The Canaanites were descendants of Noah's son Ham through Ham's son Canaan born after the worldwide flood. They were also the early settlers of the region at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea including what would later be called the land of Israel. Because the Canaanites had ungodly practices and beliefs in idols and false gods and immorality the one true Creator God and the God of the Bible was willing to destroy the Canaanites and their authority over the promised land and give them to the Israelites the descedants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who followed the call of the one true God to start a chosen earthly people for Himself the Jews or children of Israel with their promised land the land of Israel in land that was originally the possession of the Canaanites. Because the Israelites only gave a partial fulfillment of God's command to wipe out the Canaanites when the Israelites came to possess the land, by the beginning of the time of the judges after Joshua the Canaanites were subdued but still in the midst of the Israelites. This led sometimes to intermarriage between the Israelites and the Canaanites and some of the Israelites following the culture and gods of the Canaanites. The last stronghold to be taken from the Canaanites was Jerusalem that was still in the hands of the Canaanites in the form of the Jebusites up to about 1000 BC when King David took it for Israel and made it the new political and then spiritual capital of the Jews with the building of his royal palace their and preparing for what became known as Solomon's Temple. This seems to have continued for the remainder of the time of the Israelites in the promised land up to 70 AD or 135 AD and the dispersion of the Jews to the nations. In the latter part of the Old Testament times it seems the Philistines were more of a military threat to Israel than the Canaanites. This could be why the Romans in 135 AD called the land of Israel Palestine instead of some version of Canaanite when they were looking for a non-Jewish name for the holy land.
In Genesis 13 the scripture mentions Abram (later called Abraham) living in the plain of Mamre and that that location was also called Hebron. Hebron later became a key city and location in the history of the Israelites. The scripture reference to Hebron in the plains of Mamre where Abram (Abraham) lived is as follows:
Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD. Genesis 13:18
In Genesis 14 the scripture states that the name Mamre, as in the term the plains of Mamre, was the name of a man named Mamre. This is the location of the city of Hebron which is much mentioned later in the Old Testament or Hebrew scriptures including as a city of refuge, the location of the burial place of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the matriarch of Israel Sarah and as the location of the beginning of the reign of King David. However this verse in Genesis 14 mentions that the plains of Mamre or Hebron was originally in the possession of an Amorite named Mamre. The scripture reference of the city in the holy land named Hebron in the plains of Mamre being named after a man named Mamre who was an Amorite is as follows:
And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate (allied) with Abram. Genesis 14:13
In Genesis 23 the mention of the death of Sarah, the wife of Abraham, is given as well as Abraham's buying the cave of Machpelah as a burial place for her. This cave of Machpelah was in the area of Hebron in the plains of Mamre. Although as I mentioned in some scriptures earlier in Abraham's life and earlier in the beginning of the history of God's chosen earthly people the Israelites and earlier in the book of Genesis that the Amorites seemed to be in control of Hebron in the plains of Mamre, at this later point the Hittites, another branch of the Canaanites seemed to be in control or ownership of Hebron. (Another name for the Hittites was the children of Heth.) The cave of Machpelah was not only at this point in Israelite history to become the burial place of the Israelite matriarch Sarah, it later also became the burial place of the first fathers or patriarchs of Israel Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel) as well as some other matriarchs Rebekkah the wife of Isaac and Leah one of the wives of Jacob (Israel). This burial place's location is still known today and known today by the name The Tomb of the Patriarchs and is located in central Hebron in what the Israelites or Jews call Judaea and what the world in general calls part of the West Bank. The transaction in which Abraham bought this land of the cave of Machpelah and some surrounding land from Ephron the Hittite for 400 skekels of silver is also described in this chapter 23 of Genesis. It is also mentioned in verse 2 that the earlier Canaanite name of Hebron was Kiriath-arba. The scripture reference in Genesis 23 of Abram (Abraham) dwelling in Hebron and his wife Sarah dying there and his buying a the cave of Machpelah in the area of Hebron in the plains of Mamre from the Hittite Ephron indicating that both the Canaanite Hittites and Amorites had control of Hebron in the days of Abraham in the promised land of Israel is as follows:
And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kiriath-arba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying. I am a stranger and a sojourner wih you; give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight. ... And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth. And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight; hear me, and intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me for a possession of a buryingplace amongst you. And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying, Nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, and cave that is therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee: bury thy dead. ... And he (Abraham) spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me; I will give thee money for the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there. And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him, My lord, hearken unto me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead. And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred skekels of silver, current money with the merchant. And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure. Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city. And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan. And the field, and the cave is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth. Genesis 23:1-4, 7-11, 13-20.
