Chit′tim, or Kittim, a branch of the descendants of Javan, the son of Japheth (). On the authority of Josephus, who is followed by Epiphanius and Jerome, it has been generally admitted that the Chittim migrated from Phoenicia to Cyprus, and founded there the town of Citium, the modern Chitti. 'Chethimus possessed the island of Chethima, which is now called Cyprus, and from this, all islands and maritime places are called Chethim by the Hebrews.' Cicero, it may be remarked, speaks of the Citians as a Phoenician colony. Some passages in the prophets (;; ) imply an intimate connection between Chittim and Tyre. At a later period the name was applied to the Macedonians. Hengstenberg has lately endeavored to prove that in every passage in the Old Testament where the word occurs, it means Cyprus, or the Cyprians.
After a careful examination of the works in which this point is discussed, the writer is disposed to acquiesce in the opinion expressed by the editor of the Pictorial Bible: 'Chittim seems to be a name of large signification (such as our Levant), applied to the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean, in a loose sense, without fixing the particular part, though particular and different parts of the whole are probably in most cases to be understood' (verse notes on ).
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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