They were not only numerous, but many of their cities were strongly defended by fortresses. Thelist of articles recovered by Rameses II. after his battles in Canaan bore testimony to the wealth of the people and to the luxuries of their times, for among many other articles were ivory, ebony, chariots inlaid with gold and silver, suits of armor, fragrant woods, gold dishes with handles, collars and ornaments of lapis lazuli, silver dishes, vases of silver, precious stones, brazen spears, etc.,“the plunder in fact of a rich and civilized country.”[67]
THE AMORITES.
10. The land of Canaan at the time of Joshua was no barbarous or ill-defended region.In the assault upon the Canaanitish city of Dapur[68] by Rameses II. the standard of the Amorites appears hoisted on the highest tower of its citadel.[69] From the pictures of the Amorites upon the monuments in Egypt they were armed with the bow and the oblong shield, and used chariots of solid construction fit for rough ground,and it is probable that the “sons of Anak,” Num. 13:33, were a distinguished clan among the Amorites and not a distinct people.[70] They were selected for their size and strength.
THE HITTITES.
11. It has been only recently that the history of the Hittites has come to light. The earliest referencesto this people in secular history are those which are found in the history of Assyria. They are first mentioned in Scripture as the sons of Heth, Gen. 23:3, in connection with the purchase by Abraham of the cave of Machpelah at Hebron. But fifty-three years before that event the Amorites seem to have been an important tribe, and fought under the direction of Abraham the first battle recorded in Scripture, Gen. 14.
The tribe of Hittites grew to be a strong and remarkable nation of warriors, extending their conquests into Assyria and far into Asia Minor.Their name occurs in Homer[71] under the form of “Ketaioi” and in the Egyptian annals in the time of the great conqueror, Thothmes III., B. C. 1600, wherein it is recorded that he received the tribute from the “chief of the great Kheta,” or Hittites, which tribute consisted in gold, slaves, and cattle. Thus it appears that in a few centuries after the time when Abram bought the cave of Machpelah of the sons of Heth, B. C. 1860, they had become a great people. Before the Exodus they were the powerful rivals of Egypt.
12. Until recently the expression in the book of Joshua (1:4) that the land of the Hittites extended “from Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates,” seemed to be an exaggeration. But the recent discovery of the ruins of their great capital, Carchemish, situated upon the Euphrates,and the mention of another city not far off, namely Pethor, where Balaam dwelt, beside many remains extending far into Asia Minor, all prove that it was no exaggeration, but historic truth, which is recorded in the book of Joshua concerning their extended empire. They were finally conquered by the Assyrians, and their great cities, Carchemish and Pethor, captured, 719 years before the Christian era, and they never again rose to power.
The other Canaanitish tribes were unimportant.
THE LANGUAGE OF CANAAN.
13. The discovery in A. D. 1868 of the Moabite stone, at Dibon, the ruins of which city are twelve miles east of the Dead Sea, shows that the Moabites in that region spoke a language similar to the Hebrew.