In Numbers 13 we are told where some of the different Gentile nations, mostly the Canaanites or divisions of them, were located in the Holy Land or Land of Israel, the previous land of Canaan before the Israelites led by Joshua came by God's direction to possess the land of Israel as their promised land. The Amalekites dwelt in the south in what is now usually called the Negev desert, the Hittites, the Jebusites and the Amorites dwell in the mountains forming the backbone of Israel in the centre following a north-south direction and the Canaanites were along the sea meaning the Mediterranean Sea and by the coast of Jordan that is on the west side and fairly close to the Jordan River on the west side. Other scriptures mention that the Amorites were on the east side of the Jordan River in the area later possesses by some of the Israelite tribes in the area that is often called Gilead. The scripture reference from Numbers 13 about the locations in the holy land of some of the Canaanite or other early Gentile nations in the land of Israel is as follows:
The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. Numbers 13:29
On the way to the promised land of Israel, formerly the land of Canaan, the true God the LORD, Yahweh or Jehovah the Divine Trinity especially in relation to Israel, God the Father, promised His earthly people Israel including the Jews that if any of the Gentile people on the east side of Jordan wouldn't let the Israelites go through their territory peacefully the Israelites could fight against them and gain their land. The above is what happened to the Amorites and their kingdoms of Heshbon under their king Sihon and Bashan under their king Og. (The territory of Bashan is roughly in the same territory we today call the Golan Heights on the foothill or part of Mount Hermon.) So when given an ultimatum from the true God through His human leader Moses and the Israelites Sihon king of Heshbon, then Og king of Bashan refused to let the Israelites go through their territory peacefully but instead resisted the Israelites leading to a battle. In both cases many people were involved in the battle and the Israelites were victorious and gained the land with many casualities especially with the Gentile Amorites who were part of the Canaanites in Heshbon and Bashan. This is even though at least the Amorites in Bashan and probably in Heshbon had large walled and otherwise well-defended cities as well as some other unwalled towns. The Israelites also destroyed killed many of the general population with permission of the true God because these Amorites refused to let the Israelites go peacefully through this Amorite territory and because these Amorites were worshipping false gods and idols including likely some very dark practices such as giving human sacrifies and having immoral celebrations at worship centres such as high places or temples to their gods.
This land the Israelites seized was on the east side of the Jordan River in what is now north western Jordan and the Golan Heights of Israel between what was called then the Arnon river that flows into the Jordan river from the east and Mount Hermon that is still called by the modern day Israelites Mount Hermon. In the days of this Israeli conquest of these territories of the Canaanite Amorites Mount Hermon was called by the Sidonians (who were also Canaanites and lived on the Mediterranean coast as a main city of the Phoenicians) Sirion and was called Shenir by the Amorites. Og king of Bashan was one of the last remaining of the giants (in Hebrew rephaim) of which presumably some other of the Amorites were before including residents on the east side of Jordan or some of their other territory such as on the mountains of Judah and Israel. Some of the country of the mountains of Israel could include the territory north of the Sea of Galilee around what would later be called Capernaum, Chorazin and Bethsaida in the days on earth of our Lord Jesus Christ about 2000 years ago. The bedstead of the giant Og king of Bashan is described as very large a length of nine cubits with a cubit being a measure of length of about 18 inches, 1 1/2 feet or about 1/2 metre with its length being defined as the length of the ruler from his elbow to the tip of his hand's outstretched fingers. The width of this bedstead was said to be four cubits also in verse 11 of Deuteronomy 3. This means that the dimensions of this bedstead was probably about 13 1/2 feet by 6 feet or about 4 1/2 metres by 2 metres. This bedstead was said to have been or iron. According to the note on Deuteronomy 3:11 in the Ryrie Study Bible this bedstead of Og was probably not a bed in the usual sense but was part of his tomb. This note in the Ryrie Study Bible desribes Og's tomb suitable for a giant as follows: "Og. The last of the Rephaim, or giant race, that inhabited Palestine (the land of Canaan that became the land of Israel). See note on (Deuteronomy 2:20). His iron bedstead has been understood as an iron-trimmed stone coffin or an iron-decorated couch to be placed in his tomb or as a monument made of basalt (an iron-bearing (or iron containing) rock). In any case, the size of the bed (13.5 by 6 feet or 4.1 by 1.8 metres) indicates how huge Og was."
