Christian Churches of
God
No. 45B
Sons of Ham: Part II
Cush
(Edition 2.0 20070917-20071020)
This paper deals with
the illustrious first son of Ham and the dispersion of the Cushites throughout
the world. The sons of Cush, including Nimrod, will be studied and the present
locations of their descendants revealed from both genetic sampling and
linguistic clues. The eventual conversion of Cush is shown in Scripture.
Christian
Churches of God
E-mail:
secretary@ccg.org
(Copyright ã 2007 Wade Cox & anor.)
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Sons
of Ham Part II: Cush
Introduction
Cush is the
first son of Ham in the list of Seventy Nations recorded in both Genesis 10 and
1Chronicles 1.
Genesis 10:6 The sons of Ham: Cush,
Egypt, Put, and Canaan. (RSV)
In his Antiquities
of the Jews, Josephus records the progeny of Noah and the locations of the
tribes descended from these sons. As with most other writers, he equates Noah’s
grandson Cush with the Ethiopians.
The children of Ham possessed the land from
Syria and Amanus, and the mountains of Libanus; seizing upon all that was on
its sea-coasts, and as far as the ocean, and keeping it as their own. Some
indeed of its names are utterly vanished away; others of them being changed,
and another sound given them, are hardly to be discovered; yet a few there are which
have kept their denominations entire. For of the four sons of Ham, time has not
at all hurt the name of Chus [Cush]; for the Ethiopians, over
whom he reigned, are even at this day, both by themselves and by all men in
Asia, called Chusites. (Bk. I, vi, 2)
The
descendants of the patriarch Cush and their dispersion to various locations
throughout the world will now be investigated.
Characteristics of the Cushites
Perhaps the
most obvious characteristic of this group of the sons of Cush in Ethiopia, and
also sub-Saharan Africa, is that they are black-skinned, hence the patronym Cush
(kush, SHD 3568), meaning simply black.
In Jeremiah
13:23, the rhetorical question is posed: “Can the Cushite change
his skin or the leopard his spots?” This would indicate a marked difference in
skin colour between the Israelites and the sons of Cush. The mention of a
leopard here is interesting in that it is probably the most widespread of all
the big cats, found throughout Africa, Asia Minor, India, China and Siberia – a
diversity that seems to closely parallel the descendants of Cush and the
Hamitic peoples in general.
In the early
New Testament era, we see an important official of Queen Candace or Kandake
(possibly the historical Queen Gersamot Hendeke VII) being visited by Philip
in preparation for his baptism. He is referred to in Greek as an Aithiops,
meaning literally scorched face, from which comes the generic term Ethiopian
(Acts 8:27).
The warlike
nature of the Cushites or Ethiopians is alluded to in 2Kings 19:9, where King
Tirhakah of Ethiopia is seen hastening to attack Sennacherib’s army when
Jerusalem was under threat (see also Isa. 37:9; 2Chr. 12:3; 16:8). Perhaps they
were acting as mercenaries in the defence of Judah, or perhaps as allies
stemming from the early alliance that resulted from the Queen of Sheba’s visit
to Solomon from Yemen, when she had dominion over the lands on both sides of
the Red Sea.
The
Assyrians called the Cushites Kashshi or Kusu, while the Egyptian
inscriptions referred to them as Kesh.
The lands of
Kish or Khus were in fact in the Middle East near Assyria and not in Ethiopia
at all, and this has sometimes led to
confusion. The sons of Cush are divided into Northern and Southern Cushites,
and by the time of Josephus the Northern Cushites had gone so far to the east
they were in South, South-east, North-east and East Asia and Australia, and
some were in the Americas. The Southern Cushites developed the Haplogroup B by
mutation and do not possess the link of M168 P9, which is common to all other
sons of Noah except the other African group of Phut, which is Hg A. The basic C
(termed CR) is also there in North-east Africa.
In a book
called African Glory: The Story of Vanished Negro Civilizations, first
published in 1954, J.C. Degraft-Johnson gives the history of northern Africa
including Carthage, the Arab conquest, and the Moors, of whom she says: “The
Conquest of Spain was an African conquest. They were Mohammedan Africans, not
Arabs, who laid low the Gothic kingdom of Spain”.
Somewhat
surprisingly, perhaps, history in the form of myth highlights at least one
famous descendant of Cush. Under the title Mighty Memnon: The African
Presence in Greek and Roman Mythology, Runoko Rashidi gives a perspective
on one particular ‘mythical’ hero of Greece.
The fabled story of the ancient and stupendous African general and
warrior-king Memnon and his display of courage and prowess at the Greek siege
of Troy was one of the most widely circulated and celebrated epics in the
annals of Greek and Roman mythology. Memnon, described as "black as ebony,
and the handsomest man alive," is mentioned repeatedly in the works of
such early writers as Hesiod, Ovid, Pindar, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo and
Virgil.
Arctinus of Miletus composed an epic poem entitled Ethiopia in which
Memnon was the leading figure. Quintus of Smyrna credits Memnon with
"bringing the countless tribes of his people who live in Ethiopia, land of
the black man," to Troy in support of its war against the hostile
coalition of Greek city-states. It was written that: "Memnon came to help
them. Memnon was lord over the dark Ethiopians, and the host he brought
seemed infinite. The Trojans were delighted to see him in their city."
According to Homer, "To Troy no hero came of nobler line, Or if nobler,
Memnon, it was thine." In more recent times (late in the nineteenth
century), Dr. Rufus Lewis Perry pronounced that:
"The distinguished Cushite whom Homer calls Memnon came and went
like a meteor in the galaxy of illustrious Ethiopian monarchs. But the poet in
classic song and the historian in legendary tradition, have preserved enough of
his brightness to indicate his rank and power among the contemporary potentates
of the earth. He was king of the Ethiopians. He fought against the
Greeks in the Trojan war; and after he had slain Antilochus, son of Nestor, was
killed by Achilles."
Dr. Perry concluded that, "Through slain by Achilles, Memnon is so
embalmed in verse and prose by Homer, Hesiod, Virgil and others, that his name
will last as long as the writings of these imperishable authors."
SOURCES: The Cushite, by Rufus Lewis Perry; Ethiopia and
Ethiopians as Seen by Classical Writers, by William Leo Hansberry.
(retrieved from http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/runoko.html)
The time of
which we speak is the fall of Troy in 1054 BCE, but the Cushites had long been
in Africa at this time and were to split into diverse ethnic groups and two
distinct YDNA Haplogroups.
