Canaan 101

[B-A-C]

In Genesis 10; we see that Noah had 3 sons. One of them was named Ham. ( Gen 10:1; )
One of Ham's sons was named Canaan. ( Gen 10:6; ) So Noah was Canaan's grandfather.

Gen 10:15; Canaan became the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth
Gen 10:16; and the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite
Gen 10:17; and the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite
Gen 10:18; and the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite; and afterward the families of the Canaanite were spread abroad.
Gen 10:19; The territory of the Canaanite extended from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; as you go toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

Canaan had several sons, but in Gen 10:19; above we see the Biblical geographical boundaries of Canaan.
In Gen 10:32; see this is defined after the flood.

This is basically repeated in Numbers 34;.

Numb 34:1; Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
Numb 34:2; “Command the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance, even the land of Canaan according to its borders.
Numb 34:3; Your southern sector shall extend from the wilderness of Zin along the side of Edom, and your southern border shall extend from the end of the Salt Sea eastward.
Numb 34:4; Then your border shall turn direction from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim and continue to Zin, and its termination shall be to the south of Kadesh-barnea; and it shall reach Hazaraddar and continue to Azmon.
Numb 34:5; The border shall turn direction from Azmon to the brook of Egypt, and its termination shall be at the sea.
Numb 34:6; ‘As for the western border, you shall have the Great Sea, that is, its coastline; this shall be your west border.
Numb 34:7; ‘And this shall be your north border: you shall draw your border line from the Great Sea to Mount Hor.
Numb 34:8; You shall draw a line from Mount Hor to the Lebo-hamath, and the termination of the border shall be at Zedad;
Numb 34:9; and the border shall proceed to Ziphron, and its termination shall be at Hazar-enan. This shall be your north border.
Numb 34:10; ‘For your eastern border you shall also draw a line from Hazar-enan to Shepham,
Numb 34:11; and the border shall go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain; and the border shall go down and reach to the slope on the east side of the Sea of Chinnereth.
Numb 34:12; And the border shall go down to the Jordan and its termination shall be at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land according to its borders all around.’”

It's interesting to note, that God is the One defining this. Not Moses.
It's also amazing how many of these places still exist even today. 3,500 years after the time of Moses.
(depending on which Bible scholars you believe about the timeline of Moses).

So now we have a place called Canaan... we know where it is and how large it is, and what it's boundaries are. Basically modern day Israel.

.... continued... how did Canaan become Israel?

 

[B-A-C]

In Genesis 13; we see a couple of fellows named Abram and Lot. They were brothers.

13 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot with him.

Gen 13:2; Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold.
Gen 13:3; He went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,

We see that Abram went to Bethel, and then between Bethel and Ai. This place called Bethel becomes important later.

Gen 13:8; So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers.
Gen 13:9; Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me; if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left.”
Gen 13:10; Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar.
Gen 13:11; So Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. Thus they separated from each other.
Gen 13:12; Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the valley, and moved his tents as far as Sodom.
Gen 13:13; Now the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord.
Gen 13:14; The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward;
Gen 13:15; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever.
Gen 13:16; I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered.
Gen 13:17; Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.”
Gen 13:18; Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.

These is some strife between the people of Lot and the people of Abram. So Abram tells Lot that they should separate (verses 8 and 9 )
Lot takes the choice land that has the water, it is lush "like the garden of the Lord" (presumably Eden). (verses 10 and 11 )
But Abram takes the land of Canaan. ( verse 12 )
God tells Abram to take a look around at the land around him, He then tell Abram to walk around it (the length and breath) (verses 14 and 17 ).

In Gen 13:15; God tells Abram He is giving this land to him and his descendants.... "forever".
After God makes this promise to Abram (who later becomes Abraham) Canaan is known as "the promised land".
Because God promised it to the descendants of Abraham.

During the Exodus in which the Hebrews wondered in the wilderness for 40 years, the Hebrews make God mad.
But Moses reminds God of the promise He made to Abraham.

Exod 32:13; Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’”

Again we see this is promised to Abraham's descendants... "forever".
This is even brought up a couple of places in the New testament.. such as Luke 1:55;

... to be continued ...

 

[B-A-C]

Abraham had a son named Isaac. Isaac had two sons. They fought most of the time. One even used treachery to "steal"
the birthright blessing of the other one from their father Isaac. The two sons names were Jacob and Esau.

Abraham also had another son, an illegitimate son bore from his servant woman Hagar. The son's name was Ishmael.
( Gen 16:7-16; ) More about him later.

In Genesis 28; Jacob has a dream. This story in the Bible is known as "Jacob's Ladder".

