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16). The allusion in Exodus employs the standard six-fold list as an exemplar of peoples for
Israel to eschew, and, interestingly, the only women listed in Solomon’s political entourage
whose nationality also appears in the lists are “Hittite.” From this perspective the “Hittites” of the
lists therefore refer to a northern people(s) who are not de facto tied to the Judean foothills. The
sole use of the list in Kings falls at the introduction of this larger narrative, further demonstrating
this conclusion with its reference to the ḥerem laws in Deuteronomy (7:1-2; 20:16-18). The
canonical shaping and perspective of the text lends credence to a northerly referent for the
articular collective haḥittî in the lists.
This re-use in Kings provides important historiographic evidence for unravelling what is
meant by “Hittite” in the lists. It supplies a textual perspective which connects the articular
collective and the plural to a consistently northern location. All uses of ḥittîm, in conjunction
with ḥittiyyot, collaborate this use in Kings as seen by the following survey. First, Josh 1:4 refers
to the territory of the “Hittites” as extending from Lebanon to the Euphrates. A geographic
distinction is made which singles out the Neo-Hittite petty kingdoms to the north of Israel (see
Bryce 2005, 487n141).
Second, 1 Kgs 10:28-29 and its synoptic parallel in 2 Chr 1:16-17 refer to a group of
Hittite and Syrian kings for whom Solomon was involved in arms trade from Egypt in the south
and from Que 13 on the Anatolian coastal plain. He apparently imported horses from both Que and
Egypt as well as Egyptian chariots and exported both to Aramean and “Hittite” kings. The trade
of Cilician horses with Neo-Hittites via Solomonic middlemen seems geographically odd unless
he used sea transport (see McMahon 1992, 3:233), a situation supported by the Septuagint (κατὰ
θα' λασσαν ε ξεπορευ' οντο for ‏;ְּבָיָדם ‏ֹיִצאּו 1 Kgs 10:29). Thus, Solomon perhaps controlled both
major land and sea based routes for moving goods from Egypt and Que to his northern
neighbors. 14 The perspective of the text clearly distinguishes between Aramean and Hittite rulers
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13 Assyrian Quê; Neo-Babylonian H˘ ume; Hebrew Q e vēh (Rainey, et al. 2006, 131).
14 For the difficulties in positing Solomon as arms-dealer for Egypt, see Dillard (1987, 13–14). The