Location of the land of Cush
As noted in
the first paper in this series, the name Cush was almost certainly
applied to two distinct regions: one on the eastern side of the lower Tigris
river in Mesopotamia (later known as Khuzistan: Rawlinson); and a land
in East Africa more usually referred to as Ethiopia. It is the latter we are
concerned with here.
Ephorus, the
Greek historian, wrote in ca. 340 BCE that: “the Ethiopians were considered as
occupying all the south coasts of both Asia and Africa, divided by the Red Sea
into Eastern and Western Asiatic and African”.
Many authors
refer to the African Kush/Cush as being synonymous with northern Sudan (Nubia),
Upper Egypt and all the land south from the First Cataract of the Nile. Others
claim that Cushites may also be found in the Horn of Africa, as well as among
the Somali, Afar and Oromo peoples. In Chronicles 21:16, the Ethiopians are
simply said to be located near the Arabians.
On his
website, the pan-Africanist historian and lecturer Runoko Rashidi gives some
idea of the extent of the Ethiopian or Cushite civilisations.
The classical home of the ancient Ethiopians was the Eastern Sudan,
although Homer and Herodotus mentioned other Ethiopians dwelling in Egypt,
Arabia, Palestine, Western Asia and India.
To cite Lady Lugard: "The fame of the ancient Ethiopians was
widespread in ancient history. History describes them as the tallest, most
beautiful and long-lived of the human races, and before Herodotus, Homer, in
even more flattering language, described them as the most just of men, the favorites
of the gods. The annals of all the great early nations of Asia Minor are full
of them. The Mosaic records allude to them frequently; but while they are
described as the most powerful, the most just, and the most beautiful of the
human race, they are constantly spoken of as Black, and there seems to be no
other conclusion to be drawn than that at that remote period of history, the
leading race of the Western World was a Black race."
The ancient Kushite or Ethiopian culture may be called the Archaic Civilization.
Even before the rise of the culture of Egypt, there was the great Kushite, or
Ethiopian civilization, which was widespread in both Africa and Asia. One of
the greatest African Ethiopian temples was located at Abu Simbel, or Ipsambul,
in Nubia. When an English traveler named Wilson visited this temple, he saw
sculptured on its walls the story of the Fall of Man as told in Genesis. Adam
and Eve were shown in the Garden of Eden as well as the tempting serpent and
the fatal tree. Commenting on this fact, Godfrey Higgins asked: "How is
the fact of the mythos of the second book of Genesis being found in Nubia,
probably a thousand miles above Heliopolis, to be accounted for?" Higgins
then added that: "The same mythos is found in India." …
The ancient peoples of India were Asiatic Ethiopians and it should not
surprise us that they shared common traditions with their brothers in Africa.
SOURCE: African Presence in Early Asia, edited by Runoko Rashidi
and Ivan Van Sertima; REFERENCES: Analcalypsis, by Godfrey Higgins; A
Tropical Dependency, by Lady Lugard.
(retrieved from http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/runoko.html)
Syrian
writers of the 5th century CE spoke of the Himyarites in southern
Arabia as being both Cusheans and Ethiopians. Several later authors (e.g.
Johann Michaelis and Rosemuller) applied the name Cush to both sides of the Red
Sea, i.e. Arabia and Africa. This basically coincides with the ancient Kingdom
of Aksum, which occupied much of modern-day Eritrea, north-eastern Sudan and
Yemen.
Aksum
The
following extract is from the Wikipedia article on the origins of the
important Cushite Kingdom of Aksum. We see that there is still dispute as to
whether the Sabaean descendants of Sheba/Seba are from the Semitic or the
Hamitic line, or both. The YDNA is the only way of determining their origins.
Aksum was previously thought to have been founded by Semitic-speaking Sabaeans who crossed the Red Sea from South Arabia (modern Yemen) … but most scholars now agree that
it was an indigenous development.
Scholars like Stuart Munro-Hay point to the existence of an older D’mt or Da'amot kingdom,
prior to any Sabaean migration ca. 4th or 5th c. BC, as well as to evidence of
Sabaean immigrants having resided in Ethiopia for little more than a few
decades. Furthermore, Ge'ez,
the ancient Semitic language of Ethiopia, is now known to not have derived from
Sabaean, and there is
evidence of a Semitic speaking presence in Ethiopia and Eritrea at least as
early as 2000 BC.
Sabaean influence is now thought to have been minor, limited to a few
localities, and disappearing after a few decades or a century, perhaps
representing a trading or military colony in some sort of symbiosis or military
alliance with the Ethiopian civilization of D`mt
or some proto-Aksumite state. Adding more to the confusion, there existed an
Ethiopian city called Saba
in the ancient period that does not seem to have been a Sabaean settlement.
The Aksumite people represented a mix of Cushitic and Semitic speaking people in Ethiopia's
Aksum proper.
Aksum traded with India
and Rome (later Byzantium), exporting ivory, tortoise shell, gold and emeralds,
and importing silk and spices. Aksum's access to both the Red Sea
and the Upper Nile enabled its strong navy to profit in trade between various
African (Nubia), Arabian (Yemen), and Indian states.
In the 3rd century AD, Aksum
acquired tributary states on the Arabian Peninsula across the Red Sea, and by
350, they conquered the Kingdom of
Kush.
Aksum remained a strong empire and trading power until the rise of Islam in the seventh century. However,
because the Axumites had sheltered Muhammad's
first followers, the Muslims never attempted to overthrow Aksum as they spread
across the face of Africa.
For the relationship of Aksum and Sheba refer to the papers on the Sons
of Shem (No. 212A-G) dealing with Sheba and the Sons of Keturah.
An
interesting tradition of a slave rising to prominence in the Aksumite court is
also related in the Wikipedia article (cf. the paper Slavery (No. 148)).
A story recorded by Rufinus has it that at that time, a foreign boy
named Frumentius was made a
slave of the royal court, and later a tutor to the royal children. When the
king died, the queen asked Frumentius to help rule Axum. He had declined
promised freedom and remained until the queen's son, Ezana, was old enough to
rule. Frumentius established a number of Christian churches, and when Ezana
became king he made Christianity
the official religion of Aksum [Ecclesiastical
History]. This custom of a slave who teaches kings
remained an important tradition for the next few hundred years.
It was a cosmopolitan
and culturally important state. It was a meeting place for a variety of
cultures: Egyptian, Sudanic, Arabic,
and Indian. The major Aksumite cities had Sabean, Jewish,
Nubian, Christian, and even Buddhist minorities. … Aksum began to
decline in the 7th century, and the population was forced to go farther inland
to the highlands, eventually being defeated c. 950.
