Numbers 24:24

Hebrew Bible

22 Nevertheless the Kenite will be consumed. How long will Asshur take you away captive?” 23 Then he uttered this oracle: “O, who will survive when God does this! 24 Ships will come from the coast of Kittim, and will afflict Asshur, and will afflict Eber, and he will also perish forever. 25 Balaam got up and departed and returned to his home, and Balak also went his way.

Daniel 11:30

Hebrew Bible

28 Then the king of the north will return to his own land with much property. His mind will be set against the holy covenant. He will take action, and then return to his own land. 29 At an appointed time he will again invade the south, but this latter visit will not turn out the way the former one did. 30 The ships of Kittim will come against him, leaving him disheartened. He will turn back and direct his indignation against the holy covenant. He will return and honor those who forsake the holy covenant. 31 His forces will rise up and profane the fortified sanctuary, stopping the daily sacrifice. In its place they will set up the abomination that causes desolation. 32 Then with smooth words he will defile those who have rejected the covenant. But the people who are loyal to their God will act valiantly.

 Notes and References

"... When Jews first came into contact with Rome in the second century BCE, their response was neutral. Thus, Daniel 11:30, reinterpreting Numbers 24:24, speaks of “ships of Kittim” who came against Antiochus IV and forced him to withdraw from Egypt. As the Septuagint and the Targum make clear, the Kittim are the Romans. The treaty between Judah Maccabee and Rome (1 Maccabees 8) offers high praise for the Romans, who are described as men of great valor and nobility, as faithful friends of their allies, and as being governed in full harmony by their Senate. They were also far enough away so that Judah did not transgress God’s word when making a treaty with them (Deuteronomy 7:1–2, 20:15). Yet when Pompey conquered Jerusalem in 63 BCE and desecrated the Temple, Rome’s image suddenly became absolutely negative: “Alien nations ascended your altar; they trampled it proudly with their sandals” (Psalms of Solomon 2:2) ..."

Baskin, Judith Reesa The Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism and Jewish Culture (p. 522) Cambridge University Press, 2011

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