Canaan (Hebrew: כְּנַעַן Kəna‘an – “submissive, subject”) was the son of Ham and grandson of Noah (Gen. 9:18). After Ham’s disrespect for Noah, the latter pronounced a curse not on Ham himself, but on his son Canaan: “cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers” (Gen. 9:25). Canaan became the ancestor of the peoples known in the Bible as the Canaanites.
The Canaanites were descendants of Canaan and the original inhabitants of the land of Canaan, the area from Sidon to the southern borders of Gomorrah (Gen. 10:15–19). They were divided into numerous tribes (Hittites, Amorites, Jebusites, Perizzites, Hivites, Girgashites, etc.), who lived in fortified cities and without a common central ruler. Their language and names are Semitic and close to Phoenician and Hebrew.
Religiously, the Canaanites were distinguished by their developed paganism and cults of Baal, Ashtoreth, Molech, etc., accompanied by idolatry and serious moral perversions. Therefore, in the biblical perspective, they are presented as a people whose “measure of iniquity” was fulfilled (Gen. 15:16), and against whom Israel received strict orders to separate and destroy (Ex. 23:32; Deut. 7:1–5). However, the Israelites did not completely destroy the Canaanites; a significant part of them remained to live among Israel, often as tax collectors or subjects (Judg. 1). This led to cultural and religious mixing, idolatry, and serious consequences for Israel, especially during the era of the judges. Remnants of the Canaanite peoples are also mentioned in later biblical periods – under David, Solomon, and after the Babylonian captivity.
