Interesting Facts

• Heth is identified as one of the sons of Canaan.
• The children of Heth are recognized as inhabitants of the land where Abraham sought a burial place for Sarah.
• The purchase of the field and cave of Machpelah from the children of Heth is a significant event.
• The cities of the Hittites are mentioned as part of the land of Canaan.

Genealogy

• Heth was a son of Canaan.
• Canaan was a son of Ham.
• Ham was a son of Noah.
• Thus, Heth was a grandson of Ham and a great-grandson of Noah.
• The descendants of Heth are known as the children of Heth or the Hittites. The sources do not specify any further direct offspring of Heth by name.

Historical Context

The existence of Heth and the Hittites falls within the post-flood era, as they are descendants of Noah through Ham and Canaan. Following the dispersal of peoples after the Tower of Babel, the descendants of Ham, including Canaan and his sons, settled in the southern regions. The children of Canaan, including the Hittites, built cities and named them after themselves. The interaction between Abraham and the children of Heth during his sojourn in the land of Canaan provides a specific historical context. Abraham sought to purchase a burial place from them, indicating that the Hittites were established landowners in the region. This interaction suggests a period of co-existence and negotiation between the early Hebrew patriarch and the Canaanite inhabitants, including the Hittites. Later, the land of the Hittites, along with other Canaanite nations, is identified as the territory promised to the seed of Abraham and later possessed by Jacob.

Narrative

The primary narrative involving the Hittites in the provided sources revolves around Abraham’s need for a burial place for his wife Sarah. Abraham interacts with the children of Heth, acknowledging them as the “people of the land”. He requests to purchase the cave of Machpelah from Ephron the son of Zohar, a Hittite, as a “possession of a buryingplace” among them. Ephron and the children of Heth conduct this transaction openly, in the “audience of the children of Heth” and “all that went in at the gate of his city”. Ephron initially offers the field and cave as a gift, but Abraham insists on paying the full worth, eventually purchasing it for a specified sum. This event establishes the Hittites as having recognized land ownership and a system of transacting property. Jacob also later buries Leah in the cave of Machpelah, which he had purchased from Esau, further solidifying the significance of this Hittite-owned land as a burial site for the patriarchs and their wives. The narrative portrays the Hittites as a settled population within Canaan with whom Abraham had dealings, marking an early point of contact between the lineage of Abraham and the descendants of Heth. The mention of the “cities of the Hittites” also implies their establishment of urban centers within the land.