HITTITES, LAND OF THE,

HIT'TITES, LAND OF THE, the region peopled by the descendants of Cheth (A.V. "Heth"), the second son of Canaan. They were first settled about Machpelah, at a place named Kirjath-arba, afterward called Hebron. Gen 23:19; Gen 25:9. When the Israelites entered the Promised Land the Hittites took part against the invaders in equal alliance with the other Canaanite tribes. Josh 9:1; Josh 11:3. After this the notices of the Hittites are very few. Of the extent of their country nothing is known, except that it covered the portion of Canaan between the wilderness of Paran on the south and the region occupied by the Jebusites on the north. Notices of the nation have recently been found in Assyrian inscriptions, and occur in Egyptian annals. See Canaan.