Evidence of Black Africans in the Bible

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Buzzfruit

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I thought this would be an interesting read. I first heard this article as a taped sermon many years ago in Church, when I was living in Miami.



Evidence of Black Africans in the Bible

In 1992, I took a class at Emory University in Atlanta called Introduction to the Old Testament. As I read the various required textbooks for the course, I saw something I had not noticed before. Many Old Testament scholars, particularly European scholars of the 18th, 19th and early 20th century, had written their books and commentaries on the Old Testament from the perspective that there were no people of color mentioned in the Scriptures.

The rest of the article can be read at this link. http://www.gci.org/bible/africans
 

Comm.Arnold

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I hope this has never happened to you

"Is the Bible a book by a white God for white people? Of course not. God is spirit and does not have "color" in our human and earthly sense. There is nothing in the Scriptures to indicate that people are excluded from God’s saving grace on the basis of ethnic origin or skin color."
 

Foreigner

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Legend has it - although there is absolutely nothing scriptural to support it - that Simon of Cyrene was a black man.
 

FHII

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I have heard that about Simon of Cyrene... He was from Lybia, so it is up for debate....

ANother one may have been Moses second wife. If you go to Numbers 12:1 and on down, we see that Miriam and Aaron (Moses' brother and sister) were upset because Moses married and Ethiopian woman. That would suggest a black woman. However, another interesting thing is that the Lord punish Miriam by giving her leprosy (the Bible even points out that she was white as snow). There may be other ideas about this to consider, but its an intriguing theory. I won't argue for or against it because the Bible doesn't accually say anything about the woman's skin color. But it seems reasonable to me that she was a black woman.
 

Redeemed86

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"All humans — male, female, black, white, red, yellow and brown, are God’s children. They are all made in the image of God for salvation through Jesus Christ."

Whether we are black, white, orange or blue, ALL human DNA is 99.9% the same. That .1% is what causes all the variance in people. Imo, it highlights another example of God's ways being perfect because he looks through to the heart of us, where most sinful thought is conceived, and doesn't stop at skin level.
 

Buzzfruit

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I hope this has never happened to you

"Is the Bible a book by a white God for white people? Of course not. God is spirit and does not have "color" in our human and earthly sense. There is nothing in the Scriptures to indicate that people are excluded from God’s saving grace on the basis of ethnic origin or skin color."

That is correct. However, it was taught differently at least at one time (some still hold to this view even today) in the U.S. that blacks are outside of God's grace. There is no limit as to what human beings will say or do in order to justify their inhuman ways towards other human beings. Like the scripture says, “The mind is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?.”

I have heard that about Simon of Cyrene... He was from Lybia, so it is up for debate....

ANother one may have been Moses second wife. If you go to Numbers 12:1 and on down, we see that Miriam and Aaron (Moses' brother and sister) were upset because Moses married and Ethiopian woman. That would suggest a black woman. However, another interesting thing is that the Lord punish Miriam by giving her leprosy (the Bible even points out that she was white as snow). There may be other ideas about this to consider, but its an intriguing theory. I won't argue for or against it because the Bible doesn't accually say anything about the woman's skin color. But it seems reasonable to me that she was a black woman.


Even when the Israelites lift Egypt not all that left with them were Israelites......the Bible says a mix multitude went out of Egypt.


Exodus 12:37-38 (ASV)
[sup]37 [/sup]And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, besides children.
[sup]38 [/sup]And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.

 

rockytopva

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That is correct. However, it was taught differently at least at one time (some still hold to this view even today) in the U.S. that blacks are outside of God's grace. There is no limit as to what human beings will say or do in order to justify their inhuman ways towards other human beings. Like the scripture says, “The mind is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?.”




Even when the Israelites lift Egypt not all that left with them were Israelites......the Bible says a mix multitude went out of Egypt.


Exodus 12:37-38 (ASV)
[sup]37 [/sup]And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, besides children.
[sup]38 [/sup]And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.

Buzzfruit.. You will enjoy this sermon!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-vsIt2j06k
 

brionne

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"All humans — male, female, black, white, red, yellow and brown, are God’s children. They are all made in the image of God for salvation through Jesus Christ."

Whether we are black, white, orange or blue, ALL human DNA is 99.9% the same. That .1% is what causes all the variance in people. Imo, it highlights another example of God's ways being perfect because he looks through to the heart of us, where most sinful thought is conceived, and doesn't stop at skin level.

the human genome project has found that there is more genetic variance 'within' a race, then between the different races and nationalities.

so the idea that there are 'different races' has been disproved... we are all just one family.
 

