Canaanites, The
Canaanites, The
[Ca’naanites ]
The descendants of Canaan the son of Ham, of whom the Jubusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites were branches. They were “spread abroad, and the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza: as thou goest unto Sodom and Gomorrha, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.” Gen 10:15-19. In Gen 15:18-21, where the land promised to Abram extends to the river Euphrates, there are ten nations mentioned: the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaims, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. Deu 7:1; Jos 3:10. Here and elsewhere the Canaanites are only one people of many; whereas in other places the term Canaanite appears to include any of the inhabitants of Canaan, as in Jos 17:12-13; Neh 9:24; Oba 1:20; Zec 14:21. The same Hebrew word is translated ‘merchant’ in Job 41:6; Pro 31:24; Isa 23:8; so the passage in Zec 14:21 may signify “there shall no more be the merchant in the house of the Lord of hosts.” cf. Joh 2:16.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Canaanites, The
Ca’naanites, The. A word used in two senses:
1. A tribe which inhabited a particular locality of the land, west of the Jordan, before the conquest; and
2. The people who inhabited, generally, the whole of that country.
3. In Gen 10:18-20, the seats of the Canaanite tribe are given as, on the seashore and in the Jordan valley; compare Jos 11:3.
4. Applied as a general name, to the non-Israelite inhabitants of the land, as we have already seen was the case with “Canaan.” Instances of this are, Gen 12:6; Num 21:3. The Canaanites were descendants of Canaan. Their language was very similar to the Hebrew. The Canaanites were probably given to commerce; and thus, the name became, probably, in later times, an occasional synonym for a merchant.