Uriah- he was a Hittite

[Gail]

Has anyone wondered how a Hittite ranked so highly in King David's army? I thought the two civilizations were enemies.

[Gregory Matthews]

Two of Esau's wives may hve come from the Hittites.  

The Hittites were probably living in Canaan when Israel invaded.

In the time of the Judges, Israel probably intermarried with them.

They were clearly present in the time of David and Solomon.

David seems to have had a number of Hittites in his army.  E.G. Ahimelech &  Uriah.

Solomon had them as part of his forced labor corps.

 

[Kevin H]

In both the conquest of Joshua (or rather from Joshua through David) there was as much, if not more, evangelism going on. So many hate the God of the Bible due to what we think happened in the conquest. The Fundamentalists think the Hebrews came and just mowed everyone else done. The unbelievers believe there was no exodus or conquest but just people living there forming into one nation and called themselves Israel and made up a fictional history.

The moderate view that fits more with the archaeology is that there was a conquest started by Joshua, but where, except for Jericho, they only attacked those who tried to attack them and left alone those who left them alone. That Joshua telescoped some of the conquest that happened over time (we find the names of the kings changing) and that usually happened was that the elite who lived in the walled cities was destroyed and in some cases we find the cities and their daughters destroyed, but others where the daughters were not destroyed. (the daughters are the common people who lived outside the wall), and they were often converted, and in David's conquests he would have priests who would teach the people. A number of the people, such as the Philistines who were very much in competition with the Hebrews for as to who would be the superpower to buffer the Egyptians on the one side and the Mesopotamians  on the other side, as they saw that the Hebrews were filling that role turned from their enemies to their allies. The war between David and Absalom it was David and the nations who use to be the enemy during the conquest and judges against Absalom and the decedents of the exodus.   

Also, another reason for the focus on the violence and war is that there is evidence that the Deuteronomic history was written by  Jeremiah or someone in his inner circle. They were facing the war and violence of the Babylonians, so in making applications to what he was facing and giving a message for the people living in his day, he choose to downplay the evangelism (although it is still there) and emphasize the war because that is what they were facing.  

[JoeMo]

The Hittites were among the nations that the lord commanded Israel to utterly destroy (wipe them off the face of the earth). See Deut. 7:1-3, 20:17, and numerous times in Judges, Joshua, and 1 Samuel.  Then all of a sudden Hittites are stars in David's army.  There is also an Amorite/Cannaanite (Rahab) and a Moabite (Ruth) in Jesus' lineage.  The mysteries of God ...

There are compelling reasons that God ordered the destruction of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites in order to save humanity - not just Israel.  That discussion is better left for another thread.  For a hint, read Genesis chapter 6:3-5 and Numbers 13:26-31.  In the NT, see Jude 1:6-7, 1 Peter 3:18-20, and 2 Peter 2:4-10.  Also see Rev. 9:1-11 the find out when this will happen again.

[Kevin H]

Some were destroyed by death, others were destroyed by conversion, by making a choice to follow the God of Israel based on the evidence they saw, that is called "Faith".

[JoeMo]

4 hours ago, Kevin H said:

that is called "Faith".

Could be.  Read the scripture verses which I referred to in my previous post  Could it be that the races referred to were infected with supernatural DNA, and became a hybrid race (Nephilim) that God never intended?  Could it be that these races, superior in size, strength, and technology would have eradicated the pure human race that God created had they not been destroyed or locked in the abyss?  Will they be released again at the sound of the fifth trumpet?