a son (as a builder of the family name) · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct
Javan
יָוָ֖ןya.Van
H3120
Javan · proper noun, a man's name
Elishah
אֱלִישָׁ֣ה'e.li.Shah
H473
Elishah · proper noun, a man's name
Tarshish
וְתַרְשִׁ֑ישׁve.tar.Shish
H8659
Tarshish · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
Kittim
כִּתִּ֖יםki.Tim
H3794
a Kittite or Cypriote · proper noun, a place name
Dodanim
וְדֹדָנִֽיםve.do.da.Nim
H1721
Dodanites · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Numbers 24:24 And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever.
Isaiah 23:1 The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it…
Isaiah 23:12 And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have…
Daniel 11:30 For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant:…
Ezekiel 27:12 Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs.
Ezekiel 27:25 The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 10:1-5
Moses begins with Japheth's family, either because he was the eldest, or because his family lay remotest from Israel and had least concern with them at the time when Moses wrote, and therefore he mentions that race very briefly, hastening to give an account of the posterity of Ham, who were Israel's enemies and of Shem, who were Israel's ancestors; for it is the church that the scripture is designed to be the history of, and of the nations of the world only as they were some way or other related to Israel and interested in the affairs of Israel. Observe, 1. Notice is taken that the sons of Noah had sons born to them after the flood, to repair and rebuild the world of mankind which the flood…
Elishah - As Javan peopled a considerable part of Greece, it is in that region that we must seek for the settlements of his descendants; Elishah probably was the first who settled at Elis, in Peloponnesus.
Tarshish - He first inhabited Cilicia, whose capital anciently was the city of Tarsus, where the Apostle Paul was born.
Kittim - We have already seen that this name was rather the name of a people than of an individual: some think by Kittim Cyprus is meant: others, the isle of Chios; and others, the Romans; and others, the Macedonians.
Dodanim - Or Rodanim, for the ד and ר may be easily mistaken for each other, because of their great similarity. Some suppose that this family settled at Dod…
And the sons of Javan,.... Another son of Japheth; four sons of Javan are mentioned, which gave names to countries, and are as follow:
Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim; the first of these, Elishah, gave name to the Elysaeans, now called Aeoles, as Josephus (l) says; hence the country Aeolia, and the Aeolic dialect, all from this name; and there are many traces of it in the several parts of Greece. Hellas, a large country in it, has its name from him; so the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem interpret Elishah by Allas. Elis in Peloponnesus, Eleusis in Attica, the river Elissus, or Ilissus, and the Elysian fields, are so called from him. Tarshish, second son of Javan, gave name to T…
The Church Fathers
(Ver. 4.) The sons of Javan were Elisha and Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim. From them were divided the islands of the nations in their lands, each according to its language, its kindred, and its people. From the Ionians, that is, the Greeks, were born the Aeolians, who are called Aeolians: hence the fifth language of Greece is called Aeolian, which they call 'the fifth dialect.' Josephus considers Tarshish to be Cilicia, stating that the letter θ was mistakenly corrupted by later generations into τ: hence their metropolis is called the city of Tarsus, glorious to the Apostle Paul. Cethim, they are the Cetians, from whom even today the city of Cyprus is also called Citium. Dodanim, the Rhodians: for so the Septuagint translators have rendered it. Let us read the books of Varro on Antiquities, and those of Sisinnius Capito, and the Greek Phlegon, and other most learned men: and we will see almost all the islands, and the shores of the whole world, and the lands near the sea, occupied by Greek settlers: who, as we have said, possess all the coastal areas from the mountains of Amanus and Taurus to the British Ocean.
