Who Were the Perizzites in the Bible? 
In the Bible, we read about a group of people known as the Perizzites. These people lived in the land of Canaan before the Israelites did. It is believed that their name comes from a Hebrew term for “rural person.” Learn more about the Perizzites in the Bible in this article.
Philistines
The Philistines are a famous people in the Bible. They were an ancient people who lived in the Land of Israel during the time of the Judges and Kings. They were a foreign people who used the Aegean alphabet and ate pork. In the Old Testament, they are described as being the enemy of the Israelites.
The Philistines are mentioned in the Bible many times. It would take a book to list all the references to them. They were most commonly associated with the biblical conflict between Israel and the Philistines. They were mentioned in Genesis, Judges, Zechariah, and Revelation. The Philistines also fought against the Israelites during King Saul’s reign.
Caphtorim
The Perizzites were an ancient people in Israel. The Bible mentions them several times. Their most prominent conflict was with the Israelites in the early Judges and Joshua periods. They inhabited the hill country of Judah and Ephraim. Ultimately, their descendants were the Canaanites. Regardless, they did not join the Israelites, and they continued to live with the neighbouring nations.
In Genesis 9, the Perizzites were a people of giants. Their land covered much of what is now Jordan and Lebanon. They were also known as Zamzummims. The Bible mentions that they once spread south of the Jordan. The Zuzim may be the same people as the ones mentioned in Gen 14:5.
Amorite
The Amorite perizzites are a tribe that lived in Canaan and were the descendants of Abram and Lot. There is little known about them outside of the Bible, but they appear to have lived around Bethel and elsewhere in the area. According to the Bible, these tribes were among the six nations that God referred to as the “lands of milk and honey.”
The Amorites lived near Mount Hermon in the hill country. They were a powerful people, but were wiped out by the Israelites. After 600 B.C.E. they disappeared from the history books. They were eventually absorbed into Aram, which is today the country of Aram.
Canaanites
The biblical text treats Canaanites and perizzites as distinct people, but there is some confusion over which group they belong to. In the Pentateuch, Israel is shown as the rightful citizens of Canaan, while the Canaanites and perizzites are those who do not fit into this framework. Rather than being a faceless enemy, the Canaanites and perizzits represent an ideological element that is meant to address concerns of the exilic elite.
In the Bible, the Perizzites lived in the central part of Canaan, south of Mt. Carmel and southwest of Jericho. In the book of Exodus, God mentions the Perizzites as one of the six nations. The Bible says that this land was good and spacious, flowing with milk and honey.
Hittites
The Hebrew Bible mentions the Hittites and Perizzites in a couple of different places. They were pre-Israelite inhabitants of the region surrounding Shechem. Their land was described as flowing with milk and honey and as good and spacious. They were one of six peoples mentioned in Exodus.
Abraham purchased land from the Hittites when he bought it from their son Heth. Heth’s sons Esau and Abraham took wives from them. The Hittite Ephron later sold Abraham the cave of Machpelah. Joshua 1:14 describes land that belonged to the Hittites on the border of Canaan, between the Euphrates and Lebanon, toward the setting sun.
The Perizzites were also forced to work as slave labor during Solomon’s reign. In Genesis 15:16, the Amorites were mentioned as well, but their descendants are not mentioned.