(Retrieved from
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Aksum")
Aksum was in fact originally part of the Sabaean kingdom ruled from the
Yemen.
Nubia
The Kingdom
of Nubia also had significant connections with Cush. It was located in what is
today southern Egypt and northern Sudan, and hence lies directly north of
Aksum. The Wikipedia article on Nubia gives an overview.
In 2300 BC, Nubia [dating from the Manetho based chronology] was first
mentioned in Old Kingdom Egyptian accounts
of trade missions. From Aswan,
right above the First Cataract, southern limit of Egyptian control at the time,
Egyptians imported gold, incense, ebony,
ivory, and exotic animals from tropical Africa through Nubia. As trade between
Egypt and Nubia increased so did wealth and stability. By the Egyptian 6th
dynasty, Nubia was divided into a series of small kingdoms. …
When the Egyptians pulled out, they left a lasting legacy that was
merged with indigenous customs forming the kingdom of Kush. Kush adopted many Egyptian practices
such as their religion and the practice of building pyramids. The kingdom of Kush survived
longer than that of Egypt, even invading and controlling Egypt itself for a
period (the Kushite
dynasty) in the 8th century BC. Kush was never annexed by the Romans. The Kushites did trade with the
Romans, and were also a source of mercenaries.
During this time, the different parts of the region divided into smaller
groups with individual leaders, or generals, each commanding small armies of
mercenaries. They fought for control of what is now Nubia and its surrounding
territories, leaving the entire region weak and vulnerable to attack.
At some point, Kush was conquered by the Noba
people, from which the name Nubia may derive (another possibility is
that it comes from Nub, the Egyptian word for gold). From then on, the Romans
referred to the area as the Nobatae.
Indeed, recent studies in population genetics suggest that there was a
south-north gene flow through the Nile Valley. [Fox, C.L.,
'mtDNA analysis in ancient Nubians supports the existence of gene flow between
sub-Sahara and North Africa in the Nile Valley', in Annals of Human Biology,
24, 3, 217–22.]
Similarly, linguistic evidence suggests that the Nubians from the Nile
Valley originally came from the south or southwest. Historical comparative
research into the Nubian
language group has indicated that the Nile-Nubian languages must have split off
from the Nubian languages still spoken in the Nuba Mountains in
Kordofan, Sudan, at least 2500 years ago.
Thus the
flow was into the Sudan and South and West into sub-Saharan Africa, and not as
supposed. That accords with the Bible record.
In Esther
1:1 and 8:9, Ethiopia (or Cush) is seen as one of the 127 provinces of the
Persian Empire, ruled at the time by Ahasuerus (Xerxes). This empire thereby
encompassed Hamitic peoples as far apart as India and Africa, “the two extreme
boundaries of the known world“ (Bullinger). One of the satrapies near the Indus
Valley was called Aethiopes, mirroring the African province of Aethiopia.
The name is
thus applied to what was by now two separate civilisations. When we examine the
YDNA of the Southern Indians and the Cushites we find a composite group that
relates to the Australian Aboriginals of both Hamitic and Japhethitic or Aryan
groups. They seem to have developed from the CxC1 basic Hamitic in India and
from the RxR1 basic Aryans that moved into India before the later Aryan
invasion. From the CxC1 basic we find the Asians develop into the following:
C* This basic or original Haplogroup not belonging to any of the
sub-groups has been found all along the Southern Coast of Asia from India to
Vietnam, into China in Yunan Province, and on through the Philippines,
Indonesia and Micronesia. The chromosomes have been detected, but in even lower
frequencies, in coastal New Guinea and island Melanesia. This is considered to
suggest that in Oceania the C* are associated with Austronesia despite the fact
that C4 is the predominant Haplogroup of Australian Aborigines. Several at
extremely low frequencies have been found among the Turkic people of Central
Asia. One Hg C (RPS4Y) has been found in a Lebanese man on a sample size of 31 (thus 3.2%). It is not clear if it
really was C basic, hence an Asian origin, or if it was C3 from a Turko-Mongol
invader.
C1 (M8,
M105, M131), limited to a low frequency in the Japanese Archipelago.
C2 (M38),
which is typical of Polynesia and some Melanesians.
C2a (P33)
C2b (M208)
C3 (M217,
P44) is typical of Mongols, Khazaks, and the people of the Russian Far-East and
including Manchurians and Koreans.
C3*
C3a (M93)
observed sporadically among Japanese.
C3b (P39) typical
of the Na Dene or Chippewa people of North America.
C3c (M48,
M77, M86) Northern Tungistic and Outer Mongolian people and with a moderate
distribution in Southern Tungustics and Inner Mongolians and some Turkic
people.
C3d (M407)
sporadic among the Yakuts and Han Chinese.
C4 (M347)
Aboriginal Australians.
C4*
C4a (DYS
390.I del)
C4b (M210)
C5 (M356)
low frequency distribution in South-East Asia
The
distribution of Haplogroup D is quite distinct from C in Asia and is found
among the Negritos in the Andaman Islands, the Tibetans and the Japanese.
Haplogroup D is actually a division from the YAP divide at M145 and M213. It is
actually an offshoot of the original YDNA of the Egyptians and the Canaanites.
The Ainu of
Japan and the Tarawa and Onge of the Andamans possess it almost exclusively
while the Ainu, like the Japanese, generally have a 10% distribution of Hg C.
D is found
at moderate to low frequencies among the people of Central and North-east Asia
as well as the Han and Miao-Yao peoples of China and among the several minority
groups of Yunnan that speak Tibeto-Burman.
Hg D has developed into exclusive sub-clades among the populations in
which it is distributed. The sub-groups of D (M174) has
D* in some
Chinese.
D1 (M15) is
typical of Tibetans.
D2 (M55,
M57, M64.1, M179, P12, P37.1, P41.1 (M359.1), 12f2.2) is typical of the Ainu,
Ryukyans and Japanese
D2*
D2a (M116.1)
D2a*
D2a1 (M125)
D2a1*
D2a1a
(P42)
D2a1b
(P53.2)
D2a2 (M151).
D3 (P47) is found at moderately high levels in southern central Asia.
(cf. Haplogroup
C (YDNA) and Haplogroup D YDNA article Wikipedia).
We will
discuss these distributions in the DNA charts in the Appendix. The D YDNA
groups appear to be related to the Ancient Egyptians and Canaanites in the original
links but developed from an early division that went into Asia.
Either that
or the YAP-divide mutation of M145 and M213 was developed in the sons of Cush
also, and was isolated to the specific groups by their mtDNA-induced mutations
from the women that were associated with them.
