141 
Syria, Heit near their ancient lake of Kadesli 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 
Sargou, 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 sympath}^^. That 
distinguished officer, Captain Conder, II. 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 Bameses 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 oflBcers 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 Septuagiut, 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 tome 
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 {midhdr) 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., xxW. 
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