Canaan (Person)

Biblical Record

Canaan was the son of Ham, the son of Noah. Genesis 10:6 and 1 Chronicles 1:8 list the sons of Ham in order as Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan.

Genesis 9:18-27 recounts an event in Noah's household after the Flood. Noah planted a vineyard, drank of the wine, became drunk, and lay uncovered within his tent. The text states that "Ham, the father of Canaan," saw this and told his brethren (Genesis 9:22). Shem and Japheth laid a garment upon their shoulders, went in backward, and covered their father. When Noah awoke from his wine, he said, "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren" (Genesis 9:25), and in blessing Shem and Japheth he declared that Canaan would be their servant. The narrative records no action taken by Canaan himself.

Genesis 10:15-19 lists the descendants of Canaan. Sidon his firstborn and Heth, along with the Jebusites, Amorites, Girgasites, Hivites, and others, appear as his descendants, and the border of their territory is described as extending from Sidon toward Gerar, Gaza, and Sodom and Gomorrah. 1 Chronicles 1:13-16 contains the same list.

Significance Within the Bible

In later Scripture the name Canaan chiefly designates the land where his descendants lived, that is, the land of Canaan, and its inhabitants. The Old Testament describes at length how Israel was promised this land and entered it, and passages such as Leviticus 18 warn against imitating the customs of the inhabitants of Canaan. For this reason, many interpreters read Noah's words as a prophecy anticipating the later relationship between Israel and the Canaanite peoples.

The New Testament does not mention Canaan the person directly. It uses the name only for a region and a people, as in "a woman of Canaan" in Matthew 15:22 (the Syrophoenician woman) and "seven nations in the land of Chanaan" in Acts 13:19.

Interpretation and Points of Debate

A long-standing question is why Canaan was cursed when it was Ham who committed the offense. The main explanations are as follows.

• One explanation holds that Ham was not cursed directly because God had already blessed Noah and his sons (Genesis 9:1).
• Another holds that Ham was punished as a father through what befell his son.
• Another regards the curse as a prophetic declaration anticipating the future of Canaan's descendants.
• Some Jewish traditions preserve an interpretation that Canaan was directly involved in the incident, although this is not found in the text.

Interpreters also differ over whether "his younger son" in Genesis 9:24 refers to Ham or to Noah's grandson Canaan.

Historically, this passage was used, under the label of the so-called "curse of Ham," to justify the enslavement of people of African descent. Today scholars across many denominations criticize this interpretation as a misuse of the text. They point out that the object of the curse was Canaan rather than Ham, and that the curse is recorded as the words of Noah rather than as a direct declaration by God.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, "Canaan" is generally used to mean the Promised Land, and in hymns and sermons it appears mostly as the name of the land. Canaan the person receives only brief mention, alongside Ham, Shem, and Japheth, in sermons or Sunday school lessons on the story of Noah's drunkenness. Such sermons usually emphasize covering rather than exposing the faults of others. The term "Canaan believers," which refers to believers who have left the church, has no connection with this person.