At least if this tomb of Og was a monument of basalt it could quite possibly be what in general archaeology are called dolmens meaning stone tables in Celtic. These were arrangements of usually three huge stones with two upright and parallel and a third one perpendicular and on top resembling a table. They are very common in some parts of the world such as Ireland, Scotland and some other parts of Europe on the continent and in some parts of Asia including around the holy land in Israel, Jordan and Syria, the Caucasus region in south west Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijian etc. and in the far east in Korea. Two large dolmen fields north and east of the Sea of Galilee are called the Korazin (Chorazin) fields and the Shamir Dolmen fields according to page 148 of issue number 48 of the Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society in 2018 in an article called Dolmens of the Hula Basin by Uri Berger and Gonen Sharon. Dolmens were burial places of leaders of society in ancient times but were also thought to be passages to the underworld or other side and are sometimes called passage tombs. According to this article there were over 1000 dolmens in these areas so they were quite common. The Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples could have seen the dolmens north or east of the Sea of Galilee. The tomb and possible dolmen for Og king of Bashan is stated to be in Rabbah of the Ammonites in Deuteronomy 3:11 at least at the time of Moses around 1450 BC. This city Rabbah of the Ammonites is the same location and the former name for the modern city of Amman capital of the nation of Jordan. The scripture reference from Deuteronomy 3 of the encounter with, resistance by and conquest of the Amorites under the giant Og king of Bashan and Sihon king of Heshbon by the Israelites for the Israelites to gain this land of Gilead for their 2 1/2 tribes of Gad, Reuben and the 1/2 tribe of Manessah on the east side of the Jordan River and a description of the tomb of Og king of Bashan is as follows:
Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. And the LORD said unto me, Fear him not: for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. So the LORD our God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we smote him until none was left to him remaining. And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many. And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city. But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves. And we took at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that was on this side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto mount Hermon; (Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion; and the Amorities call it Shenir;) All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man. And this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, and half mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites. And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants. Deuteronomy 3:1-13
The area of Bashan, close to the present Golan Heights of Israel on the side of Mount Hermon, as well as the area to the south in what is now Jordan and some areas to the west in the area north of the Sea of Galilee have to this day many dolmens. These are structures made of usually three large somewhat flat rocks with two parallel and upright and a third one horizontal and resting on the other two. They are very common in the British Isles and some other parts of Europe and some other parts of the world including some parts of the Holy Land such as northern Israel and the east side of the Jordan River and the east side of the Sea of Galilee in what is now the Golan Heights of Israel and the nation of Jordan. These structures are very old, mostly 4000 years or more old and are usually regarded as tombs of powerful or mighty leaders or fighting warriors or other nobility. They are sometimes called passage tombs because there was an idea that they were passageways to the realm of the dead or the spirit world. The part of these dolmens being passageways to the spirit realm and seemingly to the dead could have some merit from a biblical Christian perspective. Although I don't believe in the existence of ghosts or spirits of dead people staying around and haunting places or people on earth, I do believe generally but also based on the Bible that some demons or fallen angels focus on impersonating some people who have died including in the house, or other place they spent time in on earth or around their tombs.
Og, king of Bashan, and some of the other giants of the people of Bashan or the Amorites or some other people such as the Zanzumims, the Emims, the Horims or the Anakims that are mentioned in Deuteronomy 2 and 3 and Genesis 14 were not only giants but seemed to be associated with some other serious sins that God wanted not only the Israelites to kill the ones of them in their territory but also for the Ammonites, Moabites and Philistines to kill these giants in their\ territory as well. The area of Gadara in the New Testament was on the east side of the Jordan River just a bit south of Bashan or Mount Hermon and not far from the Sea of Galilee. In this incident in Mark 5 in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ he and His disciples came over by boat across the Sea of Galilee to the region of Gadara or of the Gadarenes. As soon as Jesus got out of the boat unto the land in the area of Gadara a man him who had many demons and came out of a region near the shore with many tombs. I think these tombs are dolmens and that the many spirits possessing this man were territorial spirits continuing from the pagan warriors or leaders such as the Amorites and others about 1500 or 2000 years before Christ who had dolmen tombs established for them when they died. These tombs were likely consecrated to actually evil spirits associated with pagan spirits and false gods or godesses. These spirits could be quite powerful because the mighty people who were buried in the tombs there could have been quite involved with the occult and had their burial place heavily dedicated to war or other violent spirits or false gods or godesses. This demoniac has a wild spirit and was strong enough to break iron chains and was extremely restless and had practices of self-harm such as cutting himself. All these could definitely come from demons or fallen angels including ones associated with being a warrior, pagan king or other lifestyle in rebellion to the LORD or Yahweh the true triune God including God the Son Jesus Christ as well as God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
Despite all the heavy demonic possession of this man he still had an essential desire to be free of this demonic control and oppression as shown by his running to Jesus to be healed by Him which in this case would be especially Jesus casting out these evil spirits from this man and breaking their control over this man. Although the man ran to meet Jesus and wanted to see Him and be healed by Him, the demons or fallen angels who were possessinng him neither wanted to see Jesus or be cast out of this man by Jesus. These demons acknowledged Jesus as the Son of God including His authority to eventually judge them by sending them to a place of torment, the lake of fire Revelation 20:10 forever but sought Jesus not to torment them at the time he encountered the Gadara demonically possessed man. Jesus then spoke to these evil spirits possessing this man and asked their name to which they replied correctly that their name was Legion because there were many of them possessing this man. (There were a couple thousand soldiers in a roman Legion.) Some indication that these demons or evil spirits were territorial spirits focused on the area of Gadara and the tombs there is that they specifically asked Jesus that He not send them out of that area. This could be more confirmation that they were associated with the tombs in that area and with the people that were warriors or other leaders in that area long ago such as the Amorites or others with such people being involved in violence and idolatry and probably other sins such as substance abuse or perhaps ungodly sexual practices. All these things could have attracted evil spirits and maintained them in that area including in the tombs or dolmens built for those warriors or pagan leaders when they died if indeed the tombs mentioned here in the Gospel of Mark are dolmens.
