Abram Enters Canaan: Genesis 12.6-9

The Land of Canaan

The land of Canaan included Syria-Palestine and is defined in Genesis 10.19 as extending from northern Sidon south to Gaza and from the Mediterranean Sea to eastern Sodom and Gomorrah. In Egyptian texts, ‘Canaan’ refers to Egypt’s Syro-Palestinian territories, which extended farther north than Sidon.

Canaan’s climate is diverse due to its placement between the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Desert. Its summers are hot and dry while its winters are cool and produce most of the water for the year. Its climate is similar to other Mediterranean nations such as Greece and Italy. The plains and valleys of western Canaan are well-watered from storms coming from the Mediterranean and suited for growing wheat, barley, and olives. The eastern part of Canaan is filled with rugged mountains. These rugged mountains are broken by the Jordan Valley, through which the Jordan River runs, and the Jordan River connects the Sea of Galilee to the north with the Dead Sea to the south. The highest mountain is Canaan at nine thousand feet above sea level, and the lowest spot in Canaan – and the lowest point in all the earth – is the Dead Sea at 1,300 feet below sea level. 

The Curse of Canaan

In Genesis 9.20-25, we read an odd story about a drunken Noah and a shameless son:

Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked. 

When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said, 

“Cursed be Canaan!

    The lowest of slaves

    will he be to his brothers.”

On first glance it appears that Ham’s sin was looking upon his father’s naked body and doing nothing about it. This is odd, since most sons, seeing their father passed out drunk and naked, would naturally run the other way. No one wants to see that! Perhaps, then, it’s the fact that Noah’s other sons, Shem and Japheth, gritted their teeth, covered their eyes, and were nice to dear old dad by putting a blanket over him. In point of fact, this story conveys something that we miss upon a literal reading. In other places of the Old Testament, we see the phrase ‘uncovering’ someone’s nakedness, and it refers to having sex with someone you’re not supposed to have sex with. This has led some to postulate that Ham molested his drunken father. However, we see in Leviticus that to uncover your father’s nakedness isn’t sleep with him but to sleep with his wife (who may or may not be your biological mother). Given this background, Ham’s sin was likely sleeping with his mom while his dad was passed out drunk.

When Noah wakes up and hears what’s happened, he understandably delivers a curse not against Ham but against Ham’s son, Canaan. The question is why he didn’t curse Ham who committed the sin. The answer is probably that Noah gives this curse some time after finding out about Ham’s sin and that the curse is prompted by learning that Ham impregnated his own mother. The fruit of that sinful union, then, is likely Ham’s son Canaan. Noah’s curse, then, is against the son whom Ham and his mom produced. 

The curse of Canaan is given in Genesis 9: Canaan will be a slave to his brothers. In Genesis 10, we come to the Table of Nations, which tells us whose Canaan’s brothers were: Cush, Egypt, and Put. We know who Egypt is, but what about Cush and Put? Cush’s descendants included Babylon and Assyria; Put’s descendants have been identified as the Libyans of Africa. We know that Canaan’s descendants settled along the eastern Mediterranean coast in what would be known as Canaan. Noah’s curse came to fruition: the Canaanites were constantly under the heels of Egypt to the south and Assyria and then Babylon to the northeast. In fact, the contests between these great superpowers were usually fought in the land of Canaan, so that the Canaanites were almost always enslaved by one or the other. 

An Apocalyptic Wasteland

In the centuries before Abram forded the Jordan Valley into Canaan, Canaan had been a progressive and thriving land. These Bronze Age peoples built remarkable urban centers with city-state forms of government similar to those of ancient Greece. Cities like Megiddo, Bethshan, Shechem, Ai, Jericho, and Lachish – all of which would later feature front-and-center in Israelite history – had been well built and boasted strong fortifications. Archaeological sites from this period number over 260, and some of these locales supported populations of up to 150,000 people. 

But then, sometime around 2200 BC, something began happening, and these cities were gradually destroyed and abandoned. It would be three thousand years, in the Byzantium Era, before the land of Canaan regained its pre-2200 BC population. The 'depopulation' of Canaan at the end of the Early Bronze Age is one of the marvelous mysteries of history. 

The two-hundred-year period from 2200 to 2000 BC is marked by a transition from the urban ‘city-dwelling’ culture of the Early Bronze Age to the characteristic ‘Canaanite’ culture of the Middle and Late Bronze Ages from 2000 to 1200 BC. Abram would’ve been entering the land of Canaan sometime around 2000 BC after the area’s depopulation. As Early Bronze Age cities began to fall apart, people migrated to the margins, abandoning settled lifestyles in permanent dwellings in cities and towns based on agrarian economies to lifestyles based on pastoral nomadism. 

Some of these abandoned cities are mentioned in the patriarchal narratives. Early Bronze Age cities such as Hebron, Jerusalem (then known as ‘Salem’), Beersheba, and Bethel are just a few. When we read of the patriarchs coming near these cities, we often envision them as bustling commercial centers with lots of people. We need to dispel with this idea. These were wrecked and haunted locations, run-down and mostly rubble. Any settlements around these dilapidated cities were un-walled and consisted of tents or huts. In this fractured landscape, political power, where it existed, was in the hands of local ‘kings’ (more like chieftains) whose domains were geographically limited. These weak, minor kingdoms formed alliances with one another for mutual protection and advantage, and when that didn’t work out, they often went to war. Abram, as we will see, would eventually get mixed up in their nonsense. 

