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 F18 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, (See Gill on Daniel 11:30); and both may be intended here: it is affirmed
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 Daniel 2:45 ) 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.
F18 Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.
F19 Inghiram. Etrusc. Antiqu. apud
Dickinson. Delph. Phaenic. Append. p. 153. Vid. p. 77.