Sons of Cush
Reference is
made to six sons of Cush, including the infamous Nimrod, in Genesis 10 and
1Chronicles 1. Each will be discussed in order of seniority.
1Chronicles 1:9-10 The sons of Cush: Seba, Hav'ilah, Sabta, Ra'ama, and
Sab'teca. The sons of Ra'amah: Sheba and Dedan. 10 Cush was the
father of Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in the earth. (RSV)
Seba
The name Seba
(SHD 5434) is a word of foreign origin that may mean drink thou! (BDB).
However, there has often been confusion between him and the similar Sheba,
who was a grandson of Cush. The author of a Wikipedia article
entitled ‘Sons of Ham’ supports the biblical separation of the two when stating
that:
The Shibboleth-like division
amongst the Sabaeans into Sheba and Seba is acknowledged
elsewhere, for example in Psalm
72, leading scholars to suspect that this is not a mistaken duplication of the
same name, but a genuine historical division. The significance of this division
is not yet completely understood, though it may simply reflect which side of
the sea each was on.
The International
Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) provides details as
to the possible location of the lands occupied by the tribe descended from
Seba.
Their country is regarded as being, most likely, the district of Saba,
North of Adulis, on the west coast of the Red Sea. There is just a possibility
that the Sabi River, stretching from the coast to the Zambesi and the Limpopo,
which was utilized as a waterway by the states in that region, though, through
silting, not suitable now, may contain a trace of the name, and perhaps
testifies to still more southern extensions of the power and influence of the
Sebaim. … The ruins of this tract are regarded as being the work of others than
the black natives of the country. Dillmann, however, suggests (on Ge 10:7) that the people of Seba were another
branch of the Cushites East of Napatha by the Arabian Sea, of which Strabo
(xvi. 4, 8, 10) and Ptolemy (iv.7, 7 f) give information.
The
notations on the Semitic Seba are contained in the papers on the Sons of
Shem (No. 212 A-G). The Cushite Sheba is commemorated in the Indian god
Shiva, as are Rama and the others in the Ramayana (the spread is discussed in
the work Mysticism Chapter
1 Spreading the Babylonian Mysteries (No. B7_1)).
Havilah
Havilah is
the name given not only to the second of Cush’s sons, but also to a son of
Joktan, the descendant of Shem (Gen. 10:29; 1Chr. 1:23), once again blurring
the distinction between the Hamitic and Semitic lines.
The location
of the “land of Havilah” (Gen. 2:11), which appears to have been named
retrospectively after one of these patriarchs, cannot be determined with any
degree of certainty (Gesenius places it in the Indus Valley). The name Havilah
or Chaviylah (SHD 2341) means circle or circular, and
is rendered Heuila in the LXX. The ISBE provides a few additional
details.
The mention of a Cushite Havilah is explained by the fact that the
Arabian tribes at an early time migrated to the coast of Africa. The context of
Ge 10:7
thus favors situation on the Ethiopian shore, and the name is perhaps preserved
in the kolpos Aualites and in the tribe Abalitai on the South side of the
straits of Babel-Mandeb. Or possibly a trace of the name appears in the
classical Aualis, now Zeila‘ in Somaliland. But its occurrence among the
Yoktanite Arabs (Ge 10:29)
suggests a location in Arabia.
South Arabian inscriptions mention a district of Khaulan (Chaulan), and
a place of this name is found both in Tihama and Southeast of San‘a’. Again
Strabo’s Chaulotaioi and Chuwaila in Bahrein point to a district on the Arabian
shore of the Persian Gulf. No exact identification has yet been made.
We can see
that the Joktan Hebrews are mistaken for Arabs here. The Arabs are derived from
the sons of Keturah, and the Joktan Hebrews are from an earlier patriarch. The
admixture cannot be discounted as there are many Haplogroup I people in the
area; these could be either Hebrew or Abrahamic, as the Hg J split from I with
common S2 and S22 markers in both groups.
Brown-Driver-Briggs
(BDB) suggest that Havilah is: “a district in Arabia of the Ishmaelites named
from the 2nd son of Cush; probably the district of Kualan, in the northwestern
part of Yemen”.
It is beyond
dispute that the Semites and Cushites and Japhethites all moved into India and
also occupied the North-west and North-east areas
of Africa.
Sabta
Sabta was
the third son of the patriarch Cush; his name means striking (SHD 5454).
It has been suggested that this tribe is connected with the Hadhramis or
Hadramaut in eastern Yemen, whose capital was the ancient Shabwat (now Sabota).
The ISBE has the following entry regarding the location of Sabta or
Sabtah:
A place Sabta is probably to be looked for in South Arabia. Arab
geographers give no exact equivalent of the name. Al Bekri (i.65) quotes a line
of early poetry in which Dhu ‘l Sabta is mentioned, and the context might
indicate a situation in Yemamah; but the word is possibly not a proper name. It
is usually identified with Saubatha (Ptol., vi.7, 38) or with the Sabota of
Pliny (vi.32; xii.32), an old mercantile city in South Arabia celebrated for
its trade in frankincense and, according to Ptolemy, possessing 60 temples. It
is said also to have been the territory of a king Elisarus, whose name presents
a striking resemblance to Dhu ‘l-Adhar, one of the "Tubbas" or
Himyarite kings of Yemen. Another conjecture is the Saphtha of Ptolemy (vi.7,
30) near the Arabian shore of the Persian Gulf.
Raama
Cush’s
fourth son was Raama(h), who was the father of S(h)eba and Dedan (1Chr. 1:9).
The RSV uses both spellings in the same verse for Raama(h), whose name means horse’s
mane (SHD 7484); in the LXX it is given as Regma, which also happens
to be the capital city of a people known as the Rhammanitae in southern Oman.
The ISBE gives a brief description of Raama.
In Ezekiel’s lament over Tyre (Eze 27:22)
the tribe of Raamah is mentioned along with Sheba as a mercantile people who
provided the inhabitants of Tyre with spices, precious stones and gold. It has
generally been identified with Regina, mentioned by Ptolemy and Steph. Byzantr.
as a city in Southeastern Arabia on the shores of the Persian Gulf. The
Septuagint (Rhegma) itself supposes this site. But the Arabic name of the city
here indicated is spelled with a "g" and so gives rise to a
phonological difficulty. A more probable identification has been found in the
Sabean ra‘mah in Southwestern Arabia near Me‘in in the north of Marib. Me‘in
was the capital of the old Minaean kingdom.
Easton’s
Bible Dictionary puts the descendants of Raamah in Yemen rather than
neighbouring Oman.
