Hittites

Overview

The Hittites were one of the major peoples inhabiting the Promised Land during the time of the patriarchs and the Israelite conquest. They appear in Scripture both among Israel's adversaries (Joshua 9:1-2; 11:3) and, as individuals, in the service of King David (1 Samuel 26:6; 2 Samuel 23:39). The Hittites were descendants of Heth, son of Canaan, making them part of the broader Canaanite peoples whom God commanded Israel to drive out of the land (Genesis 10:15; Exodus 23:28-31; Deuteronomy 7:1-2).

Biblical Significance

Scripture records significant interactions between the Hittites and key biblical figures, including:

• Abraham's purchase of the cave of Machpelah from Ephron the Hittite near Hebron as a burial place for Sarah (Genesis 23).
• Esau's marriages to Hittite women, which grieved his parents Isaac and Rebekah (Genesis 26:34-35).

During the conquest period under Joshua, the Hittites were among the seven nations marked for destruction (Deuteronomy 7:1-2; Joshua 3:10), yet some survived and continued to live alongside Israel into the reigns of David and Solomon (Judges 3:5-6; 1 Kings 9:20-21).

Archaeological Evidence

Historians once doubted the name Hittite because it was known only from the Bible, until discoveries in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Turkey and Syria from the early nineteenth century on revealed a major Hittite kingdom in Anatolia. Hittitologist Harry Hoffner and archaeologist Bryant Wood distinguish that northern kingdom from the Hittites of Canaan, the sons of Heth, whose recorded names (such as Ephron, Zohar, Beeri, Elon and Ahimelech) are Semitic rather than Anatolian. No archaeological evidence has yet been found for an Anatolian Hittite settlement in Canaan. The Neo-Hittite city-states of northern Syria, which outlasted that kingdom and its capital at Hattusa, fit the Bible's references to "the kings of the Hittites" (1 Kings 10:29; 2 Kings 7:6), a reading Hoffner and Wood share. Wood also takes "all the land of the Hittites" (Joshua 1:4) to mean the territory of the Anatolian empire itself. That empire fought Ramesses II of Egypt at the Battle of Kadesh (c. 1274 BC), and its collapse around 1180 BC ended its political dominance.

Theological Significance

From a theological perspective, the Hittites represent both God's sovereignty over the nations and His patience in judgment. Their continued presence after the conquest serves as a reminder of Israel's incomplete obedience to divine commands, illustrating the ongoing tension between God's perfect will and human faithfulness. The ultimate subjugation of the remaining Hittites under Solomon, who drafted them as forced labor (1 Kings 9:20-21), demonstrates God's faithfulness to His covenant promises, establishing Israel's dominion over the Promised Land as foretold.