[Illustration: Stone ouches, or door-sockets] [Illustration: door-sockets] Plate 18 [Illustration: The famed Black Obelisk, which confirmed the record of Jehu] [Illustration: Hamath Inscription] CHAPTER VII The Rebirth of an Empire Among the ancient races that are catalogued in the lists which appear in the pages of the Old Testament, the most important one in the presentation of this thesis is the Hittite race. In the heyday of their brief popularity the higher critics indulged in an orgy of refutation concerning these sections of the Scripture. Since the Hittites are mentioned forty-eight times in the pages of the Bible, if it could be proved that these people were fictitious in character, the critical case against the Old Testament would be demonstrated beyond question. It would almost seem as though the writers of the ancient word had invited this contest with deliberate intention. It is impossible to justify the manifold appearances of the Hittites in the Sacred Word, if they were not an actual people. In addition to the many other references, in the various lists of races given as occupying different portions of the ancient world, the Bible mentions the Hittite peoples twenty-one separate and distinct times. The eminent dean of higher criticism, the late Canon Driver, ascribes these historical catalogs of peoples to imagination and fiction, and refers to them in such words as these, “The Hittites are also regularly mentioned in the rhetorical lists.” Canon Driver is careful to note that these lists of peoples are found in that section of the Scripture which he calls the “Elohistic Manuscript.” It is not hard to understand that one who starts with the assumption of incredibility, would have trouble believing in the reality of the statements in a document so treated. The writers of the Scripture, in their dealings with the subject of this forgotten people, sketch an amazing picture indeed. They portray a warlike, powerful, well organized race whose genius at colonization and military ability combined to win for them a veritable world empire. The center of their dominion was Syria, but from thence they reached out to lay their yoke upon Egypt, to overrun Palestine, and to force the early Assyrians to pay tribute to their might and power.