210 



MISS A. M. HODGKIN OX 



at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes. Here the 

 ceremony described by Jeremiah (of hiding the stones) took 

 place before the chiefs of the fugitives assembled on the plat- 

 form; and here Nebuchadnezzar spread his royal pavilion. The 

 very nature of the site is precisely applicable to all the events.''* 

 The predicted overthrow of this stronghold occurred so 

 suddenly that Prof. Petrie found the kitchen with the jars in 

 their accustomed place, and even the fish bones left in the 

 scullery sink. 



The Witness of the Hittites. 



^Ye are told in the Second Book of Kings (vii. 6), that when 

 the Syrians were camped about Samaria and the Lord sent a 

 panic among them, " they said one to another, ' Lo, the King 

 of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the 

 kings of the Egj-ptians, to come upon us.' 



At one time this statement was discredited as being altogether 

 unhistorical. The Hittite Empire was unknown in history, 

 and it was considered evidence of the greatest ignorance to 

 compare the Hittites for a moment with the power of Egypt. 



But by means of the hieroglyphics of Egypt and the cuneiform 

 inscriptions, this lost empire has been brought to Ught. The 

 pictures on the monuments have made us familiar with the 

 Hittites, or Kheta as the Egyptians called them, with their 

 ugly faces and peaked caps ; with their snow boots, turned up 

 at the toes, and their long fingerless gloves, witnessing eloquently 

 to the cold of their northern home among the mountains of 

 Kappadokia and Taurus ; and their own sculptures discovered 

 in Asia Minor and various other regions, show that the Egyp- 

 tians did them no injustice in their representation of their 

 features. 



This long-forgotten nation existed nineteen centuries before 

 Christ, and lasted for more than a thousand years. It extended 

 its sway from the ^gean in the west to Lake Van in the east, 

 with Carchemish as its capital. It pushed southwards through 

 Syria and Palestine and proved a formidable foe to Egypt. 

 During the long reign of Eameses the Great there was a cease- 

 less struggle between the two nations, bringing disaster and 

 ruin on the cities of Canaan, their land being devastated by the 

 hostile aiTnies. We can understand now why the Canaanites 

 offered so slight a resistance to the invading Israelites. 



When a lasting peace was concluded with Eameses, its con- 

 ditions show that " the great king of the Hittites " treated on 

 equal terms with the great king of Egypt, and the treaty was 



* See Urquhart's "Biblical Guide." Vol. VIII.. p. 101. 



