Canaanite

The Canaanites are referenced here as the cautionary precedent — God had expelled them from the land precisely because of these religious practices, making Israel's adoption of those same practices a profound moral failure.

The Canaanites are the remaining non-Israelite peoples conscripted into Solomon's workforce — their presence in the land now repurposed as permanent forced labor for the empire's construction projects.

The Canaanites appear here as part of the census sweep, indicating that Joab's count extended into formerly Canaanite territory — the breadth of the count underscoring the scope of David's pride.

The Jebusites — a Canaanite people — represent here the long-entrenched pagan hold on Jerusalem, mocking David's assault with the confidence of centuries of unchallenged occupation.

Canaanite religious culture is the immediate threat Israel faces upon entering the land — their worship symbols are already in place, and the danger is absorption and blending rather than outright apostasy.

Canaanite religion is named as the specific threat — archaeological evidence confirms practices including child sacrifice and ritual prostitution that God's law explicitly targets for removal.

Canaanite religious practice is the backdrop for the cross-dressing prohibition — the fertility rites of Canaan involved deliberate gender blurring, and Israel's distinct dress was a marker of separation from that.

Canaanite religious practice is the negative model being explicitly rejected here — the sexual rituals embedded in Canaanite worship are precisely what Israel's laws are designed to keep out of their own sacred life.

Canaanite religious practice is referenced here as the likely origin of boiling a goat in its mother's milk — God draws a clear boundary between his worship and the borrowed rituals of surrounding religions.