Biblical Geography

Canaan

Land · Old Testament

Scripture first

Genesis 12:5-7 · WEBU

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Abram enters the land of Canaan and the Lord promises it to his offspring.

Canaan was the land of city-states Israel was sent to possess: a corridor of hills and valleys already old with worship of Baal and Asherah. The conquest under Joshua was partial; the judges' age was the long, unfinished settlement that followed.

The land promised to Abraham and settled under Joshua, between the Jordan, the sea, the desert and Lebanon.

Biblical names
Canaan, the land of promise, the land flowing with milk and honey
Later names
Palestine (from the Roman period)

Identification note. Ancient Canaan's territory overlaps parts of modern Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan.

Canaan is a land bridge. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome all had to pass through it, which is why the land is both promise and battleground throughout Scripture.

  • Abram enters the land of Canaan and the Lord promises it to his offspring.
  • The land of Canaan given as an everlasting possession
  • The borders of Canaan drawn for Israel
  • The living God will drive out the peoples of Canaan

What we know

Certain

  • Scripture fixes Canaan between the Jordan and the Mediterranean, and Egyptian records name Canaan as a land of city-states in the second millennium BC.