C’naan’s Job
In Breisheet 9:25-26 we read that Noach cursed his grandson C’naan:
He said, “Cursed be C’naan! The lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers.” He then said, “Blessed be the Lord, God of Shem; C’naan shall be his slave.”
C’naan’s job as a slave to Shem would be that he would temporarily take care of the future Land of Israel.
In Parshat Noach, Breisheet 10:19 we read:
The borders of the C’naani were from Sidon toward Gerar near Gaza and toward Sdom, Amora, Adma and Tzavoyim near Lasha.
According to Ramban, the Land of C’naan with its boundaries was qualified for Israel, and this was the lot of their inheritance, as it said (Dvarim 32:8) “When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the children of men, He set the borders of the peoples according to the number of the children.” But at the time of the dispersion of the nations, God gave it to C’naan, on account of his being a servant, to keep it for Israel.
This can be compared to a person who deposits the belongings of the master’s son for safe keeping with his servant until the son will grow up and acquire the belongings as well as the servant.
Radak adds:
The verse mentions from Sidon to Sdom, but doesn’t mention all of the borders here. In the future, when the land is divided up and given to B’nai Yisrael all of the boundaries will be outlined.
This teaches us that God wanted the C’naanim to temporarily take care of the land for us until B’nai Yisrael were ready to inherit it. This way, when they would come to settle the land, they wouldn’t have to plant vineyards and build houses. Rather, the land would already be settled and they wouldn’t have to start from scratch.
In Parshat Masei (Bamidbar 34:1-2) God tells Moshe to tell B’nai Yisrael:
When you come to the Land of C’naan, this is the land that will fall to you as an inheritance, the Land of C’naan according to its borders…
The parsha then goes on to explain in depth all of the perimeters of the Land of Israel.
We see from here that the land was first called Eretz C’naan since the C’naanim were temporarily there but ultimately it was destined to be inherited by the Jewish people.
