Genesis 10:18

And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.

The Arvadite, [Hebrew, haa-'Arwaadiy (H721); Septuagint, ton Aradion; Josephus, Aroudaion] - Arvad, or Arphad (2 Kings 19:13; Ezekiel 27:8; Ezekiel 27:11). The seat of the Arvad city was an island north of Tyre, about three miles from the coast of Phoenicia, above the embouchure of the river Eleutherus (Nahr el Kebir), called by the Greeks and Romans Aradus, now Ruad; pronounced by the Arabs as Rwad. A city was built on it, according to Strabo, by Sidonian exiles. Considerable portions of the very ancient walls remain, and, from the size of the stones, these walls must have been prodigiously strong.

The Zemarite - [Hebrew, ha-Tsªmaariy (H6786); Septuagint, ton Samaraion]. This Canaanitish tribe was settled in Simyra, now Simrah-a maritime city of Phoenicia, near the river Eleutherus.

Hamathite, х ha-Chªmaatiy (H2577); Septuagint, Amathi]. The settlement of this tribe was in northern Syria, in the part lying between the Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon, watered by the Upper Orontes, and their capital was Hamath-now Hamah-a city of note at the conquest of Canaan, as may be inferred from the prominence of its name in all passages relating to the northern frontier of the country, (Numbers 13:22; Numbers 34:8; Joshua 13:5, etc.)

Afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. Some of them, as the Hittites and Amorites, at the date to which this ethnological list refers, had already migrated beyond the boundaries of Canaan proper (see the note at Genesis 10:15-16). At a later period the Hittites formed a settlement in the north, in the valley of the Orontes, and attained to great power, since their formidable resistance and chariots of war are frequently portrayed, under the name of Kheta, on the monuments which record the victories of the ancient Egyptian conquerors. 'The river Leontes appears to have been the original boundary of the Zidonians and Hittites; and after their respective families were spread abroad, northward and southward, the elder branches retained their central and primary seats, as the juniors moved on to found new settlements' (Corbaux). The Hamathites, too, 'were spread abroad,' for they extended the limits of their original territory, and founded an independent kingdom, which reached from the source of the Orontes almost to Antioch (2 Kings 23:33; 2 Kings 25:2; Isaiah 37:12-14; Amos 6:2), bounded by Zobah on the north and east, Phoenicia on the west, and Damascus on the south.

Thus, it appears that the descendants of Canaan populated the country called by his name, the various tribes enumerated above being located chiefly toward the south and west, occupying the whole region between the Jordan and the Mediterranean. It has been maintained, with great probability, that they all sprang from the two sons of Canaan, Sidon and Heth - i:e., the Arkite, the Sinite, the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite, northern tribes, were variously descended from Sidon; while the Jebusite, the Amorite, the Girgasite, and the Hivite, being southern and inland, traced their origin from Heth. 'North of this section,' says Porter, 'their appropriated territory was confined to a narrow strip between the Lebanon and the Great sea; although they made occasional conquests beyond it, the possessions the Canaanites thus acquired were but temporary.'