full (Genesis 15.16). That wickedness was severe: the Law names the Canaanite practices Israel must not imitate, above all the sacrifice of children and ritual depravity (Leviticus 18), and commands the herem, the devotion of the Canaanite cities to destruction, precisely so that Israel would not be drawn into them (Deuteronomy 7.1-5; Deuteronomy 20.16-18).[^1] The Orthodox reading, following Fr. Stephen De Young, sees behind this not ethnic hatred but a cleansing of bloodlines and cults bound up with the corrupted, "giant" Rephaim — the same corruption that had once brought the flood.[^2] The story does not end in exclusion: in the Gospel a "Canaanite woman" wins from Christ the praise "great is your faith" (Matthew 15.22-28), showing that the mercy of God was always meant to reach beyond the borders of Israel.

Sources

[^1]: Canaanite descent and land (Genesis 9.25; Genesis 10.15-19; Genesis 12.7); their abominations and the command of the herem (Leviticus 18; Deuteronomy 7.1-5; Deuteronomy 20.16-18). [^2]: Fr. Stephen De Young, The Whole Counsel of God (Genesis), on the Canaanites, the Rephaim, and the meaning of the conquest; and the Canaanite woman of faith (Matthew 15.22-28).