Genesis 10:15-19

10:15 Canaan was the father of ¹  Sidon his firstborn, ²  Heth, ³  10:16 the Jebusites, ⁴  Amorites, ⁵  Girgashites, ⁶  10:17 Hivites, ⁷  Arkites, ⁸  Sinites, ⁹  10:18 Arvadites, ¹⁰  Zemarites, ¹¹  and Hamathites. ¹²  Eventually the families of the Canaanites were scattered 10:19 and the borders of Canaan extended ¹³  from Sidon ¹⁴  all the way to ¹⁵  Gerar as far as Gaza, and all the way to ¹⁶  Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

Exodus 23:23-28

23:23 For my angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I will destroy them completely. ¹⁷ 

23:24 “You must not bow down to their gods; you must not serve them or do according to their practices. Instead you must completely overthrow them and smash their standing stones ¹⁸  to pieces. ¹⁹  23:25 You must serve ²⁰  the Lord your God, and he ²¹  will bless your bread and your water, ²²  and I will remove sickness from your midst. 23:26 No woman will miscarry her young ²³  or be barren in your land. I will fulfill ²⁴  the number of your days.

23:27 “I will send my terror ²⁵  before you, and I will destroy ²⁶  all the people whom you encounter; I will make all your enemies turn their backs ²⁷  to you. 23:28 I will send ²⁸  hornets before you that will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite before you.

Exodus 33:2

33:2 I will send an angel ²⁹  before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ³⁰ 

Exodus 34:11

34:11 “Obey ³¹  what I am commanding you this day. I am going to drive out ³²  before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

Deuteronomy 7:1

The Dispossession of Nonvassals

7:1 When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you – Hittites, ³³  Girgashites, ³⁴  Amorites, ³⁵  Canaanites, ³⁶  Perizzites, ³⁷  Hivites, ³⁸  and Jebusites, ³⁹  seven ⁴⁰  nations more numerous and powerful than you –

[10:15]  ¹ tn Heb “fathered.”

[10:15]  ² sn Sidon was the foremost city in Phoenicia; here Sidon may be the name of its founder.

[10:15]  ³ tn Some see a reference to “Hittites” here (cf. NIV), but this seems unlikely. See the note on the phrase “sons of Heth” in Gen 23:3.

[10:16]  ⁴ sn The Jebusites were the Canaanite inhabitants of ancient Jerusalem.

[10:16]  ⁵ sn Here Amorites refers to smaller groups of Canaanite inhabitants of the mountainous regions of Palestine, rather than the large waves of Amurru, or western Semites, who migrated to the region.

[10:16]  ⁶ sn The Girgashites are an otherwise unknown Canaanite tribe, though the name is possibly mentioned in Ugaritic texts (see G. J. Wenham, Genesis [WBC], 1:226).

[10:17]  ⁷ sn The Hivites were Canaanite tribes of a Hurrian origin.

[10:17]  ⁸ sn The Arkites lived in Arka, a city in Lebanon, north of Sidon.

[10:17]  ⁹ sn The Sinites lived in Sin, another town in Lebanon.

[10:18]  ¹⁰ sn The Arvadites lived in the city Arvad, located on an island near the mainland close to the river El Kebir.

[10:18]  ¹¹ sn The Zemarites lived in the town Sumur, north of Arka.

[10:18]  ¹² sn The Hamathites lived in Hamath on the Orontes River.

[10:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “were.”

[10:19]  ¹⁴ map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[10:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “as you go.”

[10:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “as you go.”

[23:23]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “will cut them off” (so KJV, ASV).

[23:24]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew is מַצֵּבֹתֵיהֶם (matsevotehem, “their standing stones”); these long stones were erected to represent the abode of the numen or deity. They were usually set up near the altar or the high place. To destroy these would be to destroy the centers of Canaanite worship in the land.

[23:24]  ¹⁹ tn Both verbs are joined with their infinitive absolutes to provide the strongest sense to these instructions. The images of the false gods in Canaan were to be completely and utterly destroyed. This could not be said any more strongly.

