A people named after Heth
Genesis places the Hittites among the descendants of Canaan. Heth, their named ancestor, was a son of Canaan, who was Noah's grandson through Ham (Genesis 10:6, Genesis 10:15). That is why the Bible commonly includes Hittites among the peoples living in or around Canaan.
When God spoke to Abram about the land his descendants would receive, the Hittites were one of the peoples named there (Genesis 15:20). Later, as Israel prepared to enter the land, Moses again listed them among the nations already living there (Deuteronomy 7:1). These passages locate biblical Hittites chiefly in the world of Canaan, not merely as a distant empire.
And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth,
Abraham's neighbours at Hebron
The first extended story involving Hittites is surprisingly peaceful. After Sarah died, Abraham sought a burial place near Hebron. He spoke with the sons of Heth, and Ephron the Hittite sold him the field and cave of Machpelah (Genesis 23:3-4, Genesis 23:10-11, Genesis 23:16-20).
That purchase mattered deeply to Abraham. Although God had promised the land to his descendants, Abraham owned very little there during his lifetime. The burial cave became a family burial place, connecting the promise of the land with the real grief and faith of one family (Genesis 23:19-20).
And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.
Not every encounter was the same
The Bible does not paint every Hittite encounter with one brush. Some accounts describe Hittites as part of the nations Israel was told not to imitate in worship or marry into, because such alliances could draw Israel away from the Lord (Deuteronomy 7:3-4). The concern was covenant faithfulness and idolatry, not a claim that every individual Hittite had the same character.
That distinction shows up in David's story. Uriah the Hittite was one of David's fighting men and the husband of Bathsheba. In the painful account of David's sin, Uriah acts with striking loyalty while David treats him cruelly (2 Samuel 11:3, 2 Samuel 11:11, 2 Samuel 11:17). His name reminds us that people in the Bible should be seen as people, not reduced to a label.
What about the Hittite empire?
Outside the Bible, historians use the name Hittites for a major ancient kingdom centred in Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey. Its capital was Hattusa, and it was a significant power in the second millennium BC. Ancient records and excavations have made that empire much clearer than it once was.
The Old Testament also speaks of Hittite kings in connection with horses and chariots during Solomon's reign, and later with a military threat feared by the Syrians (1 Kings 10:29, 2 Kings 7:6). Scholars discuss how these references relate to the Anatolian empire and to later Hittite or Hittite-related kingdoms. The Bible itself does not pause to settle that historical question. Its focus is on the Hittites as real neighbours and peoples within Israel's story.
And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and an horse for an hundred and fifty: and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means.