One of the characteristics of demons, evil spirits or fallen angels in general is that they are destructive of people, animals or otherwise. Therefore, it shouldn't be a surprise that after it is certain Jesus would cast them out of the demoniac man of Gadara that they sought Jesus to cast them into a herd of swine or pigs feeding in that area at the time. Jesus consented to this request of the demons or devils and after Jesus cast them out of the man and into the swine the demons caused the swine to run violently down the hill or mountain into the sea (the Sea of Galilee). When the swine went into the Sea of Galilee the swine died in the sea partly by choking but also because they likely paniced and were alse killed by all their thrashing as swine or pigs are generally an animal that can't swim even if it needs to as in this case. The people who fed or who looked after the swine were then quite astonished at witnessing this miracle and went to tell their countryfold what had happened including what they saw Jesus do related to the demoniac and the herd of swine. Then some of the herders of the swine came out with other people from around Gadara to where these miracles by Jesus had been done and they could see the swine no longer feeding on the hill or mountain but the demoniac man there sitting quite restfully and clothed and with a right or sound mind and no longer crazed. The herders of the swine then told in more detail to other people of Gadara who had come out to this region of tombs what had happened with the actions of Jesus casting out the spirits from this man and casting them into the swine and the effects of these actions on each of them. Unfortunately these people generally had a spirit of fear or were superstitious and perhaps thought Jesus would do something destructive spiritually to them, although Jesus did this miracle for the benefit of the demoniac man. So the Gadarene people urged Jesus and his disciples to leave their area.
The former demonically possessed man understood and appreciated that Jesus cast out the demons from him for his benefit to allow him to be freed of the violent or otherwise lawless spirits and allow the man to return to a more normal life and he wanted to join Jesus and his disciples. However Jesus refused this generally good request of this man and new Christian and follower of Jesus by instead instructing him to in this case be a witness of Jesus changing his life where he was brought up around Gadara. This was in order for Jesus to get this new convert to persuade other of the Gadarenes to trust in God through Jesus and have eternal life and perhaps for some of them also be freed of evil spirits in the area when they came to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour. Some of the evil spirit going back at least to the time of Og king of Bashan and other of the Amorites and other early pagan inhabitants of the area of Gadara could have stayed around all that time as well and been oppressing other people of the Gadara region with Jesus using this man healed of the evil spirits to persuade other Gadarenes to trust in Jesus including possibly for them also to then be freed of some territorial evil spirits including perhaps some of such evil spirits posing as ghosts of ancestors around these or other tombs or other places in this area. The scripture reference from the Gospel of Mark 5 of the Lord Jesus Christ casting out evil spirits of the man possessed of many of them from the area of tombs in Gadara that could be tombs of ancient leaders or warriors and enabling this man to return to normal life and encouraging him to witness of Jesus to other people of Gadara so they could also be saved including perhaps be delivered of these possibly ancient territorial spirits is as follows:
And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. And there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea. And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts. And when he was come into the ship, he that was possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. Howbeit (however) Jesus suffered (allowed) him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy (your) friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel. Gospel of Mark 5:1-20
In Joshua 10 the scripture mentions a threat by 5 kings of the Amorites against the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites had entered into a peace agreement with Israel by trickery as mentioned in Joshua 9. The Gibionites were another branch of the Canaanites named the Hivites as in Joshua 9:7 and Joshua 11:19. The Amorites and other Canaanites then became enemies of the Gibeonites as they saw them as traitors to their enemies the Israelites. Because of the peace pact the Israelites swore to uphold to the Gibeonites the Israelites were bound to defend the Gibeonites when they were under threat as they came to be in Joshua 10 by the 5 kings of the Amorites. The Israelites did then fight with the Gibeonites against the 5 kings of the Amorites from Jerusalem, Hebron and other cities of the mountains of Judah and Israel the Amorites are elsewhere in scripture said to be controlled by the Amorites and Israel defeated and took control of these mountain cities of the Amorites. The scripture reference in Joshua 10 of Israel coming to the defence of their allies the Gibeonites when they were threatened with attack from the Amorites and Israel defeating the 5 kings of the Amorites and their people and taking their 5 cities of Jerusalem, Hebron and some others in the mountains of Judah and Israel where the Amorites were said to dwell and control is as follows:
