Can a a Nites

8/3/2019 Can a a Nites

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General

Information1. The

Canaaniteswere

composed of a

number

differingpeople, listed

in

Deuteronomy

7:1 as: theHittites,

Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanities, Perizzites, Hivites, & Jebusites.

The Phoenicians were also Canaanites. Save for the Phoenicians, little is known

about each of these kingdoms individually2. This lesson will also deal with two of Israel’s neighbors to the east: the Moabites

and Ammonites; and their troublesome neighbors to the southwest, the Philistines

The Canaanities1. 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 father’s

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.

anaanitesC the

anaanitesC the

EmpiresIdols

Lesson Two



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 commonthemes: 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 wellas 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 gratification—most of the Canaanite religions

centered on fertility and their practices involved sexual

activity with temple prostitutes and other sexual

perversions.2. Aggression—the gods of the people of Canaan were war-

like and destructive, a great temptation to those wanting to

become strong and dominant.3. Low demands—unlike Jehovah, who demanded the heart

of man, most Canaanite gods demanded occasional

sacrifices (although the sacrifices often involved children). iv. Deities1. 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). Atthe 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, hekilled 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

death, drought and adversity.3. Asherah—

Baal, meaning “Lord” or“Master”



a. The wife of El; to the Canaanites of the south, she

was viewed as the wife of Baal and “Mother Earth”4. Mot—god of death and opposed to all fertility

5. Resheph—god 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 godsb. Athtart was the goddess of love and fertility

c. Anat, goddess of war

d. Derketo, believed to be a goddess of fertility. v. Rituals1. 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 oranother, sexual activity was a central part of Canaanitereligion. “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. Canaan’s Interaction with God’s 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 God’s 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 Hismeans 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 thornin the side of God’s people for centuries.

2. The Phoeniciansa. 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.



b. T

he

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 anation. 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 theEgyptians (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

Though they were not a military force, Phoenician influence spread across the

Mediterranean through commerce and trade

A relief of a Phoeniciansailing vessel



the sea—so 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 theyextracted 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. Melqart—city god of Tyre, the god of seaand navigation

f. Interaction with God’s People: i. Listed with the oppressors of Israel during the time

of the Judges, Judges 10:12 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 Ammonites1. 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 wasChemosh, a god of war

(Numbers 21:29; Judges 11:24;

1 Kings 11:7, 33; 2 Kings23:13; Jeremiah 48:7, 13, 46)

c. Interaction with God’s People: i. Balak, king of Moab,sought to destroy the Hebrew, Numbers 22-24

A sampling of the

Phoenicianalphabet



ii. As a result, they were excluded and killed by God’s 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 David’s 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

3:25-272. The Ammonites

a. Another result of the sin of

Lot’s daughters (Genesis19).b. They were closely linked to

the Amorites, whom they

may have lived next to and

at times had overlappingterritories.

c. Their main god was

Milcom, also known asMolech, spoken of in the

Bible as one to whom child sacrifices were offered (2 Kings 23:10).

d.

Interaction with God’s 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 thenewly 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. Solomon’s 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 Philistines1. 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 theIsraelites.

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 drivenoff. 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 settledalong the coast of Palestine, south of Phoenicia,

probably destroying the original Philistines orintermingling with them to the point they became one

people rather than two. i. This change would explain Jeremiah’s

explanation that

the Philistineswere from

Caphtor (Crete).

3. The land of the Philistines we

only about 20 miles wide, and60 miles long. They occupied

five major cities: Ashdod,Askelon, Ekron, Gath and Gaza.

A king ruled each city, but thekings worked well with one

another to form a tight political

alliance.

4. The Philistines early onmastered 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 God’s People:

a. The original Philistines were descendants of Ham, Genesis 10:13-14b. The later Philistines were from Crete, Jeremiah 47:4

A relief found inEgyptian records of“The People of the

Sea”



c. Israel was commanded to avoid them

after they first left Egypt, Exodus 13:17d. Joshua did not attack them during the

conquest of Canaan, Joshua 13:1-3

e. They became a test for Israel, Judges

3:1-4f. 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, theyfought 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 localuntil the Philistines sent it back to

Israel, 1 Samuel 5-6

i.

The Philistines challenged God’speople until the time of David, when hekilled Goliath, their champion, and began

a long period of control over them, 1 Samuel 17

j. During David’s flight from Saul, he joined forces with the Philistines for a

brief period of time, 1 Samuel 27k. In their war against Israel, they killed Saul and his sons, 1 Samuel 29-31.

Questions1. 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 wasplaced before it? ____________________________________________________

Notes:

David slays Goliath



1.

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