1 Chronicles 1:7

Adam is the starting point, and the Holy Spirit leads on through a list of names — yet no meaningless list — until we come to David, the picture of Him who will shortly have all things put under Him, and in whom all families of the earth shall be blessed. A different order than the natural one is before us. The natural order — who was born first — is constantly set aside when it cuts across the order of grace and God's purpose of blessing. And if Japheth and his descendants are noticed first, it is only briefly, and then they are dismissed.

Genesis 10 deals with how the nations were spread over the earth. The details found there would be of no use for the aim of the book we are now considering. For the same reason this book says nothing at all about the boundaries of the Canaanites in Genesis 10:18-20, or those of the sons of Joktan.

Fourth son of Japheth, and father of Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim. "From these came the distribution of the isles of the nations." … In Daniel 8:21, where the Hebrew is the same, Alexander the Great is king of Javan. This agrees with Daniel 10:20, Daniel 11:2 and Zechariah 9:13, that Javan refers to Greece.

the sons of Javan, whom we cannot fail to identify with the Greek or Hellenic families. They extended to Spain, France, Italy and Sicily — the isles, or sea coasts, of the nations.

Eldest son of Javan, the son of Japheth. His descendants seem to have occupied the "isles of Elishah." They supplied the Phoenicians with blue and purple (Ezekiel 27:7). Josephus identifies them with the Æolians. Others connect Elishah with Elis in the Peloponnesus.

Here it appears that we need not doubt an original settlement on the south shore of Spain. The Phoenicians later had trading posts there too, and their ships brought silver, iron, tin, and lead from there to Tyre, as Ezekiel 27:12 tells us. The ships of Tarshish were the most famous for merchandise in ancient times.

There is no difficulty as to Kittim. The term covers two of the peninsulas of Europe beyond any controversy — first Greece, then Rome or Italy. … So in the prophecy of Balaam (Numbers 24:24) we learn of a fleet from the west afflicting Asshur, when all man's power comes to destruction. … We also hear of the "isles," or sea coasts, of Kittim, which can hardly mean Cyprus, as Josephus understood it and many since his day.

Descendants of Javan, son of Japheth. In the margin the name is RODANIM, which has some manuscript authority.

From Genesis 10 we learn that the isles of the Gentiles are the portion of Japheth. Though far from prominent at the beginning, these names reappear in the prophetic record of the close of this world's history. … They spread over their allotted portion of the earth without a sound, hidden by their own insignificance and in the darkness of their idolatry. No one noticed them in the history of God's dealings with the nations that interfered with Israel at the first — for what makes any Gentile prominent is his having to do with Israel, whether with them or against them. But they come out in fearful prominence at the close, when the Son of David is about to make good His title to the sovereignty of the world. The sons of Ham have had their day of supremacy. The race of Japheth is now dominant, and will be a little longer.