DanEleven406
Ships from Chittim
Daniel 11:30
 
 
Antiochus Epiphanes
Turned Back by Rome
For  the  ships of Chittim shall come against him:  therefore  he shall be
grieved, and return. Dan 11:30

The  wars  and intrigues  of the Selucids  and Ptolomies continued from
301 to 168 B.C. But then a third party intervened in the struggle.

Antioch Epiphanes was  on his second expedition  into Egypt and within
a few miles of  Alexandria when ambassadors from Rome demanded that
he turn back.

The identity  of the "ships of Chittim"  is  the key  to understanding this
verse and the verses that follow.  
Ships from Chittim
Roman Ambassadors on Greek Vessels

At this point  the fourth world-empire  of prophecy is introduced to the
prophetic stage  and  Rome  now proceeded  to  become  the dominant
world power in the world.
 
Chittim, according  to Gesenius  properly means Cyprians,  so called for
a  celebrated  Phoenecian colony  in  the island  of  Cyprus.  In a wider
sense  the name  came  to comprehend  the islands  and coasts of The
Mediterranean Sea, especially the northern parts, and therefore stands
for the islands and coasts of Greece, and the Aegean Sea. 
 
According to  Prideaux, these ambassadors came by the way of Greece
and in Grecian vessels and there coming might properly be described as
"ships from Chittim".  They  went from Rome to Brundusium  (an ancient
Roman naval station on the Adriatic) and  hen passed over  the Grecian
shore and  from  thence by the way of  Chalcis,  Delos, and  Rhodes, to
Alexandria.
 
(Barnes Notes on Daniel Chapter 11, p. 235.)

Kicking the Dog
Antiochus Vents His Rage on Palestine
 
He  shall be grieved,  and return, and have indignation against the holy
covenant: so  shall he do;  he  shall even return, and have intelligence
with them that forsake the holy covenant. Dan 11:30
 
Antiochus  was  publicly   humiliated   by  Rome   in  Alexandria  and his 
coveted   prey  was  taken  from  his hands.  On his return  to Syria he
vented  his rage on the Jews and their Holy Covenant.


He   attacked  Jerusalem   (as  he  had  done  before),   massacred  its

inhabitants,  defiled the  temple and built a garrison fortress  in the city

of David. Then,  in conjunction with the High Priest and  other apostate

Jews, issued a  decree abrogating the Jewish  religion and  enjoined the

worship of Jupiter Olympus in its stead in the year 168 B.C.


Protestant   expositors   argue  that  this  was  NOT  what  Jesus  was
referring to in
Luke, but merely  a type of the abomination of desolation
to come.