Wherefore Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent unto Horam king of Hebron, and unto Piram king of Jarmuth, and unto Japhia king of Lachish, and unto Debir king of Eglon, saying, Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel. Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon, and made war against it. And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us: for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us. So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour. And the LORD said unto Joshua Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man stand before thee. Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night. And the LORD discomfitted (put them in panic and disarray) them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaugter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Bethhoron, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah. And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethhoron, that the LORD cast down great stones from heaven upon them (the Amorites) unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword. Then spake Joshua to the LORd in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the peope had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. Joshua 10:3-13
In my reading through God's Word - the Holy Bible this time in my reading the early part of it that is the Pentateuch, Books of Moses or what the Jews call The Torah as well as the immediately following historical books of Joshua and Judges I got interested to check out more information about the Amorites. They are a more powerful and noteworthy branch of the Canaanites but when I checked in secular history I found that they were even more powerful and geographically widespread in early times. A main secular history source I checked is a book called Ancient Iraq by Georges Roux published by Penguin Books. On pages 175 to 177 of this book there is a section "The Fall of Ur". Ur was a main city of the ancient people and land Sumeria in southern Mesopotamia or the land between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. (Ur was also the city where the main biblical figure and first patriarch of the Israelites or Jews, Abraham, was born and grew up.) In this book Ancient Iraq the author that in the fourth year of the Sumerian rule Shu Sin (meaning the one of the god (Sin)), who ruled Sumeria from 2037 to 2029 BC, it is stated that an inscription mentioned this king built a fortress in his fourth year of rule that was referred to as MAR.TU in some inscriptions. The inscription apparently also said this fortress was built by Shu-Sin to keep away the Tidnum from Sumeria. The author states that it is known from some other references that in Sumerian MAR.TU or Amurrum is a reference to the Amorites who lived in the Syrian desert west of Sumeria and that Tidnum was a reference in another ancient language of Iraq, Akkadian, for people of about the same area in the desert west of the Euphrates.
Apparently the Amorites were powerful and noteworthy enough to the Sumerians that they even sometimes called the Mediterranean Sea the Sea of Amurru of the Sea of the Amorites as shown in a map of the book in the book Ancient Iraq by Mr. Roux on the map labelled The Assyrian Empire in the maps section at the back of the book. Although the map labelled The Assyrian Empire was much later than the Sumerian Empire with the Assyrian Empire arising at least more recently than 1000 BC and the Sumerian Empire falling at 2004 BC, all the other maps in the map section of the book only call the Mediterranean Sea the Mediterranean Sea and not whatever name people of ancient Iraq including the earlier Sumerians might have called it. The map called The Assyrian Empire that includes the Mediterranean Sea called The Sea of Amurru and much of Syria and surrounding land called Amurru also has many place names for lands with the ancient Iraq names rather than more current western names for these lands. A main reason that the name for The Mediterranean Sea in the Assyrian Empire, the Sea of Amurru or the Sea of the Amorites, could likely have been the same as the name used for the Mediterranean Sea in the time of Sumerian Empire before 2000 BC is that apparently the culture or civilization of the Sumerian Empire had become so well established by the time of its fall and of its leading city Ur in 2004 BC that much of its culture and socity continued not just to the time of the Amorite rule but to the time of the rule of ancient Iraq or Mesopotamia even to the following Assyrian and Babylonian/Chaldean rule. This continuity of what he calls "the Sumerian model" is noted in page 85 of his book Ancient Iraq by author Georges Roux as follows: "Whatever the real origin of the Sumerians, there is no doubt that their civilization sprang from the prehistory of Iraq itself. It reflected the mood and fulfilled the aspirations of the stable, conservative peasant society which has always formed the backbone of that country; it was 'Mesopotamian' in origin and in essence. For this reason, it survived the disappearance of the Sumerians as a nation in about 2000 BC and was adopted and carried over with but little modification by the Amorites, Kassites, Assyrians and Chaldeans who, after them, ruled in succession over Mesopotamia. The Assyro-Babylonian civilization of the second and first millennia is therefore not fundamentally different from that of the Sumerians, and from whatever angle we approach it we are almost invariably brought back to a Sumerian model." As stated by the author Georges Roux the territory of the Amurru or Amorites was the following: "This vast region (west of the Euphrates where the Amorites came from) corresponds to present-day Syria, including the desert around Palmyra, the Orontes valley and the mountains which border the Mediterranean Sea. Part of its population lived in towns and villages, but when the Sumerians or Akkadians spoke of the MAR.TU or Amurru - the 'Amorites' as we call them - they had in mind those people with whom they were in particularly close contact: the nomadic tribes who roamed the Syrian desert and often crossed rivers to graze their flocks in the steppes of Mesopotamia."
