|
ca. 2000 B.C.E.
This mace head is one of the types used in ancient warfare to crush the skulls of various combatants. At Ezekiel 9:2, a vision of six men are seen each carrying a ''weapon for smash,'' or a mace as they prepare to destroy the wicked in the land of Judea.
The Hittites
The 'Hittites', a name which means, ''Of Blonging to Heth'', were a people who descended from Heth, the second named son of Canaan, who were therefore of the Hamite origin.
Abraham had dealings with the Hittites and bought from one of them, Ephron, a cave in which he buried his beloved wife Sarah.
The Hittites apparently lived mainly in the mountainous regions, which would include Lebanon and possibly areas in Syria. Their religion was pagan, being phallic, as were the other Canaanite religions. Their practices made the land in which they inhabited defiled.
Because of this corruption, God decreed that the Hittites and other pagan worshippers of the land of Canaan would be destroyed to cleanse the land. However, the Israelites failed to carry out God's wishes for their destruction, and so the Canaanites, which included the Hittites proved to be a stumbling block to the Israelites as God decreed that they would become.
|
