Canaan, The Land of Feuds

Past, Present and Future of Cradle of Civilizations (3)

We previously established that the land of Shem was penetrated by Canaan, his off-springs and off-roots. They settled on the coast of Anatolia (South Turkey), Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.

Station Eight

We also know that from Aprachid (son of Shem), came Eber who is the main seed of Hebrews.

From Eber came Joktan who is the main seed of Arabs.

The other son of Eber whose name is Peleg (brother of Joktan), settled in Babel, and the Book of Genesis marked that in his days "the Earth was divided", which was politically translated to the start of a “feud” between the two brothers (Peleg and Joktan). As a result Peleg fled Babel to settle in the Arabian Peninsula.

His descendants were Adnan and Maad, from whom Mohammad descended.

Prophet Mohammad goes to his roots and stops at Adnan, saying he does not wish to go further back?

From Peleg descendants was Abraham, who later will be a dominant figure to the three main religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Abraham had a son from Lady Sara called Isaac and a son from Lady Hagar called Ismail.

Ismail was raised by the Arabs

Isaac was raised by Hebrews and from him came Jacob, the father of the Israelites.

The sons of Shem raised the following nations:

Elam: a kingdom which was established in the lands of Arabia (South Iran and south Iraq).

Assyria:  The Akkadian kingdom in upper Tigris (Iraq) and later was split into two kingdoms; Assyria in the North and Babel in the south.

Lydia: A kingdom which governed Anatolia Turkey (Manisa and Izmir) and later the great Hettite Empire rose from its foundations.

Decedents of Aram inherited northern Mesopotamia and Syria, including the lands between Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Asshur mountains, land of Ema, Assur, Babel, Persia, Assyria, Babylonia and Media.

Muslims believe that Prophet Hud who lived in Madian of Ancient Arabia is also descendant of Aram.

From all those historic nations, great and important civilizations were founded to play significant roles that divided the lands to ethnic sects and later to religious groups; Sumerian, Akkadian, Ur, Babylonian, Kassite, Hurrians, Hittites, Median, Persian, Egyptians, Hyksos, Ethiopian, Libyans and others.

The lands of Mesopotamia were divided between Shem, Ham and Canaan.

Jews claim that Canaan does not exist as a nation today.

Station Nine

Abraham married Lady Sarah and left Babylon towards Canaan land, and settled in a place called Shechem (Biblical name) which is now known as Nablus in Palestine.

The Bible defined the Land of Canaan as “the Promised Land”, and named it “Land of Israel”.

Later, following the Exodus from Egypt, Joshua assembled the Israelites in Shechem and encouraged them to reaffirm their adherence to the Torah.

According to Book of Genesis, God promised this Land to Abraham’s descendants.

This is may be why all three religions claim the Land.

Abraham's nephew Lot traveled with him and settled in kingdom of Sodom.

Lady Sarah was barren and offered her Egyptian maid Hagar to bring him a son.

Hagar got pregnant with Ismail.

Sarah was upset and asked Abraham to abandon Hagar and her son in the desert.

Later Sarah was pregnant with Isaac.

Arab tribes raised Ismail as one of them and shared with Hagar the water she discovered in the desert.

Abraham and Ismail built Kaaba, which later was considered by Muslims, as the first foundation of House of God.

Muslims believe Abraham is the first Muslim, and Ismail is the “Sacrificed Son”.

Jews and Christians consider Abraham is their father, and Isaac is the “Sacrificed Son”.

A new “Feud”!

Isaac had twin boys; Esau and Jacob.

Station Ten

Jacob and his mother deceived his father Isaac and had him transfer the prophecy to Jacob.

Jacob, afraid of his brother ran from his father’s house, and at a certain place or spot, the Book of Genesis considered him renamed as Israel and became the father of the Israelites.

Later this place would be known as Jerusalem.

Because Hagar was the maid of Sarah, some Jews and Christians claim they are superiors to Muslims! Jacob had some children from maids as well.

Jacob fled Back to Haran, his grandfather Abraham birth place.

He worked for his uncle (brother of his mother), and married his two daughters, and a 2 maid of each one of his wives.

Jacob deceived his uncle with his flocks and herds. He stole some expensive households and fled back to Shechem in the Land of Canaan.

He dwelt in Hebron (Al Khalil) with twelve sons and one daughter from his four wives.

But he loved most his first born from his wife Rachel; Joseph.

Joseph’s brothers were jealous because of their father’s love to Joseph and conspired to kill him. They throw him in a deserted well.

Some Egyptians traders found him, took him to Egypt and sold him to a rich man.

Joseph proved to be a scientific person and economist.

He was appointed as Treasurer of Egypt.

Later his parents and brothers reunited with him in Egypt, and Hebrews spread again in Egypt.

Jacob’s daughter Dinah was said to be raped and killed by the ruler of Schechem. Her two brothers Simeon and Levi avenged her by destroying the city.

Moses was a direct descendant of Levi.

Station Eleven

Ismail is the first son of Abraham from his wife Hagar, who was his first wife’s (Sarah) maid. To avoid Sarah anger, and obey God’s will, Abraham abandoned Ismail and his mother in the desert.

Some Arabs found them; they raised Ismail and shared the waters that Hagar discovered in the desert.

Like Isaac, history and religious books did not give much elaboration on Ismail life.

However, it is worth to mention that Ismail and his mother Hagar are associated with the Covenant of Sinai, which forms the first five books of the Hebrew Bible “the Torah”. While Sarah is associated with the covenant of Grace, into which her son Isaac enters. The covenant of grace became the basis for all future covenants that God made with mankind such as with Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus Christ.

Station Twelve

By the time when Moses was born, the Hittite Empire was extended to most of Anatolia and parts of Syria and Canaan, so that by 1300 BC the Hittites were bordering on the Egyptian sphere of influence, leading to the inconclusive Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BC.

The Kassites took Babel as their capital city, and had a long dynasty.

Although the Mesopotamian region maintained its independence through this period, it was not a power in the Near East, and mostly sat out the large wars fought over the Levant between Egypt, the Hittite Empire, and Mitanni, as well as independent peoples in the region.

Assyria participated in these wars toward the end of the period, but the Kassites in Babylon did not. They did, however, fight against their longstanding rival to the east, Elam.

In the end, the Elamites conquered Babylon, bringing this period to an end.

Following the Biblical times, Exodus from Egypt happened in a time between 1400 and 1300 BC.

During that period Assyria became the most powerful kingdom on Earth.

Egypt lost its grip over the Levant.

Sinai was the first stop of Moses, and the Israelites refused to enter the Promised Land, (Land of Canaan) because they were afraid of the Giants “The Amorites”.

After Moses spies returned from Canaan, the Israelites disobeyed Moses and attempted to invade the land, they were crushed by the Amalekites and Canaanites.

The second attempt made by Moses where he defeated the Amorites

Moses could not enter the Promised Land and died at the eastern shores of Jordan River.

Between 1206 and 1150 BC, the cultural collapse of the Mycenaean kingdoms, the Hittite Empire in Anatolia and Syria, and the Egyptian Empire in Syria and Canaan interrupted trade routes and extinguished literacy.

In the first phase of this period, almost every city between Troy and Gaza was violently destroyed, and often left unoccupied thereafter: examples include Hattusa (Hittites city capital), Mycenae (Greece), Ugarit (Syria).

After Moses death, Joshua invaded Canaan and destroyed Jericho and from there he was able to lead the Israelites to several victories, securing much of the Land of Canaan.

The Israelites settled there till the time when King David came and the Kingdom of Israel was established.

Sami Cherkaoui