Hilary of Poitiers : Salvation was awaited by and offered to Israel but not to the carnal Israel. "In fact, it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise who are considered his offspring." As John also attests, the children of Abraham are not the children according to the flesh, since they are also children of vipers, and God can raise up children of Abraham from rocks. The Lord taught that the right of succession is constituted by works of faith and that we must not think of the birth of children according to carnal generation, when he says, "If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works that Abraham did." And Daniel also, condemning the old men, does not say, "offspring of Abraham," but, "offspring of Canaan and not of Judah." Ezekiel also, confronting the people with their iniquities, says, "Your father was a Canaanite, your mother a Hittite. Your origin and your birth are of the land of Canaan." We are not dealing, therefore, with this Israel that comes from carnal succession and to which is attributed the birth of a generation that is wholly profane because of its unbelief. It is not to this Israel, therefore, that salvation is given, because they did not accept it when it was offered, but to that other who, their slavery ended, has become the people of God. — HOMILIES ON THE Psalms 52:19 Hippolytus of Rome : To the other elder he did not speak in this way, but he said to him, "You seed of Canaan and not of Judah." [Susannah 56] He points out Canaan recalling him as being such a gentile, having spoken to him as uncircumcised in this way, "'Has lust deceived you and beauty perverted your heart? You did this thing to the daughters of Israel, and they, fearing you, had relations with you, but the daughter of Judah did not endure your disgrace. And so now if you did indeed see her, tell me, under what tree did you see them having relations with one another?' And he said 'Under the oak.' But Daniel said, 'You have also lied directly against your own head. For the angel of God is about to cut you in half, so that he may destroy you both.'" [Susannah 56-59] — Commentary on Daniel 1.30.3 John Chrysostom : Ham receives the sentence so that he might come to his senses, and he is punished through his son, so that you would learn that even if one is old, the punishment will pass to the child. And this makes his life bitter and painful, knowing that even after his death his son will be punished for what he did. And that the son will be miserable from birth and all his descendants detestable and inclined to evil is what the Scripture says instead of pronouncing a curse: "Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite." And elsewhere it says scornfully, "offspring of Canaan and not of Judah." — HOMILIES ON Genesis 29:7 Origen of Alexandria : Let us therefore take heed, just as Jesus here also says, that we may prevail against the Canaanites, lest, if perchance they grow strong over us and overpower us, they make Canaanites of us out of Israelites, just as that man too became one whom the enticement of the flesh had overcome, to whom it is said by the prophet: "seed of Canaan and not of Judah, beauty has seduced you." Let it not befall us, then, to hear "seed of Canaan," for: "cursed be the boy Canaan; he shall be a servant to his brothers." But may the Lord grant us that we be sons of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, "heirs according to the promise," and for this "raised up out of the stones," that we may be sons of Abraham, by Christ Jesus our Lord, "to whom is glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen!" — HOMILIES ON Joshua 22.6