Genesis 10:15-18

15-18. Eleven Canaanitish nations are here enumerated . The first two names are probably personal, the last nine are certainly national . The descendants of Canaan, it is observable, are given with unusual fulness, they being the foreign tribes with whom the Hebrews came into most immediate contact, and, therefore, the sources of information were in this case unusually complete . The descendants of Canaan were, first, the Phenicians; second, the Canaanites proper .

Sidon Sidonians, Phenicians. Recent studies of Phenician monuments establish the view, long since on other grounds entertained, that the Phenicians spoke a Shemitish language, very closely allied to the Hebrew, if not identical with it. Thus Carthage (the name of a Phenician colony) signifies New-Town; Barcas, Carthagenian for Hamilcar, is the Hebrew Barak, signifying thunderbolt, a name appropriate to a military hero. The bal of Hannibal and Hasdrubal is the Phenician and Hebrew Baal, signifying Lord. These facts accord well with the Scripture record of Canaanitish proper names, and of the free intercourse between the Hebrew patriarchs and the Canaanitish aborigines. Some have insisted that the Phenicians must have been of Shemitic origin, but they show no Shemitic peculiarities, except in language. There is much obscurity yet to be cleared up in the early Phenician history; but the facts seem best explained by supposing a very early mingling of Hamites and Shemites in what is now Palestine, whereby the Hamites acquired a Shemitic language, yet retained, in a most marked manner, the leading Hamitic peculiarities, such as sensuality and idolatry, and, as contrasted with the Shemites, commercial enterprise. The ancient myths and the Assyrian monuments show a similar mingling of the two races, in prehistoric times, in Mesopotamia.

Rawlinson, however, supposes that Sidon and Tyre were originally Canaanitic, but afterwards Shemitic, the Phenicians being a Shemitic race, who immigrated into Palestine from the shores of the Persian Gulf in about the 13th century B.C. The free and friendly intercourse maintained between the Hebrews and the Phenicians in the days of David and Solomon, certainly seems to separate them, in a marked manner, from the Canaanitish tribes who were devoted so solemnly to destruction, and with whom the Hebrews were forbidden to form any alliances. The subject can by no means be regarded as settled. (RAWL., Her., book vii, Essay ii; Knobel, p. 305.)

Sidon, or Zidon, or Tsidon, signifies hunter, or fisher. This was the chief city of the Phenicians, from which Tyre was colonized. It was situated on the Mediterranean shore, where its ruins may now be seen. The Sidonians were the first navigators, being the first to steer by the stars; they had colonies in Africa, Spain, and even in Britain. Tyre surpassed Sidon in power and commercial splendor. The great variety and richness of the Tyrian commerce is described by Ezekiel in lofty strains, chapters 26, 27. The name Sidon is used by the Greeks and on the Tyrian coins, as equivalent to Phenician. There are Phenician names along the Persian Gulf, which attest the westward movement of this people in very ancient times. (RAWL., Her., 1: 1.)

Heth Or Cheth, ancestor of the Hittites or Chittites, who are also called sons of Heth, Genesis 23:3, etc . They were a Canaanitish tribe, who, in the time of Abraham . occupied the hill country about Hebron, (then called Kirjath-Arba,) and who treated the patriarch with much kindness and hospitality, chap . 23 . They afterwards spread northward, and the name Hittite becomes synonymous with Canaanite . In the time of Solomon and of Elisha we read of their “kings . ” 1 Kings 10:29; 2 Kings 7:6.

Jebusite A mountain tribe who dwelt in Jebus, afterwards Mount Zion, and who held that strong fortress for centuries after the conquest of Canaan, being only finally subdued by David. 2 Samuel 5:7.

Amorite The most powerful and widespread of the Canaanitish tribes, and hence their name is often equivalent to Canaanite, as in Genesis 15:16; Genesis 48:22. They founded powerful kingdoms on both banks of the Jordan, the eastern Amorites being conquered by Moses and the western by Joshua. Yet a remnant of this, as of other Canaanitish tribes, survived, even in the days of Solomon. 1 Kings 9:20. It is made quite probable by Knobel that the word Amorite is used not only of an Hamitic tribe, but also in a larger sense of a widespread people who dwelt in Canaan before the Canaanitish occupation, and were descended from the Shemitic Lud . The gigantic Amorites, of whom Og and Sihon were kings, he believes to have been Shemites . (So FURST, Gesch . Bib . Lit . , pp . 19, 127, etc . )

Girgasite A tribe of whom, as Josephus says, there is left only the name.

Hivite Or Chivite; a people who, in the time of Jacob, lived in Shechem, (Genesis 34:2,) who were also found by Joshua in Gibeon, (Joshua 11:19,) but whose chief seat at the time of the conquest of Canaan seems to have been in North-west Palestine, about Hermon and Lebanon . Joshua 11:3.

Arkite This people dwelt on the Mediterranean shore north of Sidon. Their name is still preserved in the modern Arka, famous as being the birthplace of the Emperor Alexander Severus. Its ruins, including great columns of granite and of syenite, are scattered about a lofty mound twelve miles north of Tripoli.

Sinite This people seem to have left their relics in the mountain fortress of Sinna, mentioned by Strabo, and the town of Sini, or Syn, north of Arka.

Arvadite Inhabitants of the island Arvad or Arad, and the adjacent shore. Arvad was a rocky island fortress, two miles from the shore, north of Arka and Sini. It was colonized from Sidon, and was the mother of Tarsus, ranking at one time next to Tyre. It is ranked with these renowned Phenician cities by Herodotus, (vii, 98,) by Ezekiel, (Ezekiel 27:8; Ezekiel 27:11,) and by the historian of the Maccabees . 1Ma 15:23 . It is still inhabited by a maritime population bearing the name of Ruad, and retains some well-preserved remnants of heavy, bevelled Phenician walls.

Zemarite This people has not, as yet, been with certainty, identified by any historical or geographical traces. Perhaps the town of Sumra or Shoumra, at the foot of Lebanon, between Arka and the sea, is one of the memorials of this tribe, (so Knobel,) but there is no other proof than its vicinity to the other identified Phenician remains.

Hamathite Or Chamathite; inhabitants of Hamath or Chamath Rabba, that is, Chamath the Great, (Amos 6:2,) a city on the Orontes, now known by the same name, in the great valley between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. This valley is known in the Old Testament as “the entering in of Hamath,” and formed the northern boundary of the promised land. See Num 13:21 ; 1 Kings 8:65.