Alrighty, I ended yesterday’s post by mentioning that the land of Canaan was not to be considered a country or a nation.
Instead, it’s a huge region that actually contains multiple states and nations clustered together inside it.
Now in a similar fashion, although we refer to the inhabitants of Canaan as Canaanites, that’s also misleading.
Why?
Because the Canaanites were NOT a homogenous people.
Speaking of the inhabitants of Canaan as Canaanites would be like me saying all the residents of the Middle East are Arabs.
We obviously know that’s not true because the inhabitants of the Middle East identify themselves based on which city-state, tribe, king or village to to which they our attached.
For example, they call themselves the Iraqis, the Iranians, the Egyptians, the Syrians etcetera.
The same thing goes for all the residents of Canaan.
Now it’s important to have a firm understanding of exactly how the land of Canaan (the land that would become Israel) came about.
Its origins occurred actually several hundred years before Abraham was born.
Recall the time after the great flood when Noah got drunk and was humiliated by his son Ham.
We’re told that Ham entered uninvited into his father’s tent and discovered him passed out drunk and naked.
After apparently doing some incredibly wicked and ungodly thing, Ham left the tent and reported his father’s situation to his two brothers Shem and Japheth.
Upon receiving Ham’s report, Shem and Japheth quickly covered up their naked father while being careful not to look upon his nakedness.
Later when Noah woke up and discovered the cloak over him, he became very angry and asked what in the hell had just happened.
His sons told him and the now infuriated Noah responded by uttering a curse that has had repercussions down to this very day.
The specific nature of Ham’s offense is also unclear and is also the subject of countless debates among scholars and theologians.
And we’re also left to ponder why exactly was the son Canaan cursed instead of Ham.
We’ll continue this discussion the next time we meet.
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