Pastoral nomads don’t live in permanent dwellings. They live off the land, moving hither and thither. They don’t plant crops, but they often nurture goats or sheep. These animals can live off the land as the nomads move around. Nomadic peoples live in tents or huts that can be easily disassembled, moved, and reassembled. By the time Abram entered the land, most people in the region lived in huts or tents, and tents are mentioned twenty-two times in the patriarchal narratives. Some of these structures have been preserved in the harsh, dry climate of the Negev south of Canaan. The typical settlement consisted of a cluster of small, flimsy, circular or rectangular installations grouped around a central courtyard. The largest of these settlements in the Negev are less than three acres in size and lack walls. Also, numerous single-unit settlements have been found. 

Historians don’t know what caused the Early Bronze Age collapse that emptied the walled cities of Canaan. The main theory is that the depopulation of Canaan was due to raids and invasions by the warlike Amorites, whom we discussed last week. Remember that the Amorites were a nomadic people group who were strong and violent enough to pose a major threat to the Sumerian city-states in eastern Mesopotamia. We know that the Amorites had a city in Haran (where Abram stopped on his way to Canaan), and it’s possible that their roving bands of mercenaries had swept south into Canaan and wrought such havoc that people fled to safer settlements. We know that by the time the Israelites reentered Canaan after the Exodus, the ruined cities has been rebuilt, new ones had been established, and the land was populated by Canaanites of Amorite descent. Other theories attribute the depopulation of Canaan to Egyptian invasions under Pharaoh Pepi I, internal conflicts between the Canaanite city-states, and even climatic changes that made an agrarian lifestyle impossible. A more recent theory is that the cities were abandoned by an onslaught of plague, which first emerged around 3000 BC. 

Not all Canaanite cities were abandoned, however: there were some holdouts clustered together in what’s called the Vale of Siddim. Two cities known to any Sunday School kid existed in this region: Sodom and Gomorrah. Archaeology proves that these two cities and their suburbs in the Jordan Plain survived while the Canaanite cities in the Palestinian highlands were abandoned. For some reason, the five cities in the Jordan Plain south of the Dead Sea continued to exist and even flourish. Soddom and Gammorah were the principal cities of this area in the Vale of Siddim, along with the smaller towns of Admah, Zoar, and Zeboiim. 

Genesis tells us that when Abram and his nephew Lot arrived, Sodom and Gomorrah were situated in a pleasant, well-watered, lush valley; Lot eventually abandoned Abram to settle down in this beautiful valley. Unbeknownst to Lot, but known to us and well-attested by archaeological evidence, the Vale of Siddim’s days were numbered. The Bible tells us that these two cities and their suburbs were wiped out due to their sins, and archaeology agrees: around 2000 BC, the Vale of Siddim was rocked by an earthquake and a calamitous conflagration, seemingly of volcanic origin. The result of this disaster was the wholesale destruction of the cities, and the once-lush region was ‘salted’ so that it’s become a wasteland to this present day. Genesis 19 tells us of this disaster and the reasons God executed it, and archaeology bears out the Bible’s testimony.

Canaan’s ‘apocalyptic’ landscape worked in Abram’s favor. As a nomadic herdsman, he was able to enjoy relative freedom of movement with no major political entities in the areas he established himself. Abram’s nomadic wanderings would be confined to the thinly populated hill country (pictured to the left) and the arid locality to the southwest of the Dead Sea. In the Middle Bronze Age, the hilly regions of central Palestine were heavily forested, and because there was little arable land, the whole area was unsuitable for agricultural purposes. However, these conditions were perfect for nomadic tribes. The regions in which Abram wandered lie in a zone whose annual rainfall is between ten and twenty inches, which is well suited to the requirements of sheep. The land Abram and his descendants claimed wouldn’t fare well for growing crops, but it was excellent for raising sheep – and that’s why they became prolific and wealthy sheepherders. 

Though many cities west of the Jordan River were reoccupied during the 1900s BC during the days of Isaac and Jacob, it would take hundreds of years for Canaan to rebuild. By the time the Israelites returned to Canaan four hundred years later, the land would be hotly-contested ground with multiple walled cities and large population centers. 

Abram at Shechem

When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. [Genesis 12.5-7]

Having forded the Jordan River into Canaan, Abram began his journey towards his first stop at Shechem. He likely entered the Hill Country of Manasseh by way of the broad and gentle Wadi Farah (‘Wadi’ is an Arabic word referring to a valley, ravine, or channel that is dry except in the rainy season). 

