Numbers 24:24

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹⁵Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying, "This is the prophecy of Balaam son of Beor, the prophecy of a man whose eyes are open, ¹⁶the prophecy of one who hears the words of God, who has knowledge from the Most High, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who bows down with eyes wide open: ¹⁷I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come forth from Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel. He will crush the skulls of Moab and strike down all the sons of Sheth. ¹⁸Edom will become a possession, Seir will be owned by his enemies, but Israel will perform with valor. ¹⁹A ruler will come from Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city." ²⁰Then Balaam saw Amalek and lifted up an oracle, saying: "Amalek was first among the nations, but his end shall be destruction." ²¹Next he saw the Kenites and lifted up an oracle, saying: "Your dwelling place is secure, and your nest is set in a cliff. ²²Yet Kain will be destroyed when Asshur takes you captive." ²³Once more Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: "Ah, who can live unless God has ordained it? ²⁴Ships will come from the coast of Kittim; they will subdue Asshur and Eber, but they too will perish forever."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Chittim: Genesis 10:4, Isaiah 23:1, Daniel 7:19, Daniel 7:20, Daniel 8:5-8, Daniel 8:21, Daniel 10:20, Daniel 11:30

and shall afflict Eber: Genesis 10:21-25, Genesis 14:13, Daniel 9:26, Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15, Luke 20:24, Luke 23:29-31, John 11:48

and he also: Daniel 2:35, Daniel 2:45, Daniel 7:23-26, Daniel 11:45, Revelation 18:2-24

Reciprocal: Genesis 10:11 - Asshur Genesis 11:16 - Eber Deuteronomy 28:49 - bring a nation 1 Chronicles 1:7 - Kittim 1 Chronicles 1:19 - Eber Isaiah 23:12 - pass Jeremiah 2:10 - the isles Ezekiel 27:6 - the isles Ezekiel 32:22 - General Daniel 8:23 - in the

Cross-References

Genesis 11:29
And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. Abram's wife was named Sarai, and Nahor's wife was named Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah.

Genesis 22:20
Some time later Abraham was told, "Milcah has also borne sons to your brother Nahor:

Genesis 22:23
And Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight sons to Abraham's brother Nahor.

Genesis 24:15
Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And ships [shall come] from the coast of Chittim,.... Kittim was the son of Javan, Genesis 10:4 and so designs some part of Greece: Josephus r says that Kittim possessed the island now called Cyprus, in which was a city now called Citium, after his name; Macedonia, a considerable part of Greece, is called the land of Cittim,

"And it happened, after that Alexander son of Philip, the Macedonian, who came out of the land of Chettiim, had smitten Darius king of the Persians and Medes, that he reigned in his stead, the first over Greece,'' (1 Maccabees 1:1)

"Beside this, how they had discomfited in battle Philip, and Perseus, king of the Citims, with others that lifted up themselves against them, and had overcome them:'' (1 Maccabees 8:5)

but the Targum of Jonathan interprets it, of the country of Italy; the Jerusalem Targum, of the Roman legions; and perhaps both Greeks and Romans are intended, and so ships from Cittim, in Daniel 11:30, design Romans in Grecian ships; for in such were the Roman ambassadors carried, who distressed Antiochus, king of Syria,

Daniel 11:30- :; and both may be intended here: it is affirmed s that Noah with his son Japheth, came into the country now called Italy, and built a city, and gave it the name of Cethim, since called Volterra, and was the metropolis of Etruria, and gave name to all Italy; and that in the year two hundred and twenty from the building of that city, Cethim the son of Javan, and grandson of Noah, took two colonies with him, and sailed to an island which he called after his own name Cethim, now Cyprus:

and shall afflict Ashur; which being a part of the Persian empire, was afflicted, conquered, and subdued by Alexander the Macedonian, who is said to come out of the land of Cittim,

"And it happened, after that Alexander son of Philip, the Macedonian, who came out of the land of Chettiim, had smitten Darius king of the Persians and Medes, that he reigned in his stead, the first over Greece,'' (1 Maccabees 1:1)

and shall afflict Eber; or the Hebrews, as the Septuagint version; not that the Grecians or Macedonians should do this, for they under Alexander did not afflict the Jews; unless this is to be understood of the Seleucidae, the kings of Syria, the successors of Alexander, who did distress the Jews; but rather this respects the Romans under Pompey, and especially under Titus Vespasian, who destroyed their city, and carried them captive, and who ever since have been dispersed among the nations:

and he also shall perish for ever: not Eber, but those that afflicted him, even the Romans; and indeed both monarchies, Grecian and Roman, are prophesied of as what should be destroyed, and that by a son of Eber, the Messiah; the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, said to break in pieces all these kingdoms, Daniel 2:44 and not Rome Pagan only, but Rome Papal also, antichrist and all the antichristian powers, 2 Thessalonians 2:8. and so the Targum of Jonathan says, that the end both of the one and the other, that is, that shall afflict Eber, shall be, to fall by the hand of the King Messiah, and they shall perish for ever.

r Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1. s Inghiram. Etrusc. Antiqu. apud Dickinson. Delph. Phaenic. Append. p. 153. Vid. p. 77.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Chittim - i. e., Cyprus, the nearest of the western islands, the only one visible from Palestine, and so the representative to Balsam and to Israel of all those unknown western regions across the Mediterranean Sea, from which were at length to come the conquerors of the mighty empires of the East. Compare Isaiah 23:1, Isaiah 23:12; Jeremiah 2:10.

Eber - i. e., the descendants of Shem. Of these Asshur was one (compare marginal references), and is here specified by name, since the Assyrians attained, in the empires of Babylon and Nineveh, to an extraordinary grandeur, and were destined to a most signal and irretrievable fall.

He also - i. e., the conqueror of Asshur and Eber who should come across the sea. It is not revealed from where the blow should come that should overthrow in its turn the power that prevailed over the great monarchies of the East.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Numbers 24:24. Ships shall come from the coast of Chittim — Some think by Chittim the Romans, others the Macedonians under Alexander the Great, are meant. It is certain that the Romans did conquer the Assyrians, including all the people of Syria, Mesopotamia, c., but Calmet strongly contends that by Chittim Macedonia is meant, and that the prophecy refers to the conquests of Alexander. Chittim was one of the sons of Javan, the son of Japheth, the son of Noah, Genesis 10:4 and his posterity, according to Josephus, Antiq., l. iii., c. 22, settled in Cilicia, Macedonia, Cyprus, and Italy also; and therefore, says Mr. Ainsworth, the prophecy may imply both the troubles that befell the Assyrians and Jews by the Greeks and Seleucidae, in the troublous days of Antiochus.

And shall afflict Eber — Probably not the Hebrews, as some think, but the people on the other side the Euphrates, from עבר abar, to pass over, go beyond; all which people were discomfited, and their empire destroyed by Alexander the Great.