Genesis 10:15

Canaan Observe that we pass from Cush and Mizraim to Canaan, the fourth son of Ham; omitting Put, the third son in Genesis 10:6.

Zidon his firstborn "Firstborn"; i.e. the capital, and most ancient city, of the Phoenicians. The Phoenicians called themselves Zidonians, and were so called by the Israelites. Cf. 1 Kings 16:31. Zidon probably means "fish-town."

Heth i.e. the Hittites called by the Egyptians "Khêta," and by the Assyrians "Khatti." It is more than doubtful whether the Hittites had any connexion with the Phoenicians. Their language has not yet (1913) been deciphered. The Hittite empire appears to have lasted from 1800 b.c. to 700 b.c. Carchemish on the Euphrates was for a time their capital. They made their influence felt throughout Syria and Asia Minor. Their famous collision with Egypt occurred in the reign of Rameses III, about 1180 b.c. The mention of Heth as the "son of Canaan" is probably to be understood as indicating the presence of a large number of Hittite dwellers in Phoenicia and Palestine. There are traces of these elsewhere in O.T., e.g. ch. 23; Numbers 13:29; Judges 1:26; 1 Kings 10:29; 2 Kings 7:6. The supremacy of the Hittites throughout Syria and Canaan belongs to the period shortly after the age represented by the Tel-el-Amarna tablets (1400 b.c.).