Non-Semitic minorities within the
population of Canaan who frequently became involved in the affairs
of the Israelites.
Hittite and Hivite peoples of Indo-European origin, identified within
the population of Canaan (as “sons” of Canaan) in the Table of
Nations (Genesis 10:15,Genesis 10:17), seemingly infiltrated from
their cultural and political centers in the north and settled
throughout Palestine. Although the history and culture of the
Hittites is being clarified, a problem exists with the so-called
“Hivites,” a name of unknown origin without any extra-biblical
references. That they were uncircumcised (Genesis 34:2,Genesis
34:14) would suggest an Indo-European rather than Semitic origin.
The more acceptable identification therefore would be with the
biblical Horites (Hurrians) whose history and character are
well-known from extra-biblical sources and consistent with role
attributed to them in the biblical text. The Septuagint reading
“Choraios” (Horite) for the Massoretic “Hivite” in Genesis 34:2 and
Joshua 9:7 suggests this identification (see Horites; Hurrians).
Hittites in the Bible Hittites appear among the ethnic groups living
in urban enclaves or as individuals in Canaan interacting with the
Israelites from patriarchal times to the end of the monarchy
(Genesis 15:20; Deuteronomy 7:1; Judges 3:5). As a significant
segment of the Canaan's population, these “children of Heth”
permanently became identified as “sons” of Canaan (Genesis 10:15).
In patriarchal times, the reference to King Tidal (in Hittite
Tudhaliya II) in Genesis 14:1 is a possible link to early imperial
Hatti. In Canaan, the Hittites established a claim on the southern
hill country, especially the Hebron area. As a result, Abraham lived
among this native population as a “stranger and a sojourner”
(Genesis 23:4). He was forced to purchase the Cave of Machpelah from
Ephron the Hittite as a family tomb, specifically for the immediate
burial of Sarah (Genesis 23:1). Esau's marriage to two Hittite women
(“daughters of Heth… daughters of the land”) greatly grieved and
displeased his parents (Genesis 26:34-35; Genesis 27:46).
The geographical reference to “all the land of the Hittites” (Joshua
1:4) on the northern frontier of the Promised Land may indicate a
recognition of the Hittite/Egyptian border treaty established by
Rameses II and the Hittites under King Hattusilis III of about 1270
B.C. Moses' listing of the inhabitants of the Promised Land included
the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites (Exodus
13:5), a situation that was confirmed by the twelve spies sent to
explore the land. They reported that Amalekites occupied the Negev,
the Hittites, the Jebusites, and Amorites lived in the hill country,
and the Canaanites were concentrated along the Mediterranean coast
and the Jordan Valley (Numbers 13:29; Joshua 11:3); thus the
Hittites were doomed to displacement by the infiltrating and
invading Hebrews (Exodus 3:8,Exodus 3:17; Exodus 23:23; Exodus 33:2;
etc.).
Devastation and pressures from the west by the Phrygians and the Sea
Peoples brought another Hittite population to Canaan about 1200 B.C.
Ezekiel recalled that Jerusalem had Amorite and Hittite origins
(Ezekiel 16:3,Ezekiel 16:45). David purchased a threshing floor from
Araunah the Jebusite (2 Samuel 24:16-25) whose name may suggest a
Hittite noble status (“arawanis” in Hittite meaning “freeman,
noble”). Later, the account of David's illicit love affair with
Bathsheba indicates that Uriah and possibly other Hittites were
serving as mercenaries in David's army (2 Samuel 11:3,2 Samuel 11:6;
2 Samuel 23:39). The Hittite woman among Solomon's foreign wives was
probably the result of a foreign alliance with a neo-Hittite king of
north Syria (1 Kings 10:29-11:2; 2 Chronicles 1:17). Hittites
together with other foreign elements appear to have been conscripted
to forced labor during Solomon's reign (1 Kings 9:20-21).
Languages of the Hittite World Records of the Assyrian trade colonies
in the “Land of Hatti” suggest an earlier sub-stratum of linguistic
and cultural development in the vicinity of Kanesh. This
non-Indo-European language also found in texts from the Boghazkoy
archives has been called “Hattic.” It appears to have been at least
one of the languages spoken in central Anatolia before the coming of
the Hittite-Luwian branch of Indo-Europeans.
For several hundred years Kanesh was the primary center of Anatolian
affairs. Its role as a major Assyrian trading colony provided access
to the Mesopotamian cuneiform system of writing. As a result,
“cuneiform” Hittite became the “official” language of the empire
(about 1600-1200 B.C.) for its historical annals, laws, and
international treaties and correspondence. It was a spoken language
only within the vicinity of Hattusas, the capital and center of
Hittite officialdom.
