Which Modern Peoples Have A Strong Genetic Link To Canaanites?

Here's what some sources are saying about that at this time.   

Map from Wikipedia, a site very worthy of our financial support!  Used for educational purposes only. 

     Noah built the Ark under God's direction with the labor of at least his own self and his three sons, Shem, Japheth and Ham.  Were there other laborers?  The Bible doesn't specify, but the three boys were 100 years old at the time the Great Flood came, and Noah was 600 years old.  That's a lot of time for a lot of labor!  They survived the Great Flood, coming to rest in the mountains of "Ararat".

     After the Great Flood the first great sin mentioned to occur was between Noah and his youngest son Ham.  Perhaps there was some room for blame with both parties, who knows but God?  But Noah managed to get a vineyard to grow to the point that he could produce wine.  He drank a fair amount of this wine, and fell asleep naked in a dwelling for some reason.  His son Ham, passing by, saw His father in this state of indignity and instead of covering his father's nakedness, he called attention to it, making Noah's state of embarrassment a public spectacle.  (Not entirely unlike when certain Jews mocked Jesus on the cross when he 'drank from the cup His Father gave Him), or when the Amalekites attacked the weak and trailing among the recently escaped Israelite slaves out in the hot desert soon after they left Egypt, or like when Shimeii mocked King David when David had to flee from a coup orchestrated by his own son, Absalom.)  Noah's other two sons solved the problem by walking into the dwelling backwards with a blanket and covering their father.  They treated his vulnerable and regrettable situation with respect.  When Noah later awoke and found out what Ham had done he was angry.  But instead of punishing Ham, Noah mysteriously decided to curse a certain one of Ham's several sons, apparently Ham's fourth oldest son, a son named Canaan. Here are the words he used, from Genesis 9:

²⁴ When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵ he said,

²⁶ He also said,

²⁸ After the flood Noah lived 350 years. ²⁹ Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.

End quote.

     Today geneticists and archaeologists have found enough ancient Canaanite DNA in the skeletons of burial sites, etc., that they are reporting which nations or people people groups in our modern world seem to be descended in great part from ancient Canaanites.  It actually hasn't been too much of a surprise in some ways to read their reports.  Many of the groups with the highest percentage of Canaanite DNA live in the region surrounding Israel, an area anciently occupied by Canaanite peoples per evidence inside and outside of the Bible.  And oddly, many of these nations or people groups have fairly hostile relations, or have had, with modern Israel.  

     Geneticists report that modern Lebanon, on Israel's north west border, has a very high percentage of Canaanite DNA (some studies say as much as 90% of their DNA) as does Syria on Israel's north east border, (Syria has less than Lebanon, but is still identified as substantial) and there are the modern Palestinian peoples who live in their own conclave within the actual borders of modern Israel (some sources are saying they derive over 80%, up to near 90% of their DNA from Canaanite lineage.)  And the Jordanians, on might and Israel's east border, have over 50% Canaanite DNA per some sources.  The Egyptians are said to not have very much Canaanite DNA, though I did not find a number.  Surprisingly, some Jewish groups such as Iraqi Jews and Karaite Jews and Kurdish Jews do have a fair percentage, as well as some Bedouins in that area, as do the Samaritans.  The Druze populations are reported to contains a fair amount of Canaanite DNA though I did not see any percentage numbers offered.  Modern Israel, the Jewish portion, is in a sort of a hostile 'Canaanite Sandwich' even today in our modern times, in some respects.  It's strange how much things haven't changed!  Relations then resemble relations now.       

     Canaanites stayed in God's poor graces though He gave them much time to reform.  But instead, they reached 'the fullness of their iniquity' at about the time the newly formed Israelite people of the Exodus finally entered the lands promised to them, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  God led the Israelites out of Egypt long ago and ordered them to take the land of Canaan, where particularly offensive types of false idolatrous worship was taking place, baby sacrifice to false gods, sexual activities to please the false gods, etc.  God ordered, the ancient Israelites to wipe out the Canaanite peoples living there in the land He had promised Abraham's and Isaac's and Jacob's descendants.  The Canaanite's sins had offended God very much by then, and they weren't reforming.  Part of the reason for the severity, the divine order to wipe them out, was the concern that Israelites would start to intermarry with those wicked acting descendants of Canaan of that time period and also that Israelites would begin to worship their false gods instead of worshiping only the One True God who had led them out of Egypt after the 10 great plagues, and who had additionally led them in miraculous fashion for 40 years in the Sinai Desert.  And it turns out that that is precisely what the Israelites began to do when they disobeyed God's order to eradicate Canaanites peoples and instead began to live [eacefully among the Canaanite peoples that they had not eradicated from the land as God had ordered them to!  The Israelites were too fearful at first to enter Canaan and forcefully take the land, and so they were punished with 40 years of wandering the Sinai Peninsula desert, during which time they toughened up and learned to obey God.  Then, under Moses' successor Joshua, they did enter the Promised Land, largely today's Israel, and warred successfully against the mighty Canaanites.  But they did not fully wipe them out and rid the land of them as God had ordered Israel to do.  The Israelite effort sort of petered out as they began claiming their tribal lands and enjoying its fruits, and began meeting stiffer Canaanite and Philistine resistance to their attacks.  And so, per the Bible, the Canaanites were left with a pretty significant remnant population.  God had allowed that a remnant of them should live despite how much they had angered Him.  And per recent finds by geneticists, descendants of these Canaanite peoples live on in large numbers today in areas of the Middle East, areas bordering modern Israel, in fact.