The author goes on to state that these break away nomads of the Amorites or Amurru were familiar to the Sumerians as they worked in the Sumerian cities or were known by their bad manners in their nomadic way of life and were strongly looked down on from the more sophisticated Sumerians. Some early references, perhaps translated from Sumerian that express the view by the Sumerians of especially this nomadic branch of the Amorites or Amurru are the following, again from the book Ancient Iraq (page 176): "The MAR.TU who know no grain ... The MAR.TU who know no house nor town, the boors of the mountains ... The MAR.TU who dig up truffles ... who does not bend his knees (to cultivate the land), who eats raw meat, who has no house during his lifetime, who is not buried after his death ..." and also "They have prepared wheat and gu-nunuz (grain) as a confection, but an Amorite will eat it without even recognizing what it contains."
Near the end of the rule of the Sumerian king Shu-Sin that is near 2028 BC the Amorites and some other nomadic people from the west had invaded Mesopotamia and Shu-Sin had another fort built closer to Ur between it and a place in Mesopotamia called Mari in order to prevent the Amorites and other invading nomads from attacking Ur itself. In 2028 the Sumerian ruler Shu-Sin died and was replaced by his son Ibbi-Sin which apparently means Sin or the Mesopotamian moon god Sin has called according to this book Ancient Iraq. There was constant pressure in the years of the reign of Ibbi-Sin including his first years of reign on the defences of Sumeria by the invading Amorites or Amurru. This led to the beginning of the disintegration of Sumeria with some provinces becoming independent of rule by Ur. According to this author Georges Roux in the fifth year of Ibbi-Sin the Amorites and other western invading nomads broke through the Sumerian defence lines and proceeded much futher into Sumerian territory including closer to Ur. There was significant starvation in Ur by 2017 BC because of interference with the grain and other food crops in Mesopotamia by the Amorites and other invaders with an Amorite leader having already proclaimed himself as king of Larsa a couple years before 2017 BC. Larsa was only about 25 miles from Ur and the Amorite leader was named Nablanum.
To compound the problems for Ur and Sumeria at that time some armies from the Elamites in Persia to the east invaded Sumeria and took control of some of the part of Sumeria near Ur limiting the area that Ur still controlled to the city of Ur and the area just immediately around it. In 2004 BC the Elamites attacked Ur, seized it and looted it and burned it down and retreated and left behind a small army contingent to rule it. The author states on page 179 of his book states that the invading Amorites and other nomads from around Syria to the west of Euphrates were the real reason for the fall of Ur more than the Elamites from the east who actually were the ones attacking Ur itself and exploited the weakening of rule of Sumeria by the city of Ur. The author includes the Amorites or Amurru with other nomads of Syria or west of Mesopotamia as Semites to which I partly disagree. Although I think many other groups of people around Syria in what the Bible calls Aram were Semitic the Amorites themselves were descendents of the Biblical Ham and part of the Canaanites with Canaan a son of Ham according to Genesis 10 to 11 in the table of nations. With this in mind I agree otherwise with the description of the fall of Sumerian and the city of Ur by the author on page 179 of his book that is as follows: "Intervening at the last moment, the Elamites had taken the capital-city, but the secession of entire provinces, the revolt of Ibbi-Sin's officials and the Amorite invasion were the real causes of the Sumerian defeat. The Elamites were soon expelled from Iraq; the Semites (including the I think more Hamitic Amorites) remained. From then on they were to hold the reins of government for nearly fifteen hundred years (or Ur and Sumeria)." Since the city of Ur fell in 2004 BC and there was starvation and other chaos there for several year before that the biblical patriarch Abraham and his family likely left Ur in God's call to him to found a new nation in another land which turned out to be the nation of the Israelites including the Jews in what was then the land of Canaan and eventually became known as the land of Israel or the Holy Land. Abraham and his family first moved to Haran in northern Mesopotamia and stayed at Haran for a couple years after leaving Ur before moving on to settle in Canaan and begin the Israelite people there.
