CANAANITES and GENOCIDE
by Alexander
Zephyr
An Article in our Ongoing Series:
Canaanite Genocide.
Moral Problems with the Bible.
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CANAANITE GENOCIDE by Alexander
Zephyr
'You must destroy all the people the
Lord your God hands over to you. Show them no mercy, and do not worship their
gods or they will trap you' (Deuteronomy 7:16).
To understand the significance of the future prophetic role in the World of the
descendants of Japheth, Ham and Shem, we have to look at the tiny story of the
'Curse of Ham'. We will also learn the blessings of God given to Japheth and
Shem.
Everyone knows the story how Noah got drunk and felt asleep naked in
his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the 'nakedness of his father' and told
about it to his brothers Shem and Japheth. They took a garment and covered the
'nakedness of their father' without looking at him. When Noah awoke and knew
what Ham had done, he said: 'Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be
unto his brethren' (Genesis 9:25).
This story is short but very condensed with meanings. What had Ham
done so bad that Noah cursed him with such grievous punishment' And why Canaan,
the fourth son of Ham, was cursed instead of his father' The Bible verses are
silent about these details. We ought to remember that Japheth, Ham and Shem were
born before the Deluge. They had inherited sins of the people God destroyed.
They were spared by God only because of their father's righteousness (Genesis
7:1). According to the story, Shem and Japheth were good and obedient sons of
Noah, and treated him with the utmost respect and honor. Noah was for them the
model of the spiritual and moral guidance. Ham was quite different; the evil
inclinations of sinful behavior had overcome all goodness emanated from his
father's righteousness, that he was able to 'uncover the nakedness of his
father.'
There are many opinions of the scholars trying to answer on the
questions 'When Noah awoke and knew what his youngest son had done.' Really,
what did Ham do to his father? What does it mean 'Uncover the nakedness of his
father'? It must have been something more important and grievous than just
simply (and innocently) to see his father without clothes.
One source says that Ham brutally sodomized his father, using the
drunkenness of Noah ('passed out') as a convenient condition to fulfill this
malicious act. To 'uncover the nakedness' is very closely linked to Leviticus 18
as a prohibition not to have sex with relatives:
'None of you shall approach to
any that is near of kin to him. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy
father' (Leviticus 18:6, 7).
God's Law also prohibits the homosexuality:
'Thou shalt not lie with man as with
woman: it is abomination' (Leviticus 18:22).
Others came up with the idea that Ham castrated his father in order to
prevent him to have the fourth son. And there is another speculation that Ham
had intercourse with beautiful Na'amah, Noah's wife, his mother, and as a result
fourth child was born by the name of Canaan. It is not an accident that the
Bible emphasizes the fact that 'Ham is the father of Canaan' on a few occasions
(Genesis 9:18); that later on the Canaanites will reject their settlement among
their brothers beyond the River Nile in Egypt or on the Island Crete in the
Aegean Sea and go live into the Land of Canaan (Palestine) in order to meet
their enemies and rulers of the house of Israel and fulfill the prophesy
(Genesis 9:25). Some theologians think that Noah cursed the youngest son of Ham
because Ham himself was the youngest among the children of Noah. Others suggest
that there is nothing extraordinary in this story besides the fact that Ham is
simply violated Noah's privacy by entering in his tent and looking at his father
naked body. Some speculate even farther saying that Ham witnessed the sexual
intimacy of his drunken father with his mother. These explanations do not make
too much sense for such a heavy punishment of Canaan who had nothing to do with
the 'crime' of his father. It is not even clear if Canaan was born at the time
when Ham 'uncovered the nakedness of his father'. According to the narrative of
the Bible, 'Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and
Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood' (Genesis 10:1).
There are some interesting opinions of the Sages concerning the Noah's wife. In
the book Sefer Yasher (Hebrew for 'upright account') and in the Midrash Bereshit
Rabba 23:3 says that Na'amah, the sister of Tubalcain, (Genesis 4:22), was the
wife of Noah. The Bible does not confirm that. Nahmanides asked: Why mention a
name, if we do not know who it is' The name Na'amah means 'the pleasant one',
'fear and beautiful'. No wonder that the Greek and Arab writers later compare
her beauty with the Venus and Minerva. The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel
portraits her as a composer of funeral songs and lamentations. Some scholars
picture her as upright and chaste woman; the others say that she was a source of
all evil spirits in this World. There are speculations that Na'amah was Ham's
lover, was with him in the ark during the time of the Flood and led him into
adultery.
It is obvious that her name was mentioned not only on account of her personal
charms. Every word and especially every name in Scripture has its purpose and
significance.
'You shall not uncover the nakedness of
your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you
shall not uncover her nakedness. The nakedness of your father's wife shall you
not uncover: it is your father's nakedness' (Leviticus 18:7, 8).
Why did God curse Canaan for the sin of his father Ham?
Why did God curse the Canaanite nation, for the sin of one man?
Noah had the reason to curse Canaan because God showed him what kind of people
will become from Canaan: - the worst evil and idol worshippers, murderers, sex
perverters and moral degraders, heavily linked to the overwhelming sins of Sodom
and Gomorrah. In the course of the history they will become the mortal enemies
and brutal oppressors of God's People Israel. That is why the Almighty commanded
the Israelites to destroy the Canaanites.
'You must destroy all the people the
Lord your God hands over to you. Show them no mercy, and do not worship their
gods or they will trap you. On account of the wickedness of these nations the
Lord your God will drive them out before you' (Deuteronomy 7:16; 9:5).