The country Raamah is described … as a country of the Arabian Peninsula, and Sheba, a son of Raamah and his country,
its countrymen commonly being referred to as the Sabeans, was posited on the southwestern
side of the Peninsula and cited as Yemen.
Notably, the Yemenites are dark-skinned as are the descendents of
their progenitor's eponymous grandfather, Cush, commonly translated in the
Bible as Ethiopia, meaning dark. (emphasis added)
Sheba and
Dedan
Confusion
has also arisen over these particular names. Sheba and Dedan are the two sons
of Raamah (Gen.10:7), as well as being two sons of Jokshan, the son of Abraham
by Keturah (Gen. 25:3). Yet another Sheba was a son of Joktan and thus a
descendant of Shem (Gen. 10:28). Sheba means both seven and an
oath (SHD 7614); Dedan or dedaneh (SHD 1719) means low
country.
The ISBE gives
further explanation in its article on Sabaeans, but is unable to satisfactorily
distinguish between these various tribes with exactly the same name.
From the above statements it would appear that Sheba was the name of an
Arab tribe, and consequently of Semitic descent. The fact that Sheba and Dedan
are represented as Cushite (Ge 10:7)
would point to a migration of part of these tribes to Ethiopia, and similarly
their derivation from Abraham (Ge 25:3)
would indicate that some families were located in Syria.
In point of fact Sheba was a South-Arabian or Joktanite tribe (Ge 10:28),
and his own name and that of some of his brothers (e.g. Hazarmaveth =
Hadhramaut) are place-names in Southern Arabia.
The Sabeans or people of Saba or Sheba, are referred to as traders in
gold and spices, and as inhabiting a country remote from Palestine (1Ki 10:1
f; Isa 60:6;
Jer 6:20;
Eze 27:22;
Ps 72:15;
Mt 12:42),
also as slave-traders (Joe 3:8),
or even desert-rangers (Job 1:15;
6:19;
compare CIS 84 3).
Under the
sub-heading ‘Civilization’ in the same article, the ISBE makes some
interesting comments on the status of women in Sheba and their famous queen
(see the paper Rule of the
Kings Part III: Solomon and the Key of David (No. 282C)).
The high position occupied by women among the Sabeans is reflected in
the story of the Queen of Sheba and Solomon. In almost all respects women
appear to have been considered the equal of men, and to have discharged the
same civil, religious and even military functions. Polygamy does not seem to
have been practiced. The Sabean inscriptions do not go back far enough to throw
any light upon the queen who was contemporary with Solomon, and the Arabic
identification of her with Bilqis is merely due to the latter being the only
Sabean queen known to them. Bilqis must have lived several centuries later than
the Hebrew monarch.
Along with
Cush and Egypt, it is noted from Isaiah 43:3 and 45:14 that Sheba/Seba is to be
“ransomed” in the future, representing the coming salvation of the Gentiles
(see the paper The
Witnesses (No. 135)). Bullinger’s note to Isaiah 43:3 says of the three
nations mentioned that: “These were given to Persia as ransom-money (as it
were) for the release of Israel by Persia through the successors of Cyrus. … In
the time of Isaiah these three were united under one dynasty” (Comp. Bible).
Regarding
Dedan, the ISBE has the following entry:
An Arabian people named in Ge 10:7
as descended from Cush; in Ge 25:3
as descended from Keturah. Evidently, they were, like the related Sheba
(Sabaeans), of mixed race (compare Ge 10:7,28).
In Isa 21:13
allusion is made to the "caravans of Dedanites" in the wilds of
Arabia, and Eze mentions them as supplying Tyre with precious things (Eze 27:20;
in verse 15, "Dedan" should probably be read as in Septuagint,
"Rodan," i.e. Rhodians). The name seems still to linger in the island
of Dadan, on the border of the Persian Gulf. It is found also in Min[aean] and
Sab[atean] inscriptions (Glazer, II, 392 ff).
The name Sheba
is also to be found in that of the Hindu god Shiva (see the paper Mysticism Chapter 6 Origins of
the Indian Religious Systems (No. B7_6)).
The composite structure of the groups in the three
areas of Africa, Arabia and the Indus is also indicated by the composite YDNA
found there of Semtic, Hamitic and Japhethitic lineages.
Sabteca
Sabteca or
Sabtecha, whose name also means striking (SHD 5455), was the fifth son
of Cush. As with the other tribes in this group, the location of the peoples
descended from him is vague. One suggestion is that they may be identified with
the “Sabaiticum Ostium, Sabaeans living around a specific harbour in Eritrea” (Wikipedia).
The ISBE, however, places them in the Arabian Peninsula rather than
Africa.
Many conjectures have been made as to the place here indicated. Recently
Glazer (Skizze, II, 252) has revived the suggestion of Bochart that it
is to be identified with Samydake in Carmania on the East of the Persian Gulf.
This seems to rest on nothing more than superficial resemblance of the names;
but the phonetic changes involved are difficult. Others have thought of various
places in Arabia, toward the Persian Gulf; but the data necessary for any
satisfactory decision are not now available. (ISBE)
The identification will need to take into account the known Cushite DNA.
Nimrod
Nimrod is
listed separately from his brothers as sons of Cush (Gen. 10:8-10; 1Chr. 1:10).
The name Nimrod (SHD 5248) or Nebrod (LXX) means rebellion or
the valiant (BDB).
Genesis 10:8-12 Cush became
the father of Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. 9
He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod
a mighty hunter before the LORD." 10 The beginning of his
kingdom was Ba'bel, Erech, and Accad, all of them in the land of Shinar. 11
From that land he went into Assyria, and built Nin'eveh, Reho'both-Ir,
Calah, and 12 Resen between Nin'eveh and Calah; that is the great
city. (RSV)
The Book
of Jasher gives a possible explanation for the separate reference to
Nimrod: that he was the favoured son of Ham’s old age (cf. Abraham’s son
Isaac).
And Cush the son of Ham, the son of Noah, took a wife in those days in
his old age, and she bare a son, and they called his name Nimrod, saying, At
that time the sons of men again began to rebel and transgress against God, and
the child grew up, and his father loved him exceedingly, for he was the son of
his old age. (Ch. 7, 23)
In Legend:
The Genesis of Civilisation, David Rohl equates the Sumerian king Enmerkar
with the biblical Nimrod.
Let us look at the name Enmerkar. In most of the Sumerian literature
Enmerkar’s name is written En-me-kar.
In slightly later texts we find En-me-er-kar. This is consistent with the
development of the written Sumerian language where the more explicit
orthography of the later texts painstakingly includes all the amissable
consonants of a name which would not have been expressed in the older texts. … one copy of the Sumerian King
List, found at Nippur and published by Arno Poebel in 1914, gives
En-me-er-ru-kar. We might, therefore, justifiably vocalise the name as
Enmerukar.
