Hittites

1 definition found

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Hittites
     Palestine and Syria appear to have been originally inhabited by
     three different tribes. (1.) The Semites, living on the east of
     the isthmus of Suez. They were nomadic and pastoral tribes. (2.)
     The Phoenicians, who were merchants and traders; and (3.) the
     Hittites, who were the warlike element of this confederation of


     tribes. They inhabited the whole region between the Euphrates
     and Damascus, their chief cities being Carchemish on the
     Euphrates, and Kadesh, now Tell Neby Mendeh, in the Orontes
     valley, about six miles south of the Lake of Homs. These
     Hittites seem to have risen to great power as a nation, as for a
     long time they were formidable rivals of the Egyptian and
     Assyrian empires. In the book of Joshua they always appear as
     the dominant race to the north of Galilee.
     
       Somewhere about the twenty-third century B.C. the Syrian
     confederation, led probably by the Hittites, arched against
     Lower Egypt, which they took possession of, making Zoan their
     capital. Their rulers were the Hyksos, or shepherd kings. They
     were at length finally driven out of Egypt. Rameses II. sought
     vengeance against the "vile Kheta," as he called them, and
     encountered and defeated them in the great battle of Kadesh,
     four centuries after Abraham. (See {JOSHUA}.)
     
       They are first referred to in Scripture in the history of
     Abraham, who bought from Ephron the Hittite the field and the
     cave of Machpelah (Gen. 15:20: 23:3-18). They were then settled
     at Kirjath-arba. From this tribe Esau took his first two wives
     (26:34; 36:2).
     
       They are afterwards mentioned in the usual way among the
     inhabitants of the Promised Land (Ex. 23:28). They were closely
     allied to the Amorites, and are frequently mentioned along with
     them as inhabiting the mountains of Palestine. When the spies
     entered the land they seem to have occupied with the Amorites
     the mountain region of Judah (Num. 13:29). They took part with
     the other Canaanites against the Israelites (Josh. 9:1; 11:3).
     
       After this there are few references to them in Scripture.
     Mention is made of "Ahimelech the Hittite" (1 Sam. 26:6), and of
     "Uriah the Hittite," one of David's chief officers (2 Sam.
     23:39; 1 Chr. 11:41). In the days of Solomon they were a
     powerful confederation in the north of Syria, and were ruled by
     "kings." They are met with after the Exile still a distinct
     people (Ezra 9:1; comp. Neh. 13:23-28).
     
       The Hebrew merchants exported horses from Egypt not only for
     the kings of Israel, but also for the Hittites (1 Kings 10:28,
     29). From the Egyptian monuments we learn that "the Hittites
     were a people with yellow skins and 'Mongoloid' features, whose
     receding foreheads, oblique eyes, and protruding upper jaws are
     represented as faithfully on their own monuments as they are on
     those of Egypt, so that we cannot accuse the Egyptian artists of
     caricaturing their enemies. The Amorites, on the contrary, were
     a tall and handsome people. They are depicted with white skins,
     blue eyes, and reddish hair, all the characteristics, in fact,
     of the white race" (Sayce's The Hittites). The original seat of
     the Hittite tribes was the mountain ranges of Taurus. They
     belonged to Asia Minor, and not to Syria.