The Hebrew word Chittiy (חִתִּי) refers to a Hittite — a descendant of Heth (H2845), son of Canaan, son of Ham. The Hittites were a powerful people who inhabited Canaan before and during Israel's settlement. They were among the nations the Israelites were commanded to dispossess (Deuteronomy 7:1). Famous biblical Hittites include Ephron, from whom Abraham purchased the cave of Machpelah (Genesis 23), and Uriah the Hittite (H223), the loyal soldier whose wife Bathsheba David took.
The Hittites in the Old Testament serve as a recurring test of Israel's faithfulness to the covenant. Intermarriage with the Hittites was explicitly forbidden (Deuteronomy 7:3) because it led to spiritual compromise. Yet the story of Uriah the Hittite reveals a profound irony: this Gentile soldier displayed greater covenant loyalty than David the king. Ezekiel uses this in a shocking oracle: 'Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite' (Ezekiel 16:3) — declaring Israel's spiritual lineage as pagan, saved only by God's unmerited grace. This same grace extends to all nations in Christ: the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile is broken down (Ephesians 2:14).