Plate 23
Looking the opposite way from [Plate 22]
It is also noted that Assur-Nasir-pal has given a detailed account of the treasures that he derived from the defeated Hittites. Among them he lists with great delight “swift chariots with horses therefor.” Whenever this monarch won a victory over the Hittites, he refers again and again to their chariots. One such reference is seen in this statement: “The chariots and warlike engines of the general of Charchemis I laid up in my magazines.”
We have already noted that Solomon was engaged in trade with the people called Hittites, taking chariots and horses in exchange for his merchandise.
Ramses the Second states that the Hittite chiefs were distinguished among the nations “for their swift chariots and horses and their engines of war.”
It would seem indeed that the writer of II Kings was better acquainted with the times of which he wrote than was the later critic who disdains the authority of the ancient scribe!
Shalmaneser made five references to the Hittites, in every one of which he refers to their chariots. In the monument of Shalmaneser, which is now found in the British Museum, the inscription represents the Hittites at Charchemish with various of their allies fighting against Shalmaneser. He concludes this record by saying, “With them I fought; their corpses like chaff through the country I scattered. Multitudes of chariots and horses trained to the yoke I seized.”
Sargon also tells of his overthrow of the Hittite kingdom, and mentions the chariots that were so formidable an aid to their military campaigns.
It may be noted in passing that Dr. Cheyne, like the eminent Dr. Sayce, was later converted to faith in the integrity of the Word of God. This might be called one of the later victories of the Hittite empire. Its people have risen from the dead to fight for the faith and for the Book which alike were delivered unto the saints by the Spirit of God. Some of the later writings of Dr. Cheyne constitute a frank repudiation of his earlier position. His lectures and sermons, after his discovery of the integrity of the Bible, still linger in the memory of those who were privileged to hear them.