ON THE EMPIRE OF THE UITTITES. 59 
points which I have dealt with elsewhere, we see the inscrip- 
tions and the Bible in harmonious accord, not merely by for- 
tuitous coincidence, but as faithful records of historic facts. 
So much is now admitted by all who are capable of appre- 
ciating the value of the evidence available on the subject. On 
one important point the spade has failed to support directly 
and fully the Bible narrative. It might have been supposed 
that an ancient document which was found in harmony with 
the inscriptions in ninety-nine cases might have received the 
credit of being historical in the hundredth case, where the 
inscriptions were partially silent. At least, accuracy in ninety- 
nine cases, capable of scientific statement, might be supposed 
to create a presumption in favour of the hundredth case, 
where there are few traces of evidence one way or another. The 
statement in question is the important transaction between 
Abraham and the Hittites, at Hebron, and the objections 
which were once directed against various passages are now 
concentrated on this one incident. It is satisfactory to find 
that the documents which tell us most about the Hittites are 
generally admitted to speak with historical accuracy in all 
their references to that people, with one exception. Let us 
look briefly at the reasons urged for withholding belief in the 
truthfulness of the narrative referred to. 
It is urged that the Hittites could not have been settled in 
Southern Palestine because there are few direct references to 
their southern settlements in the inscriptions. To this I 
reply, that the absence of evidence is not evidence. ‘The 
Hgyptians marched up the coast of Syria, and turned inland 
to Megiddo and Kadesh, where they met the Hittites. ‘The 
inscriptions are full of the doings of the Hittites at Megiddo 
and Kadesh, because the Heyptians went thither. They have 
nothing to say of the Hittites of Hebron, because the 
Egyptians did not go thither. The inscriptions are records of 
what happened during campaigns in which Egypt must have 
made great sacrifices. The fact that they do not refer to 
towns and colonies which lay beyond their scope does not 
prove that those towns and colonies did not exist. Following, 
therefore, the strict rules of evidence, there is no sufficient 
ground for rejecting the story regarding the Hittites at 
Hebron. I think, however, we are not without positive 
grounds for believing the story to be true. It is embellished 
with all the formal details which go to make up the framework 
of a keen Oriental bargain, and thus bears on its face the 
semblance of truth, 
At a very early period the aggressive Hittites, according to 
the Assyrian ‘tablets, made war on the Accadians. ‘Ihe 
