CANAAN, LAND OF

CANAAN, LAND OF . Gen 12:5. The country inhabited by the posterity of Canaan, who were hence called Canaanites, and which was given by God to the children of Israel, the posterity of Abraham, as their possession. Ex 6:4; Lev 25:38. The original boundaries were Mount Lebanon on the north, the wilderness of Arabia on the south, and the Arabian desert on the east. On the west their possessions extended at some points to the margin of the Mediterranean. Their boundaries on this side were partially restricted by the Philistines, who held the low lands and strong cities along the shore. Gen 10:19. Besides the possessions of the Israelites, the land of Canaan embraced Phoenicia on the north and Philistia on the south-west. Zeph 2:5. The land of Canaan was called the land of Israel, 1 Sam 13:19, because it was occupied by the descendants of Jacob or Israel; the holy land, Zech 2:12; the land of promise, Heb 11:9, because it was promised to Abraham and his posterity as their possession; the land of Judah, Jer 39:10, because Judah was the leading tribe; the land of the Hebrews, Gen 40:15, or the descendants of Eber, an ancestor of Abraham. The modern name of Palestine, or the land of the Philistines, was originally applied to the region lying along the coast of the Mediterranean