Speakers of an Indo-European language appear to have arrived in
Anatolia from the north shortly before 4000 B.C. and gradually
spread southward. These northwestern Anatolian settlers between 4000
and 3000 B.C. spoke an early form of Greek. The impression in
Central Anatolia is of a generally peaceful spread of influence and
language from the south and to a lesser extent from the west of
Indo-Europeans whose ancestors recently had arrived from
southeastern Europe. As a result from 3000 to 2000 B.C. much of
Anatolia was occupied by various Indo-European elements who spoke
closely related languages that included Hittite and Luwian (the
Arzawans). However, soon after 1800 B.C., the kings of Kussara on
the eastern frontier of Indo-European Anatolia assumed control. They
conquered Kanesh and other central cities and established their
capital at Hattusas. Their language, by this time clearly an archaic
form of Hittite, was written in a hieroglyphic script. The
iconography of this hieroglyphic script clearly suggests western
origins. Hieroglyphic Hittite continued as the principal spoken
language throughout the imperial and neo-Hittite periods to about
700 B.C.
Hittite Old Kingdom The growing pressure of the Hurrians about 1780
B.C. forced a Hittite consolidation and the eventual establishment
of their fortress capital at Hattusas within the crescent of the
Halys River. There, Hattusilis I quickly consolidated and expanded
what is referred to as the Old Hittite Kingdom. To restore lost tin
and copper supplies, he immediately extended his control over a line
of cities from Hattusas through the Cilician Gates to the
Mediterranean Sea. He intended to gain control over the trade route
along the Euphrates by capturing Aleppo, the route's northern
terminus. He destroyed Alalakh in the Aleppo region between 1650 and
1600 B.C. and then led eastern campaigns that eventually led to a
raid on Babylon about 1560 B.C. and the fall of the first Babylonian
dynasty. With continuing Hurrian pressure and palace rivalries at
Hattusas, Mursilis withdrew only to be murdered by his
brother-in-law upon his return to the palace. The subsequent
internal weakness fostered the independence of occupied areas. At
his accession to the throne about 1500 B.C., Telepinus faced the
renewed confinement of the kingdom within central Anatolia. His
reign proved to be a period of consolidation with renewed military
activity into Syria and an alliance with Kizzuwadna, a new
Indo-Aryan dynasty in Cilicia. The Old Kingdom came to an end with
Telepinus, but his policies set a pattern for the kings of the
Hittite Empire that followed.
Hittite Empire The vitality of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni and the
Egyptian military incursions into Syria under Thutmose III about
1450 B.C. stifled Hittite development until the death of the
Egyptian pharaoh about 1436 B.C. Tudhaliyas I, the new Hittite king,
relieved of Egyptian tribute, defeated Aleppo and Mitanni and
reclaimed control of the Mesopotamian trade route. During his reign
other significant battles were won, but Hittite territories were
besieged on all sides with the result that when Tudhaliyas died, the
Hittite kingdom suffered a disastrous decline. About 1380 B.C. after
a series of victories against Hittite enemies, Suppiluliumas gained
the throne and moved southward against Mitanni. He soon claimed all
territories west of the Euphrates. Following a treaty with Babylon
and domination of Mitanni, he reorganized northern Syria to ensure
Hittite supremacy and control of the trade routes of the region.
When Suppiluliumas died in 1334 B.C., his younger son Mursilis II
followed with a very successful reign that included expansion in the
west and preparation for the major confrontation that would come
during his successor's reign. Muwahytillis (about 1308-1285 B.C.)
concentrated all the forces of the Hittite Empire in northern Syria
to meet the challenge of Ramses II of Egypt at Kadesh. Although the
battle in 1286 was indecisive, the subsequent treaty sixteen years
later (1270 B.C.) in which Egypt conceded all territories north of
Damascus to the Hittites would seem to suggest that the balance of
power, for a time at least, favored the Hittites. On the eastern
frontier, however, Mitanni became an Assyrian vassal.
Dangers on both east and west were magnified by an internal power
struggle between Mursilis III, Muwatallis' son and successor, and
his uncle Hattusilis, who ultimately exiled Mursilis and became king
(about 1278). Western lands in Asia Minor were lost. Assyria
continued its westward move and, in spite of the Egypt-Hittite
treaty, reached the Euphrates and cut off Hittite copper supplies.
During the early reign of Tudhaliyas IV (1250-1220), the Hittites
maintained control over the Syrian coast and invaded Cyprus for its
copper mines. The Hittite treaty with Amurru, along the Syrian
coast, prohibited trade with Assyria. The greater threat existed in
new migrations from the west. Hittite lands were overrun and their
capital destroyed by the hordes identified as “Sea Peoples,” who,
dislodged from their traditional homelands in the Greek-Aegean
world, swept into Anatolia and the Levant (about 1200 B.C.). The
Hittite empire was destroyed, and its capital was burned to the
ground. For 250 years it had been a leading power by maintaining
control over the vital trade routes and the distribution of mineral
and agricultural wealth of the ancient Near East.
Neo-Hittite Period Following the end of the Hittite empire, a large
number of Hittite principalities were established in northern Syria,
Cilicia, and the regions of the Taurus and Anti-Taurus. They
maintained a distinct identity as a minority within a predominantly
Semitic environment for over four hundred years. When Urartu was
defeated as Assyria's rival for the resources of Anatolia, the
neo-Hittite states of northern Syria, now without Urartian support,
could not withstand Assyrian pressure. By the end of 700 B.C. the
Hittites had been absorbed into the Assyrian empire.
George L. Kelm
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Copyright Statement
These dictionary topics are from the Holman Bible Dictionary,
published by Broadman & Holman, 1991. All rights reserved. Used by
permission of Broadman & Holman.
Bibliography Information
Butler, Trent C. Editor.. "Entry for 'HITTITES AND HIVITES'". "Holman
Bible Dictionary".
<http://www.studylight.org/dic/hbd/view.cgi?number=T2796>. 1991.
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