Between the Canaanites of the coast and the Canaanites of the interior a difference grew up in the course of centuries.  This was caused by the sea-trade in which the cities on the coast engaged.  The “Phoenicians,” as they were termed, on the coast became sailors and merchants, while their brethren farther inland were content to live on the products of agriculture and import from abroad the luxuries they required.  While Tyre and Sidon were centres of manufacture and maritime trade, Megiddo and Hazor remained agricultural.  After the Hebrew invasion the difference between them became greater:  Phoenicia continued independent; the Canaanites of the interior were extirpated by the Israelites or paid tribute to their conquerors.  Little by little the latter amalgamated with the conquered race; towns like Shechem contained a mixed population, partly Hebrew and partly native; and the Israelites adopted the manners and religion of the Canaanites, worshipping at the old high-places of the country, and adoring the Baalim and Ashtaroth.  The Amorite heads depicted at Karnak above the names of the places captured by Shishak in Judah show how little the population of southern Palestine had changed up to the time of Solomon’s death.

Canaan was ruined by its want of union.  The Canaanitish cities were perpetually fighting with one another; even the strong hand of the Pharaoh in the days of Egyptian supremacy could not keep them at peace.  Now and again, indeed, they united, generally under a foreign leader, but the union was brought about by the pressure of foreign attack, and was never more than temporary.  There was no lack of patriotism among them, it is true; but the patriotism was confined to the particular city or state to which those who were inspired by it belonged.  The political condition of Canaan resembled its religious condition; as each district had its separate Baal, so too it had its separate political existence.  If there were many Baals, there were also many kinglets.

The fourteenth century B.C. was a turning-point in the history of Canaan.  It witnessed the fall of the Egyptian supremacy which had succeeded the supremacy of Babylonia; it also witnessed the severance of western Asia from the kingdoms on the Euphrates and Tigris, and the consequent end of the direct influence of Babylonian culture.  The Hittites established themselves in Syria “in the land of the Amorites,” while at the same time other invaders threatened Canaan itself.  The Israelites made their way across the Jordan; the Philistines seized the southern portion of the coast.

The Philistine invasion preceded that of the Israelites by a few years.  The Philistines were sea-robbers, probably from the island of Krete.  Zephaniah calls them “the nation of the Cherethites” or Kretans, and their features, as represented on the Egyptian monuments, are of a Greek or Aryan type.  They have the straight nose, high forehead, and thin lips of the European.  On their heads they wear a curious kind of pleated cap, fastened round the chin by a strap.  They are clad in a pair of drawers and a cuirass of leather, while their arms consist of a small round shield with two handles, a spear, and a short but broad sword of bronze.  Greaves of bronze, like those of the Homeric heroes, protected their legs in battle.