General Information

Canaanites
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1. The Canaanites were composed of a number differing people, listed in Deuteronomy 7:1 as: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanities, Perizzites, Hivites, & Jebusites. The Phoenicians were also Canaanites. Save for the Phoenicians, little is known about each of these kingdoms individually 2. This lesson will also deal with two of Israels neighbors to the east: the Moabites and Ammonites; and their troublesome neighbors to the southwest, the Philistines

The Canaanities
1. The smaller Canaanite nations: a. This term came to be used of the people in Palestine and southern Syria.1 b. The word Canaanite means traders or merchants. c. They were the descendants of Ham (Genesis 9:22; 10:6). i. Of Canaan, a curse was placed on him because of his fathers actions (9:25-27). ii. Migrating from their original home, they crossed the Persian Gulf and journeyed west to the Mediterranean and settled into Palestine.

Lesson Two

&Idols

Empires

d. They developed fortified cities, including those of Jericho, Ai, Lachish, and Hebron. e. Morally, the people of Canaan were so corrupt God gave instructions to His people to utterly destroy them (Deuteronomy 7:1-6). i. It should be noted that God permitted the Israelites to deal peacefully if possible with other nations (Deuteronomy 20:10-15), however, this option was not given for the Canaanites (20:16-18). ii. Much of this corruption came from the generally decadent nature of their worship, which centered on carnal lust. f. The religion of the Canaanites. The idols of Canaan centered on common themes: fertility, war, etc. Additionally, since there was no large, centralized government or way of thinking, most of the gods had local slants to them, varying from region to region. i. The term Baal was a general term for all Canaanite gods, as well as the specific term for the god of the sun, storm and rain. ii. The term Ashtoreth is a general term for all Canaanite goddesses. iii. The lure of the Canaanite religions was three-fold: 1. Sexual gratificationmost of the Canaanite religions centered on fertility and their practices involved sexual activity with temple prostitutes and other sexual perversions. 2. Aggressionthe gods of the people of Canaan were warlike and destructive, a great temptation to those wanting to become strong and dominant. 3. Low demandsunlike Jehovah, who demanded the heart of man, most Canaanite gods demanded occasional sacrifices (although the sacrifices often involved children). iv. Deities 1. El-- The high god of the people of Canaan was El, known as the father of mankind. El is a general word for god. a. NOTE: This is also a term used for Jehovah in the Old Testament, Elohim (Genesis 33:20; 14:18). At the same time, it is also used for heathen idols (Exodus 34:14; Psalm 81:10; Isaiah 44:10). b. The El of Canaan was a shadowy figure with three wives (also his sisters). According to legend, he killed his father, murdered his favorite son and decapitated his own daughter. 2. Baal as the sun god, he was the most honored god; Baal meaning, lord. a. He was the son of El and thought to be the god of storm and rain. b. He is seen as the protagonist against Mot, god of Baal, meaning death, drought and adversity. Lord or 3. Asherah Master

a. The wife of El; to the Canaanites of the south, she was viewed as the wife of Baal and Mother Earth 4. Motgod of death and opposed to all fertility 5. Reshephgod of fire, lightning and plague. In some text, He is also the god of war holding a shield and brandishing an axe. 6. Athirat, Athtart, Anat and Derketo lesser Canaanite goddesses a. Athirat was the wife of El, the highest of the four; goddess of the sea and creator of the gods b. Athtart was the goddess of love and fertility c. Anat, goddess of war d. Derketo, believed to be a goddess of fertility. v. Rituals 1. Most rituals took place on hills or in groves (often known as high places in the Bible). 2. Since most of the gods centered on fertility in some form or another, sexual activity was a central part of Canaanite religion. Sacred, temple prostitutes joined with worshippers to ensure crops and good seasons. vi. Human sacrifices also took place (Deuteronomy 12:31; Leviticus 20:2-3; 2 Kings 3:26-27; Jeremiah 19:5). g. Significant Contributions: i. The inhabitants of Canaan are attributed with developing the roots of the alphabet. h. Canaans Interaction with Gods People: i. It was the land of Canaan that God had promised Abram, Genesis 12. But, God waited until the sins of the nation were complete (Genesis 15:16) before the land was given to the Israelites. ii. Deuteronomy 7 tells us Gods command to the Jews to utterly wipe out the Canaanites without mercy. While this sounds harsh, we must remember God understood the danger they represented to the purity of His people, and God was also using the Jews as His means of punishing the sins of the people of Canaan. iii. The book of Joshua describes the military campaign against the Canaanites. The book of Judges, however, describes the failures of the people to fully take what God had given them. iv. Because they did not fully drive out the inhabitants from the land, the people of Canaan, and especially their religions, were a thorn in the side of Gods people for centuries. 2. The Phoenicians a. If the inland people of Canaan were the brawn (war-like and aggressive), it was the coastland people of Canaan, the Phoenicians, who were the brains of the region. They were also the capitalists of the ancient world.

