Canaanites
Genesis 12:6
In Genesis 12:6, "At that time the Canaanites were still in the land" is helpful information only if
Canaanites were not in the land. When Moses wrote this, the Canaanites were largely vanquished during
his lifetime.
The Canaanites were a tribe of people that settled in the land of Canaan well before 2000 BC. They were
displaced when Joshua led the crossing of the Jordan river and conquest for the Promised Land. Records of
Canaanite history ended during that period.
As in other cases of possible scribal gloss, Genesis 12:6 and 13:7 point to the antiquity of the document.
Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh.
Now the Canaanite was then in the land. (Gen 12:6
And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of
Lot's livestock. Now the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling then in the land. (Gen 13:7)
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