And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran. Now the LORD (Yahweh or Jehovah the true or tri-une God but especially God the Father here) had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee (you) a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. Genesis 11:31-12:5
According to Mr. Roux in 1894 an Amorite Sheikh chose to establish the capital of his territory in Babylon called Bab-ilani in the Mesopotamian language Akkadian. In Hebrew Babylon means confusion as it is used in the Old Testament part of the Word of (the true)God Yahweh or Jehovah or especially God the Father but in a sense the whole divine trintiy of the Bible Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The name of that Amorite Sheikh was Sumuabum according to Mr. Roux on page 184 of his book in the chapter called The Amorites in the section of that chapter called Isin, Larsa and Babylon. In 1792 BC Hamurrabi became king of Babylon that his father Sin-muballit has ruled just before in 1812-1793 BC on page 194 of Ancient Iraq. Hammurabi defeated rival cities soon after he came to power as ruler of Babylon in 1792 BC. Hammurabi was not just a successful military political leader he was also a statesman and developed his code of law called the Code of Hammurabi that demonstrated more mercy on people in his kingdom including those of other ethnic groups than he showed in his war efforts. Part of his diplomacy was to make the native local god of Babylon Marduk one of the main deities of the Babylonian kingdom and one of the major gods of the ancient Iraq and the Middle East including of the rule of the later Babylonian Empire, Nebuchadnezzar, around 600 BC. The summary of the war victories over surrounding cities, the diplomacy over subjugated people including the natives of Babylon and the Amorite background of Hammurabi are summed up on page 195 by author Georges Roux at the beginning of the chapter Hammurabi in his book Ancient Iraq as follows: The victory over four powerful princes and the unification of Mesopotamia are in themselves remarkable achievements sufficient to single out Hammurabi (whose name could mean the Semitic god Hammu is as healer) as one of the greatest Mesopotamian monarchs. But the King of Babylon was not merely a successful war leader: his handling of his opponents reveals the qualities of a skilful diplomat; his Code of Law displays a passion for justice which, to a great extent, balances the repulsive cruelty of punishments; his inscriptions show a genuine concern for the welfare of his subjects and a deep respect for the traditions of a country which was, after all, foreign to his race; his letters prove that the descendant of an Amorite shiekh Sumuabum could administer a vast kingdom with the same care and attention to detail as the ruler of a Sumerian city-state. Hammurabi raised Babylon to the rank of a major capital-city and made its god Marduk one of the greatest deities."
According to the book Ancient Iraq by Georges Roux on page 202 in the section The Lawgiver in the chapter Hammurabi the author shares a summary perhaps originally from the Code of Hammurabi but referenced from a book Babylonian Wisdom Literature by a W. G. Lambert as follows: "To cause justice to prevail in the country, To destroy the wicked and the evil, That the strong may not oppress the weak,". The author Georges Roux summarized that the term Code for the Code of Hammurabi is "misleading" since it wasn't either a complete reform of the justice or legal system or an exact statement of its exising laws but more a system of "common law" that was continued from one ruler to another in the Babylonian kingom or empire. Part of this Code features as part of justice the terms for remitting debts and obligations and setting the prices for some goods which could all be used to put some controls on the economy in the nation. Mr. Roux states such as economic measures are a main part of what it means about Hammurabi that "he established justice in the country" that was in his second year of ruling as king. Mostly, apparently this Code of Hammurabi continued and reaffirmed existing laws of rulers before him that maintained some of the traditional laws or values of Mesopotamian civilization. There were though some economic or social developments during the reign of Hammurabi that he made decrees concerning that didn't have legal precedents. All the above elements were gathered and stated systematically for following generations and comprised the Code of Hammurabi or Code of Law. The world academic community in museums or perhaps universities etc. have a couple copies of the written Code of Hammurabi from the time of the Old Babylonian era at or near the time of Hammurabi going back to the 1700s BC down the Chaldean dynasty as with Nebuchanezzar etc. in the sixth century BC.
According to the Code of Hammurabi there were three classes of people in the society of Ur, free men awelu, mushkenu and slaves (wardu). Apparently the term mushkenu is often translated as commoner or the poor but according to Mr. Roux might better someone who was dependent on the military or government who agreed to follow some responsibilities in return for some benefits. According to the Code of Hammurabi the slaves (wardu) were recruited from either prisoners of war or their descendants or from free men who had substantial debts who sold themselves or their children to their those they owed money to. These slaves were shaved and branded with a particular mark and they were considered the property of their masters. There were heavy legal penalties stated for anyone who assisted or gave shelter to runaway slaves. According to articles 175 to 176 of the Code of Hammurabi the slaves could however be set free or adopted by their masters and sometimes the slaves were allowed to secure their own property or marry the daughters of free men. The Code of Hammurabi also stated the particular terms for injuring people of other classes. In sections 215 to 217 of this Code it was stated that the cost of an operation to save someone's life was ten shekels of silver for an awelum (free man), five shekels for a mushkenum and two shekels for a slave (wardu). Also in the Code of Hammurabi the Amorite it was stated in sections 196, 198 and 199 "if a man has pierced the eye of an awelum (free man) they shall pierce his eye but if he has pierced the eye or broken the bone of a mushkenum, he shall pay one mina of silver." If someone caused the same injuries to a slave they were to pay half his value." In another part of the Code of Hammurabi, article 229, according to Mr. Roux it was stated that: "If an architect built a house for an awelum (free man) but did not make his work strong, and if the house that he built collapsed and has caused the death of its owner, that architect shall be put to death." The Code of Hammurabi also stated in article 218 that: "If a surgeon performed a major operation on an awelum with a bronze lancet and has caused the death of this man ... they shall cut off his hand." A final example of the Code of Hammurabi concerns laws about a man divorcing his wife. It was stated there that "a man may divorce his wife without giving her anything if she misbehaved in article 141. On the other hand this Code of Hammurabi stated in article 138 that if a man "divorces her because she has not borne him sons 'he shall give her money to the value of her bridal gift and shall make good to her the dowry which she has brought from her father's house.'" So we can see from these as well as other examples that the Code of Hammurabi was quite strict or sometimes even severe but set forth a definite system of law and order but perhaps something reflective of the background of Hammurabi as descended from an invading people of the Amorites.