Next we come to a crucial point. The four syllables En-me-ru-kar can be
understood as a name plus an epithet -- once realised that kar is the
Sumerian word for ‘hunter’ (Akk. habilu). Thus we have King ‘En-me-ru, the hunter’.
Nimrod was closely associated with Erech -- the biblical name for Uruk
-- where Enmerkar ruled [cf. Gen. 10:8-10]. Enmerkar built a great sacred
precinct at Uruk and constructed a temple at Eridu -- that much we know from
the epic poem ‘Enmerkar and the Lord of
Aratta’. The Sumerian King List adds
that Enmerkar was ‘the one who built Uruk’. Nimrod was also a great builder, constructing the
cities of Uruk, Akkad and Babel. Both Nimrod and Enmerkar were renowned for
their huntsmanship. Nimrod, as the grandson of Ham, belongs to the second ‘generation’ after the flood … and
this is also true of Enmerkar who is recorded in the Sumerian King List as the
second ruler of Uruk after the flood (Ubartutu -- (Utnapishtim) -- Flood --
Meskiagkasher -- Enmerkar). Both ruled over their empires in the land of
Shinar/Sumer. …
The first ruler of Uruk following the flood is called Meskiagkasher
in the Sumerian King List. You will immediately see the name Cush or Kush here,
embedded in the longer Sumerian name. (Arrow Books Ltd, London, 1999, pp.
205-210)
Thus Nimrod
or Enmerkar was probably the ruler of Uruk/Erech who succeeded his father, Cush
or Meskiagkasher. In the epic literature of Mesopotamia, Nimrod is variously
referred to as Enmerkar, Ninurta and Ninus, while in Phoenicia, Aram and Egypt
he was known as Reshep or Reshpu, and to the Greeks, Orion, the mighty
hunter.
The ISBE,
in its article on Nimrod, states that he was initially seen as a benefactor to
the people of the land.
In the primitive days of Mesopotamia, as also in Palestine, wild animals
were so numerous that they became a menace to life and property (Ex 23:29;
Le 26:22);
therefore the king as benefactor and protector of his people hunted these wild
beasts. The early conquest of the cities of Babylonia, or their federation into
one great kingdom, is here ascribed to Nimrod.
However, as
a type of Satan, who was also supposed to assist the human race, Nimrod’s pride
rose along with his authority and accomplishments. Eventually, in an exact
parallel with Satan, he rebelled against God Most High; this had similar
far-reaching and often fatal consequences for humanity. Josephus states simply
that:
… Nimrod, the son of Chus, stayed and tyrannized at Babylon, as we have
already informed you (A.J., Bk. I, vi, 2).
The term
here stayed and tyrannised at Babylon indicates that the others did not;
and, indeed, the Cushites were the most nomadic and the most widespread
hunter-gatherers. It is an absolute fact that the tomb of King Tutankhamen of
Egypt contained boomerangs that would be recognised and used by any Australian
Aboriginal in its specific hunting context, as they would be by the Dravidians
of India, and there are clear links in the hunting systems of each. Yet the
Aborigines were not builders, while the Egyptians were.
As we saw
above, the Japanese and Tibetans are also derived from the origins of the
Haplogroup C as Haplogroup D, as is Haplogroup E around the Mediterranean. It
is in dispute as to whether the entire groups moved by sea to Japan and from
there to Asia and Tibet or whether they moved overland. It appears that they
may have done both, along with the Hg C people. As they are of the
Uralic-Altaic language groups it is likely that they moved into India and the Russian
Steppes from Afghanistan and spread east from there. The remaining puzzle is
just how the Australians got into Australia, either from India or by island
hopping. It may have been both, as the RxR1 basic is common among the
Dravidians while the C basic is not as common, and the Australian Aboriginal C4
is found only in Australia. The Hg F found here seems to actually be a Semitic
I1a1 as the F was not tested thoroughly. However, it is thought to be a
European admixture from British occupation.
The Tower of Babel
From Genesis 10:10-11 we see that Nimrod built four
cities in the land of Shinar or Sumer, and then went into the land occupied by
Asshur, son of Shem, to build Nineveh and three other major cities. Nimrod
could perhaps be viewed as the originator of the city-state.
We note from Genesis 4:17 that Cain, son of Adam, was
probably the first builder of a city, for his son Hanoch (Enoch: KJV &
RSV). It would appear that congregating together in cities is not what God had
intended for mankind (cf. Gen. 11:9); but the rebellious ones from Cain onwards
appear to have thought otherwise and thus wilfully disobeyed God.
The ISBE
mentions the differing opinions regarding Nimrod’s involvement with the
building of these cities.
Whether the founding and colonization of Assyria (Ge 10:11)
are to be ascribed to Nimrod will be determined by the exegesis of the text.
English Versions of the Bible read: "Out of that land he (i.e. Nimrod)
went forth into Assyria, and builded Nineveh," etc., this translation
assigning the rise of Assyria to Nimrod, and apparently being sustained by Mic 5:5,6
(compare J. M. P. Smith, "Micah," ICC, in the place cited.); but
American Revised Version, margin renders: "Out of that land went forth
Asshur, and builded Nineveh," which translation is more accurate
exegetically and not in conflict with Mic 5:6,
if in the latter "land of Nimrod" be understood, not as parallel
with, but as supplemental to, Assyria, and therefore as Babylon (compare
commentaries of Cheyne, Pusey, S. Clark, in the place cited.).
The text
concerning the ambitious construction of a tower designed to reach to the
heavens is given in Genesis 11.
Genesis 11:2-4 And as men
migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled
there. 3 And they said to one another, "Come, let us make
bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and
bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build
ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a
name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole
earth." (RSV)
In Antiquities
of the Jews, Josephus expands upon the biblical account of Nimrod’s
rebellion and his construction of the Tower of Babel.
CONCERNING THE TOWER OF BABYLON, AND THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES.
2. Now it was Nimrod who excited them to such an affront and contempt of
God. He was the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah, a bold man, and of great
strength of hand. He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God, as if it was
through his means they were happy, but to believe that it was their own
courage, which procured that happiness. He also gradually changed the
government into tyranny, seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of
God, but to bring them into a constant dependence on his power. He also said he
would be revenged on God, if he should have a mind to drown the world again;
for that he would build a tower too high for the waters to be able to reach and
that he would avenge himself on God for destroying their forefathers.
