Genesis 10:4

³The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁴And the sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites, and the Rodanites.⁵From these, the maritime peoples separated into their territories, according to their languages, by clans within their nations.

Summary

Genesis 10:4 lists the descendants of Javan, the son of Japheth, who was one of Noah's sons. This verse is part of the Table of Nations, which provides a genealogy of the descendants of Noah's three sons after the flood. The mention of Javan's descendants highlights the spread of humanity across different regions and the diversity of nations that emerged from Noah's family. This genealogy serves to show the fulfillment of God's promise to multiply humanity after the flood and the beginning of various nations and cultures.

Commentary

Adam Clarke
John Gill
Tyndale

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

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 Dodona in Epirus; others at the isle of Rhodes; others, at the Rhone, in France, the ancient name of which was Rhodanus, from the Scripture Rodanim.

John Gill Bible Commentary

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 Tarsus, by which Cilicia was formerly called, as Josephus says (m), of which the city named Tarsus was the metropolis, the birth place of the Apostle Paul, Act 22:3. Hence the Mediterranean sea is called Tarshish, because the Cicilians were masters of it; and Tartessus in Spain might be a colony from them, as Broughton observes; and so Eusebius says, from the Tarsinns are the Iberians, or Spaniards; and which Bochart (n) approves of, and confirms by various evidences; and Hillerus, (o) makes Tarshish to be the author of the Celtae, that is, of the Spanish, French, and German nations. The third son of Javan is Kittim, whom Josephus (p) places in the island of Cyprus, a city there being called Citium, from whence was Zeno the Citian: but rather the people that sprung from him are those whom Homer (q) calls Cetii; and are placed by Strabo (r) to the west of Cilicia, in the western parts of which are two provinces, mentioned by Ptolemy (s), the one called Cetis, the other Citis: likewise this Kittim seems to be the father both of the Macedonians and the Latines; for Alexander the great is said to come from Cittim, and Perseus king of Macedon is called king 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)and Macedonia is sometimes called Macetia, as it is in Gellius (t), which has something of the name of Cittim or Cetim in it; and also the Latines or Romans seem to spring from hence, who may be thought to be meant by Cittim in Num 24:24 Dan 11:30 and Eusebius says the Citians are a people from whom came the Sabines, who also are Romans; and in Latium was a city called Cetia, as says Halicarnassensis (u); and Bochart (w) has shown, that Latium and Cethem signify the same, and both have their names from words that signify to hide; "latium a latendo", and "celhem", from "to hide", see Jer 2:22 in which sense the word is frequently used in the Arabic language; and Cittim in the Jerusalem Targum is here called Italy. The last son of Javan mentioned is Dodanim; he is omitted by Josephus: his country is by the Targum of Jonathan called Dordania; and by the Jerusalem Targum Dodonia; and he and his posterity are placed by Mr. Mede in part of Peloponnessus and Epirus, in which was the city of Dodona, where were the famous temple and oracle of Jupiter Dodonaeus, under which name this man was worshipped. In Ch1 1:7 he is called Rodanim, and in the Samaritan version here; and the word is by the Septuagint translated Rodians; which have led some to think of the island of Rhodes as the seat, and the inhabitants of it as the posterity of this man; but Bochart (x) is of opinion, that they settled in the country now called France, gave the name to the river Rhodanus, and called the adjacent country Rhodanusia, and where formerly was a city of that name, much about the same tract where now stands Marseilles; but this seems too remote for a son of Javan. (l) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (m) Ib. (n) Phaleg. l. 3. c. 7. (o) Onomastic. Saer. p. 944. (p) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (q) Odyss. 11. ver. 520. (r) Geograph. l. 13. p. 423. (s) Ibid. l. 5. c. 8. (t) Attic. Noct. l. 9. c. 3. (u) Hist. l. 8. p. 376. (w) Phaleg. l. 3. c. 5. col. 159, 160. (x) Phaleg. l. 3. c. 6. col. 163, 164.