During the seventh week, in the seventh year, in the forty-seventh jubilee [2303], your father came from the land of Canaan. You were born during the fourth week, in its sixth year, in the forty-eighth jubilee [2330]. This was the time of distress for the Israelites.
Jubilees (also known as Lesser Genesis, Leptogenesis, or the Book of Division) is canonical scripture for the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The only complete copies of Jubilees are available in Ge’ez (Classical Ethiopic), here used with permission by the Bible Society of Ethiopia.
The term that is transliterated as “Canaan” in English means “father of honor,” “father of majesty,” “father of praise,” or “my father is majesty.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )
It is translated in American Sign Language with a sign loosely referencing the act of hiding/covering one’s face in shame. The association of “shame” with the name “Canaan” comes from Genesis 9, specifically verse 9:25. This sign was adapted from a similar sign in Kenyan Sign Language (see here ). (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Canaan” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Canaan in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
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