Who are the descendants of the Canaanites?
Question:
I was just wondering who are the descendants today of the "old" Canaanites? Since the Israelites never completely destroyed them as God had asked, surely they're still around.
Am I correct to think that the Palestinians today are the descendants of the people that were relocated by the Assyrian and Babylonian Kingdoms? This means that the Israelites were in the area way before they ever were although they claim that they were there first.
Answer:
The question assumes that the Canaanites kept their lineage pure, but there is no indication of that being the case. The Canaanites, which were actually a number of tribal nations, were conquered by the Israelites. About a thousand years later, the region was conquered by the Assyrians and then the Babylonians, each of who exported people and imported people from other lands into the conquered region. The area was then destroyed by the Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire moved in to possess it. Recent reports of DNA analysis of the Palestinians indicate they are a mixture of many nationalities, much as you would expect in a region that has seen so much upheaval.
In truth, the claims of who was there first don't matter. That has never been the basis for determining who currently occupies a territory.
