Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Ian Hutchesson <mc2499 AT mclink.it>]

At 11.16 02/01/99 -0600, Henry Churchyard wrote:
>> From: Ian Hutchesson <mc2499 AT mclink.it>
>
>>> the cave Abraham bought from the Hittites.
>
>> How the Hittites got entangled in Jewish cultural history is quite a
>> mystery. T hey never had holdings in Palestine but might have had
>> nominal tutelage -- be it unlikely -- of the entire zone through
>> their annexation of the kingdom of Yamkhad in northern Syria (one
>> wonders if Yamkhad's influence ever got south of Hama).  Whatever
>> the case, the Hittites lost their control of Yamkhad to the Mitanni,
>> so it is unimaginable that Abraham could have bought a cave from any
>> Hittites.
>
>Uh, guy, 

Uh, guy?

>just because the central government of the Hittite empire had
>a sporadic and tenuous grip, at best, on southern Canaan, 

Do you know of any archaeological evidence to support *any connection
whatsoever* between Hatti and southern Canaan? So was there any grip at all?
If so, how do you know?

>doesn't mean
>that there couldn't have been Hittite individuals and family groups
>living there (among the "Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites,
>Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites") 

This list usually includes "Hittites", ie it wasn't simply individuals, but
a population implied by numerous verses of the OT/HB. I don't think you'd
really want to pursue this line of thought -- ie a few sparse Hittites who
just happened to be in southern Palestine -- seriously.

>-- if you look at the Bible, it
>says that Abraham bought the burial cave from `Ephron son of S.oh.ar,
>not Hattusilas the umpth.

Gen23:10 has Ephron sitting among the sons of Xeth, ie the Hittites.
Gen10:15 makes Xeth a son of Canaan. The intention of the biblical writers
is clear regarding the Hittites as a Canaanite population.


Ian