Talk:Hittites in the Bible

(( From Talk:Hittites ))

Zestauferov, I am still confused about the Hebrew term(s). Take Abraham's sepulcher story: what words or phrases in the Tanakh correspond to "Hittites" and to "Children of Heth", respectively? Are you saying that the Tanakh uses the same word "HTY" for both?Are the latter Hittites denoted by the same word(s)? And what about the "land of Hatti"?
Jorge Stolfi 20:39, 22 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I am usually very eager to write in the Hebrew letters, but something strancge has happened to my computer and all I can see on my Hebrew pages are scandinavian vowels!?! Give me a couple of days to sort out this problem. in transliteration BNY-HT (Children/Sons of Het) and HTY (Heti i.e. Hittites) are synonymous terms they also talk about the land of HTY including Syria (but the Bible is a big book). "Hittites is also the most common English rendering of the Hebrew Bible term for the Canaanite Children of Heth i.e. HTY" I think this is clear that in English the term Hittites is also used to refer to the biblical HTY aka the canaanite children of Heth. But are you asking me to look at all the occurances of Hittites in the bible to see if they use the tame term? maybe we should continue this discussion on the Children of Heth page.
Zestauferov 02:16, 23 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Thanks for the clarification. I believe (but I am not sure) that the KJV Bible translators generally tried to use the same English words for the same Hebrew words, at least for sensitive ones like names, theological concepts, etc.. If that is true, then perhaps analyzing the usage of "Heth" and "Hittite(s)" in the KJV will not be a completely stupid thing.
However, correct me if I am wrong, in the Tanakh there is no difference between "land of Hatti" and "land of the Hittites" - both are "land of the HTY", right? Also, I am guesing right that in Hebrew "HT" stands to "HTY" as "Brazil" stands to "Brazilian"?
Jorge Stolfi 03:20, 23 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Right on both accounts.Zestauferov 07:33, 23 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I have added to the list all the occurrences of "Heth". It turns out that they are all essentially confined to Genesis, and in fact (excluding repetitions) to three places: (1) the "tree of peoples" (Genesis:10, repeated in 1:Chronicles:1), where Heth is said to be a son of Canaan, brother of Cush, sons of Ham; (2) the story of Abraham buyng the burial place from the "children of Heth", including Ephron "the Hittite", who are settled in Hebron; (3) Esau's taking two "Hittite" wifes, "daughters of Canaan", and Rebeccah worried that Jacob may also take wifes "from Heth". So here it seems that "children of Heth" and "Hittites" are synonymous, and they seen as a Canaanite tribe by the writer.
However the word "Heth" does not occur elsewhere in the KJV, only "Hittite(s)" (HTY). So if there is mention of a "land of Hatti" (HTY) it is not spelled Hatti nor Heth .

Correct. In KJV it would probably appear as the land of the hittites Zestauferov 07:33, 23 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Still assuming that the Bible can be relied upon, are the BNY-HT and HTY of Genesis the same as the HTY of the conquest, and of Solomon's time? It seems too much to ask of three little letters, especially since identical names occur even in the Genesis:10 list (I noticed two "Sheba"s and two "Asshur"s).
Jorge Stolfi 06:04, 23 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Interesting question but we then have to look at the attitudes towards the HTY if they are always the same then we may assume that they are considered the same by the authors. If attitudes are different however, then perhaps they are a new gentile populatrion as you suggest.Zestauferov 07:33, 23 Apr 2004 (UTC)