Redeemed86

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the human genome project has found that there is more genetic variance 'within' a race, then between the different races and nationalities.

so the idea that there are 'different races' has been disproved... we are all just one family.

I agree.

The Human family tree (a.k.a Genographic Project) should be required watching in schools. Unfortunately, I think our first, and only, family reunion will be in Heaven.
 

FHII

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It's not really an issue with me, other than it was brought up....So I talked about it....
 

FHII

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Yes, I agree. We can talk about stuff like this but it does not mean it’s a personal issue.
Seems to me, Buzzfruit, that the question Whiteknuckle asked was more of a "does it matter" one. I agree with that. It shouldn't matter, but since folks want to make it an issue, it should be discussed. I for one, don't believe that Christianity is a white man's religion, or whatever is being said... So due to ignorance (and not of your part) I believe we should combat it.

I recently heard a sermon that furthers this converstation.... The Songs of Solomon suggest an affair between a white Solomon and a black girl...
 

Buzzfruit

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Seems to me, Buzzfruit, that the question Whiteknuckle asked was more of a "does it matter" one. I agree with that. It shouldn't matter, but since folks want to make it an issue, it should be discussed. I for one, don't believe that Christianity is a white man's religion, or whatever is being said... So due to ignorance (and not of your part) I believe we should combat it.
I recently heard a sermon that furthers this converstation.... The Songs of Solomon suggest an affair between a white Solomon and a black girl...

OK. :)
 

WhiteKnuckle

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I guess, as a cultural standpoint it is interesting. Come to think of it, something like this might be benefitial to use. Many people do claim that Christianity is a "western" religion. Even many more claim it's a "white" religion too I guess.
 

mcorba

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Social history has meant that at times race has been a massive issue, so it is worth discussing.
There are still pockets of racism no doubt amongst individuals in the church across the world.

One thing that always interested me was that Jesus was alive in the middle east 2k ago, he would have been
'brown skinned', right?

So it is a pity we don't have many images of him represented this way.
 

Christian1488

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I have heard that about Simon of Cyrene... He was from Lybia, so it is up for debate....

ANother one may have been Moses second wife. If you go to Numbers 12:1 and on down, we see that Miriam and Aaron (Moses' brother and sister) were upset because Moses married and Ethiopian woman. That would suggest a black woman. However, another interesting thing is that the Lord punish Miriam by giving her leprosy (the Bible even points out that she was white as snow). There may be other ideas about this to consider, but its an intriguing theory. I won't argue for or against it because the Bible doesn't accually say anything about the woman's skin color. But it seems reasonable to me that she was a black woman.

WHOM DID MOSES MARRY?