     Yet though God has allowed the Canaanite remnant to survive His ancient command to the Israelites to wipe them out, though their progeny survive in pretty high numbers in today's modern world, yet even so He had the great prophet Zachariah, in chapter 14, inform the world that in the end times He will apparently not be tolerating any Canaanites to be 'in the House of the Lord Almighty', so He has apparently not forgotten the behavior of the Canaanite peoples throughout time.  Here's the lead-up verses from Zechariah 14, with that statement He had His prophet Zechariah utter at the end.  It begins with the punishment that a great army of enemies arrayed against Jerusalem will one day receive for attacking Jerusalem when God finally rises to protect His anciently chosen people, the Israelites, in a day that is still in the future as I'm writing this.  Again, this describes an end-days  conflict that is still in the future as of early 2025 A.D.  Many think it describes a nuclear attack, such as with a neutron bomb where the most water-rich parts of the body become very hot as the atomic particles from the blast go ripping through the flesh.  But God is by no means confined to man made nuclear weapons to bring about these symptoms...He is God!  All the substances of the universe obey His commands  :

¹² This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. ¹³ On that day people will be stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another. ¹⁴ Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected—great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. ¹⁵ A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.

¹⁶ Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. ¹⁷ If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain. ¹⁸ If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lord^[b] will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. ¹⁹ This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.

²⁰ On that day holy to the Lord will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the Lord’s house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. ²¹ Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the Lord Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite^[c] in the house of the Lord Almighty.

End quote

      Isn't it strange what age old enemies the Israelites and the Canaanites have truly been?  And God never quit watching over the Jews, the Israelites, it appears, right?  And He will still watch over them to the end of the times of the gentiles, the end of the Church Age.   Let wise people and nations take note...don't mess with Israel, the 'apple of God's eye'.  He knows who messes with His chosen people.  It is very, very bad to be on that list!  Stepping carefully indeed when it comes to treatment of the Jews, or Israel, or Jerusalem is a way to show fear of and respect for the Holy Father.  It brings a curse down upon your nation to not understand this great fundamental truth that simply is the truth, whether you do or do not want it to be the truth, as history has clearly shown.  If you were to write it down, today, it might go something like this:  "Honor God the Father above all, join and fear and follow His mighty son Jesus, who is the only Savior given to mankind and as good a King and Savior as could ever be had by any people.  Listen to the Great Holy Spirit and heed His urgings at all times, always love your neighbor as yourself, and never, never, never, never, never mess with Israel because God the Father handles all such matters concerning their discipline, and many Israelites will one day become followers of Jesus, finally recognizing that He was their assigned Messiah two millennia ago and still is.  If Israel needs aid, asks for aid, reaches out for aid, give them all they ask for and then some, and dedicate it to the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and They will keep track of all the accounts if such tracking even needs or occur."   Christians should pray for all people, but certainly for the Jews and for Israel.  Everyone has heard it but it bears repeating...God said He would bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse them.  Those are the words of God and have been for thousands of years now.      

     It is a wise nation indeed who recognizes that Israel is 'the third rail', a small and perhaps weak seeming thing in terms of total world military or financial power, yet a thing possessed of an astounding Holiness that reflects the might and power of God the Father Almighty, not so much their own Israeli level of human worth or power at all (though they are and always have tried to be just fine as a people and a nation towards their 'geographical neighbor nations' near and far.  They are a respectably righteous nation.  Their national moral compass is generally a quite good one.)  Israel might even do some great seeming wrong, some atrocious act some day, but while nations or people might very justifiably give their reasons for objecting and advise Israel to stop it if they ever see Israel do some atrocious and unprovoked sort of act, still, keeping your national hands strictly and completely off of Israel is wise, judicious, and absolutely necessary as well as infinitely advisable.  Messing with Israel, I truly feel, causes every eye in Heaven to turn and look down upon the offending party with absolutely aroused attention, sternness and the early stirrings of anger.  You just don't disrespect Israel, you let Israel know that your friendship and aid is at their disposal, you do not be a two faced friend to Israel, if it doesn't make sense to support their safety and welfare you still do it anyway...it is simply a reality:  you treat Israel like it is your chance to show God how much you fear, respect, appreciate and love Him.  They are not perfect, but they are pretty good and they are darn sure His!  The Canaanite descended peoples of today are very well advised, as are all others, to take this sane and sensible posture:  treat Israel like it is one of God the Father's favorite things in all of the world.  You are not going to go wrong with that I don't think, and this is an area where you definitely don't want to go wrong.                        

     Is your nation or coalition of nations 20 times larger and 30 times more powerful militarily than Israel?  Count it as nothing.  Their God (who is also the God of the Christians!  and the God of Abraham! and to be truthful the Maker and Father of all humans, male or female) who cherishes them, who is our God and Maker as mentioned, is a creator and destroyer of worlds, yes, He can effortlessly destroy planets, let alone of puny human armies and nations.  That's not hyperbole...we all know it is fact.  It is the height of all insanity to oppose our loving Holy Father...and a wickedness.  You may think you know best and are helping.  Uzzah did!  But just be the older brother that Joseph was to little Benjamin.  Wise nations, don't decide that you know God's business better than God does.  It has already been prophesied that the world's nations will all pay allegiance and/or tribute to Israel one day, and that God Himself will decide to dwell there on Mount Zion at His pleasure.  So, what exactly is it that we should do to foil God's professed and intended plan?  In the end, it is all very easy...understand that God has chosen Israel.  Respect it!  Embrace it!