by Mindi Popovich-Schneider

In this lesson, we will be considering what was happening around the rest of the world at the time when the Israelites fled Egypt and wandered through the desert. Of course, exact dates are not known, but we generally think it was sometime in the early 1200s (13th century) B.C. By simply reading the Bible, we can learn some things about some other civilizations that existed at this point in time: the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites are all mentioned several times in Exodus!

The Canaanites:

The Canaanites people are, of course, all descendants of Canaan, the grandson of Noah. Many of the other tribes mentioned (such as the Hittites) are the descendants of Canaan’s different children. They inhabited a region that roughly corresponds to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and parts of Jordan and Syria.

The Hittites:

In Genesis, when Abraham goes into Canaan, he meets a people referred to as the “children of Heth.” When Abraham’s wife Sarah died, these people offered a burial place for her, suggesting that they were on friendly terms with Abraham. Later, when Jacob was dying in Egypt, he instructed his sons to take him back to this burial place.

By the time of the Israelite desert wanderings, the Hittites were dwelling in the mountains, according to Moses’s spies. These mountains were probably the Taurus Mountains, which lie to the north of the Indus River Valley, in what is now known as Turkey. But back then, these mountains were a great barrier, making the Hittite people not well known to the other civilizations around them. Even so, the Hittites had an important place in history: they were the first civilization to distribute iron to the ancient world!

The Amorites:

You might recognize this name from the Polyeleos (“many praises”) that we sing during Orthros: “Seon, king of the Amorites…” is mentioned in Psalm 135. This kingdom was mighty, even occupying Babylon at one point in history.

The Perizzites:

Throughout the Old Testament, the Perizzites are consistently mentioned in the context of the Canaanites (that is, “The Canaanites and Perizzites”). It’s possible that the name is referring to “villagers,” and therefore isn’t a distinct people.

The Hivites:

In Joshua, the Hivites are described as being "under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh,” while 2 Samuel mentions them along with the “stronghold of Tyre.” Like the other civilizations mentioned here, the Hivites are listed in Genesis 10 as the descendants of Canaan, himself the son of Ham and grandson of Noah.

The Jebusites:

We do not know much about the Jebusites. Interestingly, when the tribes of Canaan are listed out in the Old Testament, the Jebusites always come last, perhaps indicating their comparatively small size! Like the Hittites, they were a mountain tribe. Their capital was called Jebus, and was later conquered by the tribe of Judah (in the book of Judges) and held until the time of David. That city became known as Jerusalem.

Activity:

Compare a present-day map and a map of the Ancient World (specifically the Fertile Crescent). On the modern day map, try to identify:

The Land of Canaan
The Jordan River
Taurus Mountains
Jebus

Sources:

Mills, Dorothy. The Book of the Ancient World, 2nd Edition. Memoria Press.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Accessed online. https://www.internationalstandardbible.com/

Physical map of the Middle East: https://gisgeography.com/middle-east-map/

Map of the Fertile Crescent: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/13559/fertile-crescent-map/