The Hills of Manasseh were part of the Cisjordan Mountain Range, which stretches from Mount Carmel and Mount Gilboa in the north to Beersheba in the south. If you take a trek along the mountains, starting in the north at Mount Carmel and journeying to Beersheba in the south, you pass through the territories of the old Israelite tribes of Manasseh, Ephraim, Benjamin, and Judah. The ‘Hills of Manasseh’ are the part of the Cisjordan Mountains that would eventually be considered part of Manasseh’s tribal territory. The two highest mountains in the area are Mount Elba and Mount Gerizim. The hills of eastern Manasseh are cut by two parallel fault lines outlining the Wadi Farah, which ranges from .3 to 1.9 miles in width. The Wadi Farah begins in the Tirzah Region at 660 feet above sea level and leads down into the Rift Valley near the ford at Adam, 980 feet below sea level. Because the wadi cuts beneath sea level, it cuts through the underground water horizon and has a number of freshwater springs. Abram likely followed this Wadi Farah upwards in elevation, reaching the Cisjordan Mountains just a few miles north of the ruined Canaanite city of Shechem.

By the time Abram reached Shechem, he would’ve traveled four hundred miles from Haran. The trip would’ve taken twenty days of active travel (not counting rest stops and nights spent sleeping). The ancient city of Shechem was close to the two tallest peaks of the Hills of Manasseh, Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. Because of its location near the peaks, it was viewed by Canaanites as a sacred site (mountaintops were viewed as the homes of the gods). Shechem was of strategic value, too, for it dominated the entrance to the pass running between the two mountains. In the Early Bronze Age, it was an important trading center, and it would be so again once it was rebuilt. When Abram reached Shechem, however, it would’ve been in ruins, haunted by vultures and jackals. 

While encamped in the shadows of Shechem’s ruins, Yahweh ‘appears’ to Abram. This is the second of many encounters Abram will have with Yahweh. The language of ‘appearing’ is important: as we will see in the coming weeks, this implies that Yahweh came to Abram in an embodied form. This isn’t Abram hearing God’s voice coming from the sky; this is Abram meeting Yahweh in a physical form. Yahweh tells Abram, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ Abram commemorates his encounter with God by building an altar.

Building an altar to your deity was a way of claiming land for your deity. When Abram builds an altar to Yahweh, he’s claiming this land – Shechem – for God. This is important, because in ancient Near Eastern belief systems, when someone of one god moved into the territory of another god, that person was required to worship the god whose territory he was in. If he didn’t worship that territorial god, that god would hurt him. This is why people in the ancient world worshipped the gods in whichever land they found themselves in. When Yahweh moved Abram into Canaan, He moved him into the lands of foreign pagan gods. Not only did the foreign gods not hurt Abram, but Abram claimed their territory for Yahweh. By building an altar at Shechem and, as we will see, at Bethel, Abram was undercutting pagan holy sites and claiming them for God. Because Yahweh is the ‘God of gods,’ there’s nothing the pagan gods can do. Consider, too, the backdrop in which this takes place: most of Canaan has been depopulated and Abram’s walking in the shadows of dilapidated cities. He’s striding through the ruins and claiming them for God: the pagan gods failed to rule justly and to preserve their worshippers, so now their territories are going to a new deity. 

The Bible says that Abram built an altar at the ‘oak of moreh.’ This was likely a great Tabor oak that served as a landmark at Shechem and which could’ve functioned as a point where a teacher (the literal meaning of ‘Moreh’) or judge would come to hear legal cases or provide instruction. These trees were chosen for this purpose because they offered a lot of shade. They were seen as emblems of fertility, and though they weren’t worshipped, they often became places of worship. The fact that Abram erects an altar at a tree known to symbolize fertility underscores Sarai’s infertility and God’s promise of offspring. 

Abram at Bethel

From Shechem Abram traveled south into the Hill Country of Ephraim (part of the Cisjordan Mountain Range that would eventually be in the tribal territory of Ephraim). The Hill Country of Ephraim is only 15.5 miles in length, north to south, but 27 miles in length east to west. It’s bordered to the west by the Sharon Plain, on the east by the Rift Valley, on the north by the Kanah Ravine, and on the south by the city of Bethel (where Abram was headed). This would’ve been a rugged passage for Abram and his entourage: this region is composed of limestones weathered into V-shaped valleys. Most of the area consists of steep-sided, sometimes terraced, rocky hills separated by dramatic, deep valleys. Because of the wall-to-wall limestone formations, approaches into Ephraim from the west or east were difficult, which meant Ephraim was normally spared from direct invasions and could serve as a place of retreat. This is probably why the Tabernacle was placed at Shiloh, in the Ephraim hills, during the Period of the Judges. The main wadi system is the Shiloh, which drains the whole central section of the region toward the Mediterranean Sea. In these valleys the soil is fertile, and crops like vines and wheat can be grown on small patches of land.

Having crossed through the rugged limestone Hills of Ephraim, Abram’s party reached the ruins of Bethel and Ai. He pitched his camp between the two ghost cities. There he made another altar and ‘called upon the name of the Lord.’ Just as he claimed the land for Yahweh at Shechem, now he does the same for the cities of Bethel and Ai. He can be viewed as a conqueror tramping through an apocalyptic wasteland in which the pagan gods were powerless, staking out the land for his god. From here he headed south into the Negev, which is where we'll pick up next week.

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