How to spot a Canaanite
We are all
very well aware that the Patriarchs were promised possession of the land of the
Canaanites. The Canaanites were to be
dispossessed because of the moral and religious abominations that they
practiced. Moreover the Torah commands
us to destroy (cherem) the Canaanites as well as the other indigenous
nations.
The question
then arises- how was one to recognize a Canaanite? One would hope that if this mitzvah were fulfilled (and it is
questionable based on verses in Joshua and Judges whether there was ever
wholesale destruction of the people of Canaan). Were the genetically
different? Or were the distinguished
linguistically, or by dress or by religious practice. The latter would seem to be the sin qua non of being Canaanite-
at least according to the Torah and the prophets.
For the
Israelites arriving in Canaan after the exodus the task of identifying the
Canaanite people was perhaps easier than for later generations. It is unlikely that Bnei Yisrael having been
in Egypt for several hundred years would have spoken the same dialect as the
people who were in Canaan during that time.
Also the tribal society of the Israelites was a world away from the more
urbanized Canaanites.
But looking a
few hundred years down the road to the time of the United monarchy, a time when
the Israelites had become more urbanized and there had been a few centuries for
the two peoples to resemble each other in speech and dress, what would be a
distinguishing sign that someone was or was not an Israelite (aside from the
obvious tribal affiliation- whether names or behavioral signs).
It is obvious from Joshua 9 and Judges 1 that the Canaanites
continued to live among the Israelites.
In what capacity did they remain?
There are several verses that may shed light. In the story of Noach in Breishit 9: 21-27 Noach curses
Canaan. The story itself is fascinating
in that it should have been Ham who was cursed ( a topic for another day), but
the word that is mentioned several time is eved
(slave). Canaan will be a slave to Shem and Japhet. In the above-mentioned chapters in Joshua
and Judges the Canaanites who could not be driven out are to be tributaries
(slaves or forced laborers). Finally during the reign of Solomon the forced
laborers (1Kings 9:20-21) are the Amorites and other indigenous people “to this
day”.
In conclusion , besides the obvious
religious differences ( it is thought that at least some of the bamot ( the high places) were previously related to Canaanite cult places) at
some point in first Temple period the
Canaanites were a lower economic and social class of forced laborers. The fact that the prophets hardly make
mention of them after the eight century would seem to indicate that by that
time they were no longer a significant factor either socially of religiously (
The use of the word Canaanite in Ezra 9 and Nechemiah 9 deserves further
thought but most likely refers to “aboriginal inhabitants”)
