Canaan, Canaanite

In Old Testament times, the fourth son of Ham (Gen. 9:22; 10:1, 6) and grandson of Noah. Canaanite refers to someone from the land where Canaan originally lived and also to his descendants. Canaanite was also a name for the people who inhabited the lowland along the Mediterranean coast of Palestine. This name was sometimes used to describe all the non-Israelite inhabitants of the country west of Jordan, whom the Greeks called Phoenicians.