It is of interest to see Prophet Zechariah 9:6, the last time in the Scripture
the name 'Philistines' mentioned:
A mixed race [Hebrew, "mamzer"
possibly connoting a bastard people] will occupy the city of Ashdod. I will
destroy the pride of the Philistines'.
Could not this 'mixed race, bastard people' represent the modern day
Palestinians who counterfeited a claim of inheritance as if they are rightful
heirs of the ancient Philistines?
Actions of adultery are strongly prohibited by the Bible.
It is important to notice that 'Curse of Canaan' was limited to Canaan people
only.
The Hamitic descendants were blessed to become the 'servants' in the sense of
providing a high technological service to humanity.
Secondly, are we dealing with the same people in Palestine today who lived in
the Canaan for more than 3,000 years ago, mainly the Philistines? Well, the
Palestinian Arabs claim that they are direct descendants of the ancient
Philistines who lived in Canaan before the Israelites moved in. Their motives
are well understood in the light of the political battle for the ownership of
the Land.
Most scholars believe that the Canaanites, who are also called Phoenicians and
Philistines, were not Arabs, and had nothing in common with them. The
Philistines were not even a Semitic people. They are the descendants of Ham
through his son Mizraim.
'Mizraim was the father of the Ludites,
Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, Pathrusites, Casluhites (from whom the
Philistines came) and Caphtorites' (Genesis 10:13-14).
They were invaders from the Aegean Sea, the Island of Crete and Anatolian areas
in the 12 Century b.c. The Canaanites and Israelites were the people who had
dwelled in the land long before the Exodus from Egypt. If the Palestinians were
these 'sea people' as they pretend to be, they might have some justifications to
claim the Island of Crete from the Greek authorities as the homeland of their
origin.
"Did I not bring Israel up from
Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor?" (Amos 9:7).
'Caphtor' denotes the ancient name of the Island Crete where the descendents of
Caphtor, the son of Mizraim, were settled shortly after the Flood. They invaded
Canaan, destroyed the people who lived there, the Avvites, and settled in their
territory.
They did this without realization that it was God's way to fulfill the prophecy
(Genesis 9:25):
'The Caphtorites coming out from Caphtor
destroyed the Avvites and settled in their place' (Deuteronomy 2:23).
The Philistines, the Sea People, are extinct. They have vanished from history.
Any Palestinian Arabs (Shem) link and identification with the Philistines (Ham)
is false. Their origin, culture and language are completely different. The
Philistines were invaders from the Sea in ancient times (circa 12 Century
B.C.). Meanwhile, the Arabs invaded Palestine from the wilderness under
Mohammed in the seven Century A.C. That wilderness is the Arabian Peninsula, the
Arab's homeland. The Israelites and the Philistines had been living in the Land
of Canaan, the Promised Land, since the time of the Patriarch of the Hebrews
Abraham and the king of the Philistines Avimelech. There had been a Peace Treaty
between them. Later on, after the Exodus from Egypt, God had used the
Philistines as an instrument to punish and test His People, Israel. The
Philistines had become a constant plague and mortal enemies of Israelites, their
brutal oppressors.
In the time of King David, the Israelites defeated the Philistines and subdued
them (2nd Samuel 8:1). The Kerethites and Pelethites, were Philistines from
their ancient homeland of Crete. They were loyal to David and even served as his
bodyguards.
As far as the Bible is concerned, the Philistines were destroyed and vanished
from the face of the earth, as the prophets of God had prophesied.
'I will turn my hand against Ekron, till
the last of the Philistines is dead" (Amos 1:8).
'Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon
left in ruins' (Zephaniah 2:4).
'The word of the LORD that came to
Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before Pharaoh smote Gaza. For the
day has come to destroy all the Philistines and to cut off all survivors who
could help Tyre and Sidon. The LORD is about to destroy the Philistines, the
remnant from the coasts of Caphtor' (Jeremiah 47:1, 4).
Many Bible scholars are of the opinion that the Prophet speaks here of Pharaoh
Necho was defeat by the Chaldaeans at the battle of Carchemish in 605 b.c. On
the way back to Egypt, Necho attacked and destroyed the Philistines of Gaza.
This was in the time of Josiah, the King of Judea.
There was no name 'Palestine' until the time of the Romans when Emperor
Hadrian renamed the Roman province of Judea, 'Palestine'. This was in order to
take revenge from the Jewish People for their stubbornness and rebellion against
him. Never before in History had the Land of Canaan or the Land of Israel been
called Palestine. The same goes for the 'Palestinian People': Not one Empire who
ruled over Judea at one time or another (Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans,
Arabs, and Ottomans), ever mentioned in their historical records the existence
of a 'Palestinian People'. This nation was invented after the 1967 'Six Days
War' by the political leaders of the Arab world, the UN and other Anti-Semites
and Jew-haters as a tool in their fight against Israel. In fact, the
Palestinians are 'fresh' immigrants (100 years or so) from all the surrounding
Arab countries who historically had called themselves Jordanians, Lebanese or
Syrians. They thought of the Land as being an integral part of Syria. There are
many known documents confirming this.
Who are the men to judge God's decisions?
'As the heavens are higher than the
earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts'
(Isaiah 55:9).
See Also:
Reactions to Canaanite Genocide.
No.2.
# (2. Alexander Zephyr: Why Does it Say, Ham is the Father of Canaan?
For More Articles in this Series,
See:
Canaanite Genocide. List of Articles.
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