[23:25]  ²⁰ tn The perfect tense, masculine plural, with vav (ו) consecutive is in sequence with the preceding: do not bow down to them, but serve Yahweh. It is then the equivalent of an imperfect of instruction or injunction.

[23:25]  ²¹ tn The LXX reads “and I will bless” to make the verb conform with the speaker, Yahweh.

[23:25]  ²² sn On this unusual clause B. Jacob says that it is the reversal of the curse in Genesis, because the “bread and water” represent the field work and ground suitability for abundant blessing of provisions (Exodus, 734).

[23:26]  ²³ tn Or “abort”; Heb “cast.”

[23:26]  ²⁴ sn No one will die prematurely; this applies to the individual or the nation. The plan of God to bless was extensive, if only the people would obey.

[23:27]  ²⁵ tn The word for “terror” is אֵימָתִי (’emati); the word has the thought of “panic” or “dread.” God would make the nations panic as they heard of the exploits and knew the Israelites were drawing near. U. Cassuto thinks the reference to “hornets” in v. 28 may be a reference to this fear, an unreasoning dread, rather than to another insect invasion (Exodus, 308). Others suggest it is symbolic of an invading army or a country like Egypt or literal insects (see E. Neufeld, “Insects as Warfare Agents in the Ancient Near East,” Or 49 [1980]: 30-57).

[23:27]  ²⁶ tn Heb “kill.”

[23:27]  ²⁷ tn The text has “and I will give all your enemies to you [as] a back.” The verb of making takes two accusatives, the second being the adverbial accusative of product (see GKC 371-72 §117.ii, n. 1).

[23:28]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and I will send.”

[33:2]  ²⁹ sn This seems not to be the same as the Angel of the Presence introduced before.

[33:2]  ³⁰ sn See T. Ishida, “The Structure and Historical Implications of Lists of Pre-Israelite Nations,” Bib (1979): 461-90.

[34:11]  ³¹ tn The covenant duties begin with this command to “keep well” what is being commanded. The Hebrew expression is “keep for you”; the preposition and the suffix form the ethical dative, adding strength to the imperative.

[34:11]  ³² tn Again, this is the futur instans use of the participle.

[7:1]  ³³ sn Hittites. The center of Hittite power was in Anatolia (central modern Turkey). In the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 b.c.) they were at their zenith, establishing outposts and colonies near and far. Some elements were obviously in Canaan at the time of the Conquest (1400-1350 b.c.).

[7:1]  ³⁴ sn Girgashites. These cannot be ethnically identified and are unknown outside the OT. They usually appear in such lists only when the intention is to have seven groups in all (see also the note on the word “seven” later in this verse).

[7:1]  ³⁵ sn Amorites. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200 b.c. or thereabouts.

[7:1]  ³⁶ sn Canaanites. These were the indigenous peoples of the land, going back to the beginning of recorded history (ca. 3000 b.c.). The OT identifies them as descendants of Ham (Gen 10:6), the only Hamites to have settled north and east of Egypt.

[7:1]  ³⁷ sn Perizzites. This is probably a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).

[7:1]  ³⁸ sn Hivites. These are usually thought to be the same as the Hurrians, a people well-known in ancient Near Eastern texts. They are likely identical to the Horites (see note on the term “Horites” in Deut 2:12).

[7:1]  ³⁹ sn Jebusites. These inhabited the hill country, particularly in and about Jerusalem (cf. Num 13:29; Josh 15:8; 2 Sam 5:6; 24:16).

[7:1]  ⁴⁰ sn Seven. This is an ideal number in the OT, one symbolizing fullness or completeness. Therefore, the intent of the text here is not to be precise and list all of Israel’s enemies but simply to state that Israel will have a full complement of foes to deal with. For other lists of Canaanites, some with fewer than seven peoples, see Exod 3:8; 13:5; 23:23, 28; 33:2; 34:11; Deut 20:17; Josh 3:10; 9:1; 24:11. Moreover, the “Table of Nations” (Gen 10:15-19) suggests that all of these (possibly excepting the Perizzites) were offspring of Canaan and therefore Canaanites.