CANAANITES (kfenan-ites or ka'naAn-Ites) (fleb. ken-alt-an-ee'), the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham and grandson of inhabitants of the land of Canaan and adjoining districts.
A general account of the different nations in cluded in the term Is given in the present article, and a more detailed account of each will he found under their respective names.
(1) The Promised Land. The Israelites were delivered from Egypt by Moses, in order that they might take possession of the land which Cod had promised to their fathers. This country was then inhabited by the descendants of Canaan, who were divided into six or seven distinct nations, viz . the Hittites. Girgashitec. Amnrites Canaanites, Periz zites. Ifivites. and Jelmsites (Fend. iii•17. where the Girgashitcs are not mentioned ; Dent. vii:t, etc.). All these tribes are included in the most general acceptation of the term Canaanites; but the word, in its more restricted sense, as applied to one tribe, designated those who dwelt by the sea, and by the coasts of Jordan' (Num. xiii :29). Besides these 'seven nations,' there were several tribes of the Canaanites who lived beyond the borders of the Promised Land, northward. These were the Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites (Gen. x:17, 18), with whoni, of course, the Israelites had no concern. There were also other tribes of Canaanitish origin (or possibly other names given to some of those already men tioned), who were dispossessed by the Israelites. The chief of these were the Amalekites, the Anak ites, and the Rephaim or 'giants,' as they are fre quently called in our translation. These nations, and especially the six or seven so frequently men tioned by name, the Israelites were commanded to dispossess and utterly to destroy (Exod. xxiii :23; Num. xxxiii : 4o; Deut. xx:16, 17). The destruc tion, however, was not to be accomplished at once.
(2) Conquest. The destructive war com menced with an attack on the Israelites by Arad, king of the Canaanites, which issued in the de struction of several cities in the extreme south of Palestine, to which the name of Hormah was given (Num. xxi:I-3). The Israelites, however,
did not follow up this victory, which was simply the consequence of an unprovoked assault on them ; but turning back, and compassing the land of Edom, they attempted to pass through the coun try on the other side of the Jordan, inhabited by a tribe of the Amorites. Their passage being re fused, and an attack made on them by Sihon, king of the Amorites, they not only forced their way through his land, but destroyed its inhabitants. and proceeding onwards towards the adjoining kingdom f Bashan, they in like manner destroyed the inhabitants of that district, and slew Og, their king, who was the last of the Rephaim, or giants (Deut. :t ). The tract of which they thus came possessed was subsequently allotted to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh.
(3) Under joslua. After the death of Moses the Israelites crossed the Jordan, and. un der the conduct of Joshua, took possession of the greater part of the Promised Land, and destroyed its inhabitants. Several cities, however, still held out, particularly Jebus, • afterwards Jerusalem. which was not taken till the time of David (2 Sam. v :6), and Sidon, which seems never to have yielded to the tribe of Asher, to whom it was al lotted (Judg. i :31). Scattered portions also of the Canaanitish nations escaped, and were frequently strong enough to harass, though not to dispossess, the Israelites. The inhabitants of Gibeon, a tribe of the Hivites. made peace by stratagem, and thus escaped the destruction of their fellow-country men.
Individuals from amongst the Canaanites seem, in later times, to have united themselves, in some way, to the Israelites, and not only to have lived in peace, but to have been capable of holding places of honor and power ; thus Uriah, one of David's captains, was a Hittite (I Chron.