And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever.
Ships shall come from the coast of Chittim х miyad (H3027) Kitiym (H3794)] - from the side (quarter) of Chittim; i:e., Cyprus, without indicating the particular country from which this naval expedition should come. Gesenius, indeed, asserts that Chittim is sometimes used by the sacred writers in a wider sense. to denote the islands of the Mediterranean, especially in the northern parts, including Greece and Italy. But Hengstenberg has satisfactorily shown that this extended acceptation of the term was introduced in a much later age (see 'Balaam,' p. 500). But Cyprus was the great emporium, the commercial mart, the medium of contact between the East and West; and in this respect alone it is made here to represent the occidental countries.
And shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber. х 'Ashuwr (H804) denotes sometimes the land (Genesis 2:4; Genesis 25:18; 2 Kings 15:29; 2 Kings 17:6; 2 Kings 18:1; Isaiah 7:18; Hosea 7:11; Hosea 9:3; Hosea 10:6; Micah 5:6; Zephaniah 2:13; Zechariah 10:10), and at other times the people (Isaiah 19:23; Isaiah 23:13; Isaiah 30:31; Isaiah 31:8; Psalms 83:9; Ezekiel 27:23; Ezekiel 32:22; Hosea 14:4) of Assyria.] "Eber." The proper interpretation of this word has occasioned much discussion (see the notes at Genesis 10:21; Genesis 14:13). Little assistance in ending to a right conclusion is afforded by the ancient versions, which differ greatly. [The Septuagint renders the verse thus: Kai exeleusetai ek cheiroon Kitiaioon kai kakoosousin Assour kai kakoosousin Ebraious, kai autoi homothumadon apolountai, 'And he shall come forth from the hands of Cittiaeans, and they shall afflict the Assyrians, and shall afflict the Hebrews, and themselves shall perish together.' The Vulgate translates it: 'Venient in trieribus de Italia, superabunt Assyrios vastabuntque Hebraeos,' 'They shall come in triremes from Italy; they shall vanquish the Assyrians, and devastate the Hebrews,' etc.] The Arabic and Syriac versions have 'the Hebrews' also. Such a rendering, however, is totally inconsistent with the design of this prophecy, which was to announce the overthrow or the punishment, not of Israel, but solely of the nations hostile to Israel. The Samaritan version retains Heber. The Targum exhibit a greater discrepancy in this matter even than the versions; but they coincide in not identifying Eber with 'the Hebrews'; because the Targum of Jonathan says, 'all the children of Eber;' that of Onkelos, 'beyond the Euphrates;' and that of Jerusalem, 'all the children of the region beyond the Euphrates.'
Rosenmuller ('Scholia,' in loco) considers the word Eber to be in parallelism with Asshur. But the application of the verb, "afflict," to both Asshur and Eber presents an objection to their being regarded as synonymous. The latter word is rather an extension of the meaning of the former; because, taking it to be the preposition 'beyond,' used as a noun, it is elliptical, denoting the country 'beyond' the river; and thus, as the first portion of the prophecy pointed to the destruction of the enemies of Israel in the eastern desert, the latter portion will refer to all the trans-Euphratean nations-including, along with Assyria, Chaldea, Babylonia, and Persia, all the inferior tribes which had combined with them in the oppression and captivity of God's people.
Every intelligent and unblessed mind must perceive in these brief but most significant words a prediction of the overthrow of the gigantic pagan despotisms of Asia-the Assyrian and Babylonian empires-by the Greeks under Alexander the Great, and by the Romans. The announcement of those mighty political revolutions at so remote a period-wound up by the specific declaration that 'ships, via Cyprus, should convey European troops for the subversion of the imperial power of Asia'-`made 1450 BC, half a millennium before Homer, and some 700 years before the foundation of Rome' (Stanley, 'Jewish Church,' p. 192) - was unquestionably far beyond the horizon of the speaker's hopes and fears. The allegation that these prophetic utterances of Balaam were poetical compositions produced in a later age, and in fact contain vaticinia post eventus, is refuted by internal as well as external evidence. For, while the words which refer to Asshur (Numbers 24:22) represent that empire as pursuing a victorious career, those (Numbers 24:24) describe the overthrow of that power and the other great monarchies of Asia; so that the date of these prophecies, on the hypothesis referred to, would be fixed toward the close of, or subsequent to, the Babylonian captivity. But the comparision of the Hebrew monarch with Agag (Numbers 24:7) points to a much earlier period; because after the destruction of the Amalekites by Saul (1 Samuel 15:1-35), there would have been an obvious impropriety in any speaker or writer contrasting the power and splendour of one ruler with those of another who had long been extinct.
Besides, there is extraneous proof of the early date of Balaam's prophecies, furnished by the references made to them in the writings of the prophets who preceded the captivities (Jeremiah 48:4-6; Obadiah 1:13; Obadiah 1:17; Micah 6:5). Assuming, then, that these predictions were uttered at the time and in the circumstances described in the sacred narrative, it admits of no question whether such a prophecy was the result of human sagacity or divine knowledge. The conclusion irresistibly forced upon the reflective reader is, that it originated in a prescience supernaturally imparted by God.
The doom of all the nations named is predicted in terms of which history demonstrates the exact truth. But this remarkable prophecy extends far beyond the overthrow of the historic people specifically mentioned. It has a Messianic reference; and in the smiting of Moab, in the possession of Edom, in the destruction of Amalek, of the Kenites, Assyria, and other pagan nations, which maintained an attitude of hostility to Israel, we see typified the destruction of all the enemies of God's people, and the final establishment of a righteous kingdom.