3. Now the multitude were very ready to follow the determination of
Nimrod, and to esteem it a piece of cowardice to submit to God; and they built
a tower, neither sparing any pains, nor being in any degree negligent about the
work: and, by reason of the multitude of hands employed in it, it grew very
high, sooner than any one could expect; but the thickness of it was so great,
and it was so strongly built, that thereby its great height seemed, upon the
view, to be less than it really was. It was built of burnt brick, cemented
together with mortar, made of bitumen, that it might not be liable to admit
water.
When God saw that they acted so madly, he did not resolve to destroy
them utterly, since they were not grown wiser by the destruction of the former
sinners; but he caused a tumult among them, by producing in them divers
languages, and causing that, through the multitude of those languages, they
should not be able to understand one another.
The place wherein they built the tower is now called Babylon, because
of the confusion of that language which they readily understood before; for the
Hebrews mean by the word Babel, confusion. The Sibyl also makes mention
of this tower, and of the confusion of the language, when she says thus:
"When all men were of one language, some of them built a high tower, as if
they would thereby ascend up to heaven, but the gods sent storms of wind and
overthrew the tower, and gave every one his peculiar language; and for this
reason it was that the city was called Babylon." (Bk. I, iv)
A fragment
of the Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta Epic is held by the Ashmolean
Museum in Oxford, England. It restates the biblical account of the confusing of
the single universal language.
“Then Enki, lord of abundance, whose commands are trustworthy, the lord
of wisdom who understands the land, the leader of the gods endowed with wisdom,
the lord of Eridu, changed the speech in their mouths, bringing contention into
the speech of Man which until then had been one.”
The subject
of the confusion of languages is addressed briefly in the paper Sons of Ham: Part I (No. 45A) under the heading ‘Language Clues’.
Cushitic languages
The
following is from the Wikipedia article on the various Cushitic
languages, which make up a small portion of all those on the continent of
Africa.
The East Cushitic languages comprise more than thirty languages
belonging to the Cushitic
family within the Afro-Asiatic
phylum. East Cushitic languages are spoken mainly in Ethiopia but also in Somalia, Kenya
and Djibouti.
The most prominent East Cushitic language is Oromo, with about 21
million speakers. Other prominent languages include Somali (in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Djibouti) with about 15 million speakers, Sidamo (in Ethiopia) with about 2 million speakers,
and Afar (in Eritrea and Djibouti) with about 1.5 million.
In the internal classification of East Cushitic, the most common major
division is between Highland East Cushitic and Lowland East Cushitic. Western
Omo-Tana is a distinct branch, as are the two branches represented by Yaaku
(extinct) and Boon (endangered).
Eastern Cushitic languages
·
Highland East
Cushitic: Alaba
(or Alaaba); Burji;
Gedeo;
Hadiyya (or Hadiya); Kambaata; Libido; Sidamo;
·
Lowland East
Cushitic: Rendille-Boni (Rendille
and Boni);
Somali
languages (Somali
and Af-Maay); Saho-Afar
languages (Saho
and Afar); Konso-Gidole (Konso or Komso; and Dirasha
or Gidole, Kidole, Diraytata); Oromo;
Dullay (Bussa (endangered);
Gawwada; Tsamai);
·
Western Omo-Tana: (Arbore;
Baiso; Daasanach; El Molo/Elmolo (extinct; all speakers have shifted to
Elmolo-Samburu));
·
Yaaku (moribund; all
speakers have shifted to Mukogodo-Maasai, only three fluent speakers left);
·
Boon (endangered, possibly extinct).
Central Custhitic languages (after
Appleyard)
·
Southern: Awngi - spoken southwest
of Lake Tana, much the
largest, with over 350,000 speakers; Kunfal
- (poorly recorded), spoken west of Lake Tana;
·
Northern Agaw:
·
North-Central;
·
Northern: Blin - spoken in Eritrea around the town of Keren (70,000 speakers);
·
Central: Xamtanga (also called
Khamir, Khamta) - 143,000 speakers in the North Amhara Region.
Western Cushitic languages
·
Qemant
- nearly extinct, spoken by the Qemant
in the Qwara region; Qwara - nearly extinct,
spoken by Beta Israel formerly of
the Qwara region, now in Israel;
Transitional between Western and Central?: Kayla - extinct, formerly
spoken by some Beta Israel.
The Western
African languages of the Haplogroup B tribes are also derived from the main
stem, which is the Southern Cushites.
The Asian
Cushites are involved basically in the Uralic-Altaic language groups, which are
comprised of both Hamite and Japhethite tribes from Japan to Finland and
Hungary and south to Turkey.
The early
Sumerians also extended into the Indus basin at Harappa and Mohenjo Daro and
were mixed but of the same culture as the Ancient Sumerians and Assyrians (see Mysticism Chapter 1 Spreading the
Babylonian Mysteries (No. B7_1)).
The
Australian languages were of eight distinct groups that entered Australia as
eight ethno-linguistic waves, and probably derived from the nomadic composites
of the Cushite and proto-Aryans. They were the earliest of the nomads, and
entered North America ahead of all others there as well. The K basic groups
entered Asia and Australasia ahead of the Cushite C2 Maori.
The Cushite diaspora
In his History
of the Negro Race in America From 1619 to 1880, the American author George
Washington Williams wrote:
Now, these substantial and indisputable traces of the march of the Negro
races through Japan and Asia lead us to conclude that the Negro race antedates
all profane history … And while the great body of the Negro races have been
located geographically in Africa, they have been, in no small sense, a cosmopolitan
people. Their wanderings may be traced from the rising to the setting sun.
Monuments and temples, sepulchred stones and pyramids, rise up to
declare the antiquity of the Negro races … the Negro type of man was the most
ancient, and the indigenous race of Asia, as far north as the lower range of
the Himalaya Mountains, and presents at length many curious facts which cannot
... be otherwise explained.
Traces of this black race are still found along the Himalaya range from
the Indus to Indo-China, and the Malay peninsula, and in a mixed form all
through the southern states to Ceylon. (G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1883, pp.
18-19)
What he
could not realise is that the YDNA Haplogroups show that they were not the
original settlers of North America, as C3, because the vast majority of
Amerindians are later Q and Q3 Japhethites, and the C3 are mixed with them from
Alaska through the Chippewa to the Cheyenne, Apache and Maya C3; but they are
not the majority. Hg Q Amerindians are more closely related to Celts and Slavs
than they are to the Apache or the Cheyenne.
In The
Histories, Herodotus claimed that the Colchians of the Caucasus Mountains
were of Egyptian descent (Bk. II, 104), although they are described as
of typically Negroid appearance.
