Chapter 25. The Amorites
Amorites are generally regarded as somewhat interchangeable with Canaanites. The Mercer Bible Dictionary oddlystated that Amorites and Canaanites ought not be regarded as distinct peoples, even though both names were used for peoples in separate geographic regions, and the adoption of one name did not eliminate the other from use. Conversely, I think historian Archibald Sayce was directionally correct when he stated, “the tribes and cities of which Canaan is said to have been the father were related to one another only geographically. The blond Amorite and the yellow-skinned Hittite of the north had nothing in common from a racial point of view either with one another or with the Semitic tribes of Canaan. Geography and not ethnology has caused them to be grouped together.” The eponymous and racial feature conundrum is resolved when one entertains the notion that Canaanite daughters intermarried with different kinds of Aboriginal Rephaim patriarchs.
Canaanites and Amorites were listed as distinct nations among the mighty seven nations and as seemingly the most dominant branches of the early Canaanite clans. The Amorites’ powerful presence was imposed upon the Mount Hermon region, throughout the Covenant Land and beyond. Thus, the Amorites were generally regarded by historians as the most powerful Canaanite clan, but not Rephaim. Josephus regarded the Canaanite clans of Syria and Canaan as the offspring of giants, versus fallen angelic offspring, when Josephus described the war of giants, also documented in Genesis 14 that included Amorites. Josephus’ accounting synchro-meshes with Joshua and Caleb’s scouting report to Moses that identified Anakim in the Covenant Land, as well as other giant-like tribes taller than Israelites that included Amorites. Moreover, the Shasu of southern Canaan were represented by Egyptians as belonging to the same blond type as the Amorites; both dwelled among the blond-haired Anakim, and both were considered humans of a larger physical stature, but not Rephaim or Anakim. Shasu, as you recall, ranged from seven to nine feet tall, as included among the stronger tribes listed in Numbers 13:28–29…