Because the Israelites failed to totally defeat and destroy the Canaanites God allowed the Israelites to dwell among the Canaanites. God still expected the Israelites to be faithful to Him and His law and to be separate from the inhabitants of the land. In addition to the Israelites at that time becoming intermarried with the Canaanites against God's instructions in the law of Moses the Israelites then took the next logical step and started to worship the gods of the Canaanites instead of the true God and the God of the Bible. God foresaw all these steps in falling away from Him and the relation of Israel to Him by the Jews not destroying the pagan Canaanites and this is the reason he emphasized so strongly for them to do that. The customs of the Canaanites in their idolatry, violence and immorality etc. God says are reasons that he thrust them out from owning the promised land and was willing to give it to the Jews instead. The scripture reference from Judges 3 of the Canaanites still being left in the land and a test to Israel not to fall away from God to idolatry and paganism and lose their distinction as God's chosen earthly people is as follows:
And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites: And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods. Judges 3:5-6
It continues to be a major item in the international news how the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will turn out and what will be the fate of the so called Palestinian Arabs as well as the Israeli Jews. As a Bible believing Christian that has made some effort to study general history as well as the Bible including its history I believe what are called the Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs which are the main Gentiles or non Jews in the holy land now are derived mainly from 4 sources or people groups and God's Word the Holy Bible says something about all of them. Although it might be difficult or impossible for us as humans now to determine the genealogy of each of the Palestinian Arabs and what Bible prophecies should apply to them more God is fully aware of this still but He will probably have some flexibility based on how much each of these individuals trust in Him and His word the Holy Bible and the record of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ and for those individuals as for people of all other nations to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ that He was God in the flesh who died on the cross for our sins and rose again to give us new life. That being said some of the prophecies for some of the possible relevant groups are more positive than others. The four possible groups mentioned in the Bible that would be the basis for most if not all of the background of what are now called Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs are the Canaanites, the Philistines, the strangers in the land of Israel and the Ishmaelites that are the same as the Hagarites. One reference to the future destiny of the Canaanites in the Bible is in Obadiah chapter 1. That reference says that the captivity of the children of Israel the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob shall possess their possessions which includes the land of the Canaanites around the place called Zarephath which was just south of Tyre and Sidon on the Mediterranean coast and that was called Sarepta in the New Testament or in Greek. For the children of Israel to possess this possession certainly means to take over permanently this part of the land of Canaan that was part of the promised land to the children of Israel because of the idolatry, immorality and violence of the Canaanites and because of the faithfulness to the one true God by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the fathers of the Israelites and some others of the Israelites after them. This scripture in Obadiah with some of the surrounding verses could also mean that any people that are remaining of the Canaanites at the time of Jesus' second coming at the end of the tribulation and at the beginning of the Messianic or Millennial Kingdom could be killed especially if they haven't trusted in the God of the Bible and His Son Jesus Christ by that time. There is a reference in Zephaniah 2 that I believe is also for the same time about the time of Jesus's second coming regarding the land that was also occupied by the Philistines around what we now call the Gaza Strip although going somewhat beyond that. At least as strong a judgment is pronounced on these remaining Canaanites but if they trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and SAviour and the God of the Bible as their God by that time they like people of other nations I believe would also have God's blessing in the Millennial or Messianic Kingom and God's eternal Kingdom with people of other nations. There are elements of the Gentiles including probably of the Palestinians especially the term strangers that give a much more positive prophetic future for non-Jewish inhabitants of the land of Israel by the time of Jesus' second coming. Although so far I can't find any other prophetic reference for the last days for the Canaanites I think it is far to say that these references together would imply that together they convey God's intention for any remaining Canaanites which would be now in some of what we call Palestinians as well as origins from other ethnic groups like strangers, Philistines or Ishmaelites anywhere that are left in the land of Israel at the time of Jesus's second coming. The scripture references from Obadiah 1 and Zephaniah 2 of the future destiny or part of the destiny to any remaining Canaanites or Canaanite part of the blood line of Palestinians or other non-Jews in the land of Israel now or at the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to set up His kingdom on earth is as follows:
And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south (Negev). Obadiah (1):20
Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the LORD is against you; O Canaan, the land of the PHilistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. Zephaniah 2:5
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