Though they were not a military force, Phoenician influence spread across the b. T h Mediterranean through commerce and trade e Phoenicians were composed of independent states: Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, & Byblos (from which the word Bible, meaning book, comes). A king who cooperated with the merchant guilds ruled each city. c. Because of the natural terrain, the Phoenicians were relatively safe as a nation. The mountains to the east protected them from most, and the sea to the west, which they mastered, offered protection as well. Those enemies that could not be defeated were often bought off in tribute, so society was often uninterrupted. i. They were controlled by the Egyptians (1800- 1400 B.C.) and the Hittites (1400-1100 B.C.), later the Assyrians, Babylonians, etc. d. While the Phoenicians were never a great military force, but they influenced the world greatly through trade. i. They were, by 1200 B.C., masters of A relief of a Phoenician sailing vessel

the seaso much so that the North Star was known by the Greeks as the Phoenician Star. ii. They exported cedar, oil, glass, slaves & wine to Egypt, Crete, Greece and other nations around the Mediterranean. As a result of their travels and trading, they spread the influences of varying cultures throughout the region. 1. As a commercial nation keeping accounts, they embraced papyrus and fine-tuned the Egyptian alphabet. iii. Their greatest export was a purple dye they extracted from mollusks that lined their shores. iv. As they traded, they established garrisons in Cadiz, Carthage, Malta, Sicily, even England. e. Religion i. The Phoenicians worshiped many of the deities their cousins to the south worshipped, with a few added in: 1. Melqartcity god of Tyre, the god of sea and navigation A sampling f. Interaction with Gods People: of the i. Listed with the oppressors of Israel during the time Phoenician of the Judges, Judges 10:12 alphabet ii. The king of Tyre helped Solomon build the temple, 1 Kings 5:1-10 iii. Solomon worshiped the goddess of Sidon, 1 Kings 11:5 iv. Prophecy against the city of Sidon, Isaiah 23:12 v. Israelites sold as slave by the Sidonians, Joel 3:4-6 vi. Her fall was predicted in Ezekiel 26:1-21 & Amos 1:9-10 vii. Jesus preached in this region, Matthew 15:21 viii. It was eventually evangelized by early Christians, Acts 11:19

The Moabites and Ammonites

1. The Moabites a. The Moabites were descendants of Lot (Genesis 19). They eventually located to the hills east of the Dead Sea. b. There primary God was Chemosh, a god of war (Numbers 21:29; Judges 11:24; 1 Kings 11:7, 33; 2 Kings 23:13; Jeremiah 48:7, 13, 46) c. Interaction with Gods People: i. Balak, king of Moab, sought to destroy the Hebrew, Numbers 22-24

