5 Things to Know about the Canaanites in the Bible

Meg Bucher Author
Updated Jul 20, 2021

“The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.’” Genesis 12:1

Who Were the Canaanites in the Bible?

God will always be purposeful in all He does and allows. His plan to redeem humanity included a promise to Abraham concerning the land he would inherit and the generations that would follow the One True God. The Canaanites were a people group who inhabited the land promised to Abraham.

“Abram traveled though the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. The LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.” Genesis 12:6-7

When Abraham arrived at the land promised to him, the Canaanite people inhabited the land. They were a people who worshipped many gods and had many detestable practices. They were descendants of Ham, who was a son of Noah, whom Noah had cursed. Eventually, their idealistic lifestyle and unimaginable practices like child sacrifice caused them to meet their doom, though God remained patient with them for centuries.

5 Things to Know about Canaan and the Canaanites in the Bible

1. Canaan is the place God chose to fulfill His promise to Abraham.

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:2-3

God chose a place hostile to the Lord to give to Abraham and His chosen people as an inheritance. “God’s original blessing on the whole human race would be especially fulfilled in the lives of Abram and his offspring,” the NIV Study Bible explains. This is consistent with the character of our great God, to do the impossible through circumstances we could never imagine working out the way they do. Proving He is the God who does more than we can ask for or imagine, and always makes a way.

2. The Canaanites were descendants of Noah.

The Canaanites are identified in Genesis as descendants of Ham, son of Noah. The strategic location where the Canaanites were settled carries great significance as we zoom out on the providential plan of God. “The Lord wanted his story to be distributed globally,” John A Beck explains, “The promised land was the transportation hub between three continents.”

3. The Canaanite people worshipped many gods.

“Completely destroy them …Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshipping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God.” Deuteronomy 20:17-18

Moreh means teacher, the NIV Study Bible explains, “it suggests that the Canaanites sought directions from their gods by this tree.” The Lord was angered by their idol worship, leading to many immoral practices within the Canaanite culture. In the midst of idol worship, God would establish His promises to Abraham. “The Lord wanted his chosen people to trust him, and the promised land was a land that fostered faith. It was a difficult place to grow food and get water, a famine-prom land where residences were faced with a variety of ecological hardships,” John A. Beck explains in “The Basic Bible Atlas,” “It was also a land that persistently failed military invasion, virtually guaranteeing thatch generation would know the anxiety and disruption caused by war. At such moments there was only one place to look, and that is up, beyond oneself, to the One who could do so much more than we can ask or imagine.”

4. The Canaanites were said to be cursed.

“‘Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.’ He also said, ‘Praise be to the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem.’” Genesis 9:25-26

Ham had four sons, but only one of them was cursed. “The Canaanites’ abundant wickedness proved the curse was warranted,” Garrett Kell explains in an article for TGC, “As a result, they were enslaved by a coalition of easter kinds, by the Israelites during the conquest, and by Soloman during his reign as king.” Ham’s other three sons, Cush, Egypt, and Put, were not cursed as Canaan was. “Canaan is here singled out from Ham’s descendants as the object of Noah’s curse,” NIV Study Bible explains, “ Israel would experience firsthand the depth of Canaanite sin and the harshness of God’s judgment on it.”

5. The Canaanites were defeated and eliminated.

“When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations- the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you- and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated the, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty, and show them no mercy.” Deuteronomy 7:1-2

God remained patient with the Canaanite people for centuries. It was centuries between Abraham’s arrival and Joshua’s entrance into the promised land that was to be for the people of God. “…all humans are born guilty and corrupt,” Kyle Dillon wrote for TGC, “This was especially true of the Canaanite societies steeped in abominable practices like child sacrifice and cult prostitution.” The Canaanite society serves as a sad reminder of the serious of sin, and the glorious truth we live in to day through the New Covenant, to have the opportunity to turn and repent, confess and be forgiven for wayward sinfulness.

The Bible is full of people groups and societies which we can learn from through the study of Scripture. Through Canaan, we are reminded of the danger of having idols and the importance of keeping God genuinely first and foremost in our lives. We are also reminded of the way God uses impossible situations to bring forth His ultimate plan and purposes.

Bible Verses on the Canaanites in the Bible

Genesis 15:18-21: "On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”"

Genesis 9:25-27: "He said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” He also said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.”"

Joshua 17:16: "The people of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us. Yet all the Canaanites who dwell in the plain have chariots of iron, both those in Beth-shean and its villages and those in the Valley of Jezreel.”

Meg writes about everyday life within the love of Christ at megbucher.com. She is the author of “Friends with Everyone, Friendship within the Love of Christ,” “Surface, Unlocking the Gift of Sensitivity,” “Glory Up, The Everyday Pursuit of Praise,” “Home, Finding Our Identity in Christ,” and "Sent, Faith in Motion." Meg earned a Marketing/PR degree from Ashland University but stepped out of the business world to stay home and raise her two daughters …which led her to pursue her writing passion. A contributing writer for Salem Web Network since 2016, Meg is now thrilled to be a part of the editorial team at Salem Web Network. Meg loves being involved in her community and local church, leads Bible study, and serves as a youth leader for teen girls.