God instructed the Israelites to destroy these seven nations upon entering Canaan.
The seven nations are all descendants of Canaan, son of Ham and grandson of Noah, from whom they derive their collective name Canaanites.
[3] Brian R. Doak argues that the seven nations embody the "symbol(s) of the religious practices Israel should avoid".
Membership in these nations is also not strictly determined by biological descent in Christian thought.
For example, pagan Israelites were frequently derided as Canaanites by monotheistic Jews.