A new DNA study has just been released that says that ancient Canaanites were not annihilated by the Children of Israel, but are the ancestors of today's Lebanese.
A new genetic study from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute has found that far from being destroyed, the Canaanites morphed into the inhabitants of modern Lebanon.
Scientists in the United Kingdom-based genetic research center sequenced the genomes of five 4,000-year-old Canaanite individuals and compared them to other ancient and present-day populations, including a sample of 99 modern Lebanese.
The results, published July 27 in the American Journal of Human Genetics, show that 93 percent of the ancestry of modern Lebanese ancestry comes from the Canaanites.
Had they been destroyed by the Israelites, though, it would have been a form of patricide.
The study took the DNA of human remains in Sidon and compared it to those of modern Lebanese:
Uncertainties also surround the fate of the Canaanites: the Bible reports the destruction of the Canaanite cities and the annihilation of its people; if true, the Canaanites could not have directly contributed genetically to present-day populations. However, no archaeological evidence has so far been found to support widespread destruction of Canaanite cities between the Bronze and Iron Ages: cities on the Levant coast such as Sidon and Tyre show continuity of occupation until the present day.
We sampled the petrous portion of temporal bones belonging to five ancient individuals dated to between 3,750 and 3,650 years ago (ya) from Sidon, which was a major Canaanite city-state during this period.Only one problem: the Children of Israel never conquered Sidon, or many other Canaanite cities, nor did they destroy the Canaanites - according to the Bible.
God indeed commanded the destruction of the Canaanites (Deuteronomy 20:17) but the beginning of Judges shows that it never happened (NIV translation, easier to understand than JPS)
27 But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land. 28 When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely. 29 Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them. 30 Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, so these Canaanites lived among them, but Zebulun did subject them to forced labor. 31 Nor did Asher drive out those living in Akko or Sidon or Ahlab or Akzib or Helbah or Aphek or Rehob. 32 The Asherites lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land because they did not drive them out. 33 Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath; but the Naphtalites too lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, and those living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became forced laborers for them. 34 The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain. 35 And the Amorites were determined also to hold out in Mount Heres, Aijalon and Shaalbim, but when the power of the tribes of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labor.Indeed, David bought cedar trees from Sidon and Tyre to build the Temple. Queen Jezebel was the daughter of the king of Sidon and swayed her husband Ahab into worshiping false gods.
All the study proved is that Sidon was never destroyed and today's Lebanese descended from ancient Phoenicians, which everyone pretty much knew already.
The DNA tests actually prove the Biblical account that the Israelites never conquered Sidon. These scientists had an agenda beyond science.
(h/t Phil)