"The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. From the Ionians, that is, the Greeks, are born the Elishah, who are called Elishites, hence also the fifth language of Greece is called Aeolic, which they call 'penten dialecton.' Josephus assumes Tharsis to be Cilicia, saying that the letter 'h' has been corruptly omitted in 'Thar' by later generations; hence also their metropolis city is called Tarsus, glorious in the apostle Paul's time. (Some think that Tharsis, from where gold was brought to Solomon, refers to the region of India.) Kittim is from Kittim, from whom to this day the city of Cyprus is named. Dodanim is identified as the Rhodians, for it is better read as Rodanim, or Rodim, as the Septuagint translators rendered it, and even our translator placed it in the book of Hebrew names. For the similarity of the letters Daleth and Resh often causes this error among the Hebrews, so that one is read for the other. But Rhodes is the largest of the Cyclades, and once the most powerful city in the Ionian Sea, glorious in naval combat, and a refuge for all merchants because of its very safe harbor.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Arabia — Arid, an extensive region in the south-west of Asia. It is bounded on the west by the Isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea, on the south by the Indian Ocean, and on the east by the Persian Gulf and the…
Canaanites — The descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham. Migrating from their original home, they seem to have reached the Persian Gulf, and to have there sojourned for some time. They thence “spread to the west,…
Chittim — Or Kittim, a plural form (Gen. 10:4), the name of a branch of the descendants of Javan, the “son” of Japheth. Balaam foretold (Num. 24:24) “that ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and…
Chittim, Kittim — (bruisers), a family or race descended from Javan. (Genesis 10:4; 1 Chronicles 1:7) Authorized Version Kittim. Chittim is frequently noticed in Scripture. (Numbers 24:24; Isaiah 23:1,12; Jeremiah…
Dodanim — Leaders, a race descended from Javan (Gen. 10:4). They are known in profane history as the Dardani, originally inhabiting Illyricum. They were a semi-Pelasgic race, and in the ethnographical table…
Elishah — The oldest of the four sons of Javan (Gen. 10:4), whose descendants peopled Greece. It has been supposed that Elishah’s descendants peopled the Peloponnesus, which was known by the name of Elis. This…
Greece — Orginally consisted of the four provinces of Macedonia, Epirus, Achaia, and Peleponnesus. In Acts 20:2 it designates only the Roman province of Macedonia. Greece was conquered by the Romans B.C. 146.…
Greece, Greeks, Grecians — The histories of Greece and Palestine are little connected with each other. In (Genesis 10:2-5) Moses mentions the descendants of Javan as peopling the isles of the Gentiles; and when the Hebrews…
Ham — Warm, hot, and hence the south; also an Egyptian word meaning “black”, the youngest son of Noah (Gen. 5:32; comp. 9:22, 24). The curse pronounced by Noah against Ham, properly against Canaan his…
Japheth — Wide spreading: “God shall enlarge Japheth” (Heb. Yaphat Elohim le-Yephet, Gen. 9:27. Some, however, derive the name from yaphah, “to be beautiful;” hence white), one of the sons of Noah, mentioned…
These are the generations. If any one pleases more accurately to examine the genealogies related by Moses in this and the following chapter, I do not condemn his industry. [306] And some interpreters have not unsuccessfully applied their diligence and study to this point. Let them enjoy, as far as I am concerned the reward of their labors. It shall, however, suffice for me briefly to allude to those things which I deem more useful to be noticed, and for the sake of which I suppose these genealogies to have been written by Moses. First, in these bare names we have still some fragment of the history of the world; and the next chapter will show how many years intervened between the date of the…
Descendants of Japhet. - In Gen 10:1 the names of the three sons are introduced according to their relative ages, to give completeness and finish to the Tholedoth; but in the genealogy itself Japhet is mentioned first and Shem last, according to the plan of the book of Genesis as already explained in the introduction. In Gen 10:2 seven sons of Japhet are given. The names, indeed, afterwards occur as those of tribes; but here undoubtedly they are intended to denote the tribe-fathers, and may without hesitation be so regarded. For even if in later times many nations received their names from the lands of which they took possession, this cannot be regarded as a universal rule, since unquestiona…
Elishah is probably Cyprus. • Tarshish is possibly southwest Spain (see study note on Jon 1:3). • The Kittim were inhabitants of southern Cyprus. • The Rodanim were inhabitants of the island of Rhodes, later a territory of Greece.
Javan — (1.) The fourth “son” of Japheth (Gen. 10:2), whose descendants settled in Greece, i.e., Ionia, which bears the name of Javan in Hebrew. Alexander the Great is called the “king of Javan” (rendered…
Kittim — (Gen. 10:4). (See CHITTIM.)
Tarshish — A Sanscrit or Aryan word, meaning “the sea coast.” (1.) One of the “sons” of Javan (Gen. 10:4; 1 Chr. 1:7). (2.) The name of a place which first comes into notice in the days of Solomon. The question…
Chittim · General references — General references
Dodanim · General references — General references
Elishah · A — A
Japheth · General references — General references
Javan · 1. — 1.
Sciences · Geography — Geography
Tarshish · 1. — 1.
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
