10 



Syria, Heit near their ancient lake of Kadesh on the Orontes, 

 and Hattin near the Sea of Galilee. 



Their existence as a formidable race on the west of the 

 Euphrates is attested in the time of Abraham not only by the 

 allusions in the book of Genesis but by curious passages in 

 the records of Sargina and his son Naram-Sin, by whom 

 they were conquered for a time. From the reign of Thothmes 

 III. they occupy a signal position in the records of Egypt for 

 some centuries, and the " Kings of the Hittites " are no less 

 important to the Egyptians than to David and Solomon and 

 their successors until they were finally subdued by another 

 Sargon, rather more than 700 years before Christ. Professor 

 Sayce, Mr. Boscawen, and others have already given us so 

 much interesting information about the Hittites that we 

 ought to take heed that impending discoveries do not 

 languish for lack of public support and sympathy. That 

 distinguished officer, Lieutenant Conder, K.E., has recently 

 visited the upper Orontes, and, as he and Lieutenant Mantell 

 believe, has identified the renowned stronghold of Kadesh 

 where the great exploit of Rameses II. was performed. I do 

 not think he has hit upon the right spot yet. But when 

 Kadesh is found we shall possess, as it seems, a Biblical site. 

 For in one passage, at least, this sanctuary is mentioned, 

 namely in the account of David's census,* where we are told 

 that Joab and his officers crossed the Jordan and worked 

 northwards through Gilead "to the land of Takhtim- 

 Khodshi." 



All the translators have been baffled by this passage. At 

 last, however, Mr. Cheyne and Mr. Driver, following four 

 codices of the Septuagint, have restored (as it appears) the 

 true reading, and we find Joab passing through " the land of 

 the Hittites unto Kadesh." The difference in the Hebrew 

 is but slight, but the meaning as clear and obvious as possible. 

 I have also some belief that this Kadesh occurs in a familiar 

 passage. The magnificent twenty-ninth psalm describes the 

 thunderstorm rolling over Lebanon, breaking the cedars and 

 shaking the ' ' wilderness of Kadesh." Now it seems to me 

 that the region of the highest waters of the Orontes, where 

 Kadesh stood by its lake beyond the northern end of the 

 Lebanon, where the storm would roll across to the mountains 

 of the Ansairieh, is a far more likely wilderness (midbdr) to 

 pass before the mind's eye of the poet than Kadesh Barnea 

 three hundred miles to the south. If that be so, then this 



* 2 Sam., xxiv. 