ii. As a result, they were excluded and killed by Gods people, Deuteronomy 23:3 iii. They subjugated the Jews during the period of the judges, Judges 3:12-30 iv. Ruth was a Moabite v. David, while fleeing from Saul, entrusted his family to the king of Moab, 1 Samuel 22:3-5 vi. Ithmah, a Moabite, was one of Davids mightiest men, 1 Chronicles 11:46 vii. David subdued the Moabites, 2 Samuel 8:2; 1 Chronicles 18:2 viii. They were later subjected by the Northern kingdom under Omri, 2 Kings 3:4 (they later revolted, 2 Kings 1:1) ix. Jehoram defeated them but did not subject them to tribute, 2 Kings 3:25-27 2. The Ammonites a. Another result of the sin of Lots daughters (Genesis 19). b. They were closely linked to the Amorites, whom they may have lived next to and at times had overlapping territories. c. Their main god was Milcom, also known as Molech, spoken of in the Bible as one to whom child sacrifices were offered (2 Kings 23:10). d. Interaction with Gods people i. Battles with Og and Sidon as the Jews moved toward Canaan, Deuteronomy 3:11; 31:4; 2:26-30 ii. During the period of the Judges, they controlled portions of Israel, but were released by the judge Jephthah, Judges 10-11 iii. Nahash, the Ammonite, terrorize the Jews and was defeated by the newly crowned Saul, 1 Samuel 11:1 iv. After a misunderstanding with the Ammonites, Israel, under the leadership of King David, brought them under subjection, 2 Samuel 10:1-3; 17:27 v. Solomons wife, the mother of Rehoboam, was from Ammon, 1 Kings 14:21, 31 vi. The Ammonite king plots to slay Gedaliah, govenor of Judah under Babylonian control, Jeremiah 40:14 vii. Tobiah the Ammonite causes much grief in Israel as they try to rebuild after the exiles return, Nehemiah 2:10, 19; 4:3,7

The Philistines
1. Originally, the Philistines were of the family of Ham, of his son, Mizraim (Genesis 10:13-14). 2. According to many historians, the Philistines of the Israelite invasion were almost as new to the region of Canaan as the Israelites. a. Before the Canaanite invasion by the Hebrews, a mysterious group believed to be from Asia Minor invaded the land. After ransacking the lands of Canaan, they headed toward Egypt, but were driven off. Egyptian records called these people the People of the Sea. b. The Biblical Philistines are thought to have been a part of this group identified as Peleset. They settled along the coast of Palestine, south of Phoenicia, A relief found in probably destroying the original Philistines or intermingling with them to the point they became one Egyptian records of people rather than two. The People of the i. This change would explain Jeremiahs Sea explanation that the Philistines were from Caphtor (Crete). 3. The land of the Philistines we only about 20 miles wide, and 60 miles long. They occupied five major cities: Ashdod, Askelon, Ekron, Gath and Gaza. A king ruled each city, but the kings worked well with one another to form a tight political alliance. 4. The Philistines early on mastered the art of smelting hard metals and held an advantage over the Israelites for a period of time by keeping this technology from them (1 Samuel 13:19-23). 5. The religion of the Philistines: a. While some worship of the Canaanite gods can be found, the primary Philistine god was Dagon, the fish god. With the new Philistines connection with the sea, a fish-god was a logical deity. b. Another god, a variation of the god of Canaan, was Baal Zebub, the lord of the fly. c. They also worshiped various Ashtoreths 6. Interaction with Gods People: a. The original Philistines were descendants of Ham, Genesis 10:13-14 b. The later Philistines were from Crete, Jeremiah 47:4

c. Israel was commanded to avoid them after they first left Egypt, Exodus 13:17 d. Joshua did not attack them during the conquest of Canaan, Joshua 13:1-3 e. They became a test for Israel, Judges 3:1-4 f. God gave Israel over to them for a period of time, Judges 10-16, but they were delivered by Samson. g. During the priesthood of Eli, they fought Israel, 1 Samuel 4, and captured the Ark of the Covenant h. The Ark then traveled to Ashdod and then Ekron, causing chaos in each local until the Philistines sent it back to Israel, 1 Samuel 5-6 i. The Philistines challenged Gods people until the time of David, when he David slays Goliath killed Goliath, their champion, and began a long period of control over them, 1 Samuel 17 j. During Davids flight from Saul, he joined forces with the Philistines for a brief period of time, 1 Samuel 27 k. In their war against Israel, they killed Saul and his sons, 1 Samuel 29-31.

Questions
1. List the nations of Canaan as found in Genesis 10:16-18. ____________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 2. The word Canaanite means __________________________. 3. What were the primary attractions of the Canaanite religions? ________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 4. Why were the Jews told to completely destroy the Canaanites? _______________ __________________________________________________________________ 5. For what were the Phoenicians known? __________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 6. Who was the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites? ___________________ 7. Early on, what advantage did the Philistines have over the Jews? _____________ __________________________________________________________________ 8. What happened to the Philistine statue of Dagon when the Ark of the Lord was placed before it? ____________________________________________________

Notes:

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