Gen 28:10; Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran.
Gen 28:11; He came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place.
Gen 28:12; He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
Gen 28:13; And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants.
Gen 28:14; Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
Gen 28:15; Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
Gen 28:16; Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
Gen 28:17; He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
Gen 28:18; So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top.
Gen 28:19; He called the name of that place Bethel; however, previously the name of the city had been Luz.

In verse 13, God tells Jacob he is giving this land to him and his descendants. In the next verse he tells Jacob his descendants will spread
out to the north, south, east and west of this area.
In verse 19, we see this happened at a place called Bethel. This is the same Bethel Abram (Abraham) was at in Gen 13:3;

.... to be continued... the sons of Jacob.

 

[B-A-C]

Jacob had twelve sons and at least one daughter, by his two wives, Leah and Rachel, and by their handmaidens Bilhah and Zilpah.
His two wives were sisters, their father's name was Laban.

Jacob, through his two wives and his two concubines had twelve biological sons;
Reuben (Genesis 29:32; )
Simeon (Genesis 29:33: )
Levi (Genesis 29:34; )
Judah (Genesis 29:35; )
Dan (Genesis 30:5; )
Naphtali (Genesis 30:7; )
Gad (Genesis 30:10; )
Asher (Genesis 30:12; )
Issachar (Genesis 30:17; )
Zebulun (Genesis 30:19; )
Joseph (Genesis 30:23; )
Benjamin (Genesis 35:18; )
and at least one daughter, Dinah (Genesis 30:21; ).
Jacob also adopted the two sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim.(Genesis 48:5) Sometimes they are included in the listing
of the twelve tribes, sometimes they are not. ( More about that later )..

In the story of Joseph, there is a severe famine in the land and Joseph takes his brothers and father to live with him in Egypt.
But after Jacob dies, Joseph tells his brothers to go back to the promised land.

Gen 45:25; to Gen 46:5; (the entire chapter of Gen 46 tells who came to Egypt). They stayed in a part of Egypt called
the land of Goshen.

In Gen 47:29-31; Jacob made his sons promise that they wouldn't bury him in Egypt.

Somewhere along the way.. Jacob's name got changed to Israel.. that is a story unto itself.
But many times in the Bible when it says "the sons of Israel", it simply means the descendants of Jacob,

In Gen 48: Israel (Jacob) tells his sons about the dream of Jacob's ladder.

Gen 48:3; ...God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me,
Gen 48:4; and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.

Again... we see this is "forever" or "an everlasting possession".

.. to be continued...

 

[B-A-C]

So how long did the sons of Israel stay in Egypt?

Exod 12:40; Now the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.
Exod 12:41; And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, to the very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.

So then we have the story of Moses fighting with Pharaoh to "let my people go". This happens in the first 12 chapters of
Exodus with the story of Moses. There is more about Moses later in Exodus, but this is where they leave Egypt.

Where are they going? To the promised land of Canaan.
Now from the Nile Delta to Canaan would have been between 200 to 250 miles. A pretty far walk, but even
if they only covered 10 miles a day, it would have taken 25 days. If they only covered 5 miles a day, it would
have taken 40 days. But yet it took 40 years. There are several reasons for this, but the point here is,
they were going to the promised land of Canaan. The land promised to their "father" Abraham.

They don't actually get to enter Canaan while Moses is their leader. A new generation comes up
and they are the ones who enter into Canaan. This is mostly in the book of Joshua.

The journey into Canaan isn't easy, they have a fight many wars with the people already inhabiting the land.
The first Canaanites they encounter is the city of Jericho (where Rahab the harlot lived).
Most of us know the story of how the walls of Jericho came tumbling down.

.. to be continued ...

 

[B-A-C]

It would take a very long time and quite a bit of scripture to cover the sons of Israel taking over the land of Canaan.

If there is interest.. perhaps we will do that.

But even after the Jews inhabited Canaan (Israel) people tried to take it away from them.
One of the more memorable prayers about this time is from Jehoshaphat.

2 Chron 20:5; Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord before the new court,
2 Chron 20:6; and he said, “O Lord, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can stand against You.
2 Chron 20:7; Did You not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and give it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever?
2 Chron 20:8; They have lived in it, and have built You a sanctuary there for Your name, saying,
2 Chron 20:9; ‘Should evil come upon us, the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You (for Your name is in this house) and cry to You in our distress, and You will hear and deliver us.’
2 Chron 20:10; Now behold, the sons of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom You did not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt (they turned aside from them and did not destroy them),
2 Chron 20:11; see how they are rewarding us by coming to drive us out from Your possession which You have given us as an inheritance.
2 Chron 20:12; O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.”

In verse 7, Jehoshaphat reminds God about the things he did. (verses 7 and 20 )
Also in verse 7, he remind God... "did you not give this land to Abraham.. and his descendants to inhabit... "forever".