Bertrand L. Comparet​
You are familiar with the saying, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." This is true, a little knowledge is never enough. It never gets beyond half truths which mislead people into false beliefs. This is consistently true in the field of religion, more than in all other areas. I am frequently challenged on some point by someone who has just this little half truth of knowledge. They think that they have found a fallacy in the Bible's great truth that Yahweh's people Israel are known today as the Anglo Saxon, Scandinavian and Teutonic people. Israel is, and always has been, under Yahweh's command to keep their race pure.
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One challenge I frequently get is, "Why shouldn't whites marry negroes, Moses married an Ethiopian woman?" They base this on the way Numbers 12:1 reads in the King James Bible. "And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman." Christianity has never labored under a greater curse than the many mistranslations in the King James Bible. Some of these mistranslations are even followed in some other translations because these errors have become traditional.
Bible scholars know that there are many thousand mistranslations in the King James Bible. The eminent scholar Robert Young, author of Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible and of Young's Literal Translation of the Bible, says in the preface to his Literal Translation, "In the King James bible, there are scarcely two consecutive verses where there isn't some departure from the original. These variations may be counted by the tens of thousands, as admitted on all hands." When you think you have found some discrepancy in Yahweh's word, some contradiction, which can be used as the foundation for conflicting doctrines, you can never safely rely upon what you find in the English translation, until you have checked it in a good lexicon.
The best reference is the Hebrew and Greek dictionaries included in Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, which is more thorough than most of the others. You will often find that defective scholarship in early translations, has become accepted as doctrine. It is continued, although the original word will not support the meaning given it in the translation.
Let's get back to Moses and his wife. In Numbers 12:1, the Hebrew does not say Ethiopian it says Cush, a descendant of Cush, or a resident of the land of Cush. Remember that Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. Genesis 10:6 tells us the sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Phut and Canaan, Noah and his wife were both white, so their children naturally were of the same race. One of Ham's sons was Mizraim, meaning Egyptian. We know from all the Egyptian art including their marvelously fine portrait sculpture, during all the many centuries of Egypt's greatness, they were a pure white people. In fact during this time, any negro found in Egypt, other than a slave working in chains in the fields, was summarily killed on sight.
Ham's other son Cush was, without question, also white. What about the land of Cush? There were two different countries named Cush in Bible times, one was Ethiopia, lying south of the Sudan in Africa. However, there was another Cush in ancient times, it was in eastern Mesopotamia, or what at other ties was part of the Babylonian empire. These people certainly were not a black race at any time. This Cush flourished about 1500 B. C., during the time of Moses, the exodus from Egypt occurred in 1486 B. C.;. Who can we expect to find living in this Cush, on the east side of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, from what people that lived there did Moses take his wife? In the first place, note that there is absolutely nothing anywhere in the Bible which says, or even hints, that Moses was ever in Ethiopia or any place else, where he could have found a negro woman to marry.
The Bible does tell us where Moses got his wife, and who she was. Remember Moses had killed an Egyptian who was beating an Israelite. In Exodus 2:15-21 we read, "Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well. And the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon today? And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us and watered the flock. And he said unto his daughters, Why is it that ye have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread. And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter."
We know positively from this, that Moses married the daughter of the priest of Midian. His name Reuel means, friend of God, it is given in the variant form of Raguel in one or two places. Sometimes he called Jethro. Jethro is the Hebrew word Yithro and means his excellency, this is a title of respect, not a name. Who were the Midianites, from whom Moses got a wife?
In Genesis 25:1-2 the Bible tells us that after the death of his wife Sarah, "Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bore him Zimram, and Jokshan, and told by Yahweh that his son Isaac, not through any of his other sons, would fulfill the great promises through his descendants. Therefore he gave his inheritance only to Isaac, but he loved his other sons also and dealt fairly with them. Genesis 25:6 tells us, "But unto the sons of the concubines which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward into the east country." Logically, he would want them to move more than just a few miles away, as the whole idea was to send them far enough away that they would not be neighbors of Isaac, and perhaps quarrelling with him over the inheritance.
The next place of any importance to which they could go was Cush. Cush was in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the same country which at other times was part of the important Babylonian empire. So Midian and his descendants became Cushites, people living in the kingdom of Cush. Remember though, that by race they were descendants of Abraham, closely related to Isaac and his descendants the Israelites. However, they remained a separate nation and never became part of Israel. Since this is the only wife the Bible tells us Moses had, it is clear she was a Midianite, whose family lived in Cush in the Tigris and Euphrates valleys.
This is where Moses would logically have found his wife. Moses fled for his life because the Pharaoh of Egypt wanted to kill him. Moses could not have gone to just some tiny neighboring kingdom to stay. A neighboring kingdom would not have dared to give Moses shelter, but would have turned him over to Pharaoh as soon as the Egyptians learned he was there and made a demand for him. Therefore, Moses fled a safe distance, to a land where the people did not live in fear of the powerful Egyptian empire. He went to Cush, among whose people were the Midianites.
We may be certain that Moses never married a negro. Remember that he was brought up in Pharaoh's palace as the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter. He was educated as an Egyptian of the royal family. The Egyptians considered the negroes as merely wild animals, to be killed on sight. The son of royalty would not take a wife from the negro Cush in Africa.
]It was while Moses was guarding the flocks of his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, that Yahweh appeared to him in the burning bush. This was when Moses was commissioned by Yahweh to go to Egypt, and set Yahweh's people Israel free. When Moses returned to his own people, he taught them their proud heritage as Yahweh's people Israel. He also taught them that they must keep their race pure. His brother Aaron and his sister Miriam taunted Moses about his marriage outside the strictly limited group of Israel. It is true that he had married a woman who was not an Israelite. However, she was not only a white woman, but a descendant of Abraham, a close relative of the Israelites.
So this matter of the wife of Moses can't be used as a justification for race mixing, Moses did not marry outside the white race, just outside his nation. Mongrelization is equally a sin against both races. Yahweh had His own purposes in mind when He made the different races. Each was made suited to the purpose Yahweh had planned for it. To lose that suitability by mixing it with another race is to defy Yahweh, the results of that are always bad.
The End