Page 68 - BV17

68 The House of Israel

males from dynastic succession -- does not operate in the however, its power had been broken and its capital de-
Netherlands where, as in England, a queen may reign in stroyed.
her own right. Thus both countries observe the
Zelophehad law of ancient Israel, whereby a woman may This up-to-date account of Canaanite
sit on the throne where there is no male heir. Carthage is particularly important as showing the
westward trend of migration from Bible lands. As has
The National flag of the Netherlands carries three happened so often in more recent centuries, the
horizontal bands of red, white and blue. The Dutch arms Canaanite and subsequent treks followed trading
have also a significant affinity with the Royal arms of Brit- routes which had long been traveled. The trails blazed
ain. not only by the ships of Tyre but also by the “navy of
ships” inaugurated in Israel by the wise and mighty
-- Reginald H.W. Cox Solomon provided the guide and the “know-how” for
those who were westward bound in the following for-
Hannibal -- the Phoeno-Canaanite mative centuries of European civilization.

HANNIBAL’S EXPLOITS with elephant charg- Canaanites in quite considerable numbers
ers have thrilled schoolboys of many generations. His reached western regions of the Isles of Britain in the
stand against the empire of Rome and his incredible inva- centuries B.C. by way of Spain. We may be sure that
sion of its vast heartland are familiar enough to all. But their being here brought no comfort to God’s incoming
comparatively few people realize that this remarkable mil- people of Israel. The factor of prime importance is that
itary genius and his compatriots were, most of them, Old their wanderings supply incontestable secular proof of
Testament Canaanites -- a carry-over from the days when migrations from the Holy Land to the Isles of the West.
Joshua and his Israelites disputed with their ancestors for Moreover, the researchers have shown that many of
possession of their Promised Land. the Phoeno-Canaanites who fled before Joshua had a
“western” appearance. From the sculptured portraits of
In The Life and Death of Carthage, Professor Hannibal it is manifest that he was a man of Hellenic
Gilbert Picard explains that, despite its ancient glories, physiognomy, i.e. similar to many northern Europeans
Carthage is now nothing but a ruinous heap in the suburbs of today.
of Tunis. It first became known as a refuge for Canaanites
driven out of Palestine by Joshua. There is secular testi- For a correct appraisal of the early colonizers
mony of this exodus from Procopius of Caesarea, a reli- of the Isles of the West -- Motherland of the new na-
able fifth-century historian who recorded that, in his day, tions who proceeded to inaugurate new nations to the
there was at Tigisis, near modern Tangiers, a column bear- West and far South -- it is necessary to realize that the
ing the inscription: “We are they who fled before the face sprinkling of Canaanites, of whom Hannibal was an
of Joshua, the robber, the son of Nun.” The book describes example, are now part and parcel of the major core of
Carthage as a Phoenician colony. On this, it is important to Celto-Saxondom.
remember that there were Phoeno-Canaanites and
Phoeno-Israelites, for the Mediterranean coastlands of -- The Bible Research Handbook
Palestine were inhabited in part by each of these peoples.
By the twelfth century B.C. It had become a trading cen-
tre, operated chiefly by the merchants of the trafficking “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,”
city of Canaanite Tyre. The Phoenician inhabitants of Let Israel now say -- “If it had not been the LORD
Carthage were, in fact, Canaanites. Carthaginian domina- who was on our side, when men rose up against us,
tion developed over most of North Africa and across to then they would have swallowed us alive...”
Europe, Spain being particularly involved. By 146 B.C., Psalm 124:1-3

The Berean Voice September-October 2002