Balaam Prophesies Concerning Eber (Israel and their fellow Semites) (Numbers 24:23-24).
‘And he took up his oracle, and said,'
We note immediately that he did not ‘look on' those of whom he now spoke.
Numbers 24:23-24 (23b-24)
“Alas, who shall live when God does this?
But ships will come from the coast of Kittim,
And they shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber,
And he also shall come to destruction.”
The Asshurim may waste the Kenites but they themselves would not escape judgment. They in their turn would be afflicted by ships from Kittim (Cyprus and the Aegean coastlands). It would seem that exploratory raids, if not worse, had already been taking place by the ‘Sea People', the relatives of the Philistines, and he recognised that these would afflict the Asshurim, treating them as they had treated the Kenites. When brother fights brother judgment awaits.
The same also applied to Eber. This referred to Semites in the area (Genesis 10:25) and may well have been intended indirectly to signify Israel, who would be one of those to suffer at Philistine hands, for Abraham was descended from Peleg, Eber's son, a descent which was emphasised by appearing on its own and not in the Table of Nations (Genesis 10:25 with Genesis 11:16-18).