Much has
been made of this African Genesis by black Muslims. Some seek to use the
African Genesis theory of Evolutionists to promote their own agendas. Runoko
Rashidi adds:
We now know that modern humanity originated in
Africa, and that all modern humans can ultimately trace their ancestral roots
back to the African continent. Herodotus, the European father of history,
regarded Colchis, a land located along the western slope of the Caucasus
Mountains near the Black Sea, as an African colony.
He not only pointed to the Colchians' black skin and woolly hair, but
also to their oral traditions, language, methods of weaving, and practice of
circumcision. Saint Jerome, writing during the fourth century, called Colchis
the "Second Ethiopia."
Two hundred years later, Sophronius, patriarch of Jerusalem, described
an "Ethiopian" presence in the same region. Even today, in the same
district about which Herodotus wrote, lives a numerically minute black-skinned,
woolly-haired community.
The Arabian Peninsula was early populated by
Black people. Once dominant over the entire peninsula, the African presence in
early Arabia is most clearly traceable through the Sabeans. The southwestern
corner of the peninsula was their ancient home. This area is today called
Yemen. In antiquity this region gave rise to a high degree of civilization
because of the growth of frankincense and myrrh.
The city of Makkab was considered a holy place and the destination of
pilgrims long before the prophet Muhammad. Muhammad himself, who was to unite the
whole of Arabia, appears to have had a prominent African lineage. According to
al-Jahiz, the guardian of the sacred Kaaba, Abd-al-Muttalib, "fathered ten
Lords, Black as the night and magnificent." One of these men was Abdallah,
the father of Muhammad.
According to tradition, the first Muslim killed in battle was Mihja--a
Black man. Another Black man, Bilal, was such a pivotal figure in the
development of Islam that he has been referred to as "a third of the
faith." Many of the earliest Muslim converts were Africans, and a
number of the Muslim faithful sought refuge in Ethiopia because of initial
Arabian hostility to Muhammad's teachings. It was this relationship which
caused Muhammad to declare that, "Who brings an Ethiopian man or an
Ethiopian woman into his house, brings the blessings of God there."
SOURCES: African Presence In Early Asia, Edited by Runoko Rashidi
& Ivan Van Sertima;
Wonderful Ethiopians Of The Ancient Cushite Empire, by Drusilla D. Houston, Al I. Obaba (Editor).
(retrieved from http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/runoko.html)
The Prophet claims to be a direct descendent of Edom and of Abraham but he did not disclose the first forty generations (see the papers Descendants of Abraham Part II: Lot, Moab, Ammon and Esau (No. 212B); Descendants of Abraham Part III: Ishmael (No. 212C) and Descendants of Abraham Part IV: Sons of Keturah (No. 212D)).
Other
authors have attested to the widespread dispersion of the sons of Cush. For
instance, Dr Richard Pankhurst has written a series of articles entitled Great
Habshis in Ethiopian/Indian History: History of the Ethiopian Diaspora, in India
– with an historical connection being made between the Cushite Ethiopians and
the Indians (see http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/runoko.html).
This theme
is followed in the Wikipedia article on the ancient Indian civilisation
of Meluhha.
Bernard Sergent (in Genèse
de l'Inde, Payot, Paris, 1997)
claims that Dravidians were a
"Melano-African" race from the African Sahel belt, positing that these peoples
migrated from there, and suggesting that Meluhha first referred to
Ethiopia, and later to the Indus Valley. It is important to note that from the
third millennium BC onwards, Ethiopia itself was never referred to as Meluhha,
but as Kush.
With the
people of Madagascar we find at least two distinct Hamitic lineages brought
together. This island state lies only 250 miles (400 km) off the east coast of
Africa, but its major influence seems to have come from the islands of
Indonesia.
In a chapter
entitled ‘Malagasy Language as a Guide to Understanding Malagasy History’ in
the work Phylogenic methods and the prehistory of languages (McDonald
Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge, UK, 2006), Robert E. Dewar
writes the following:
One clear conclusion is that the modern population of Madagascar has
important genetic ancestry both in East Africa and Southeast Asia. A
significant contribution from Melanesia seems unlikely.
In 1951, Otto Christian Dahl demonstrated a close relationship between
Malagasy and Maanyan, a language spoken today on Borneo (Dahl 1951). More
recently, he has proposed that it is more proper to regard the ancestral
relationship of Malagasy as linking to the Barito Valley languages of which Maanyan
is a member (Dahl 1977).
Dahl’s work … established, beyond any doubt, insular Southeast Asia as
one of the homelands of Malagasy language and culture. Dahl … has recently
(1991) revised his estimate of initial migration to about the seventh century
AD.
Some regional populations of Madagascar, particularly along the southeast coast, trace their ancestry to migrations from the Persian Gulf, and there is strong linguistic evidence for Arab influence.
The Malagasy language, although unquestionably of Indonesian origin, has
been known to show features that reflect contact with languages of the Western
Indian Ocean, and especially with the Bantu languages including Swahili.
The clear evidence of both African and Asian roots, in linguistic,
cultural and biological realms, was evident to the seventeenth-century
European observers [who first encountered Madagascar in 1500 CE]. (pp. 13-17)
The Malays
themselves are linked to the Japhethite Chinese in Haplogroup O, but the
earlier Negritos are more likely associated with this movement and the
Indianisation of South-East Asia (see also the paper Mysticism Chapter 9 South East
Asian Systems (No. B7_9)).
Prophecies concerning Cush
Bullinger (The
Companion Bible) refers to the Scriptures in Isaiah 18 as the Burden of
Ethiopia, the third ‘burden’ in a series of seven.
Isaiah 18:1-7 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is
beyond the rivers of Ethiopia [Cush]: 2 That sendeth
ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying,
Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible
from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land
the rivers have spoiled! 3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and
dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains;
and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. 4 For so the LORD said unto
me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear
heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. 5
For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening
in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take
away and cut down the branches. 6 They shall be left together unto
the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall
summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. 7
In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people
scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto;
a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled,
to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion. (KJV)
The clue
here is that they come from the land the rivers divide. This is the land of
Abyssinia and the areas of the Sudd or Sudan. It is explained by Isaiah in
chapter 1. The nation scattered and peeled means smooth-skinned (see RSV). The
Sudanese are the descendants of Cush that have been trodden down, and they will
be brought to repentance even though they were terrible
[to behold] from their beginnings (v. 7). In this last phase of their
breaking down they will be brought into the Temple of God and converted. God
will accomplish this in the near future, and He is doing it now.
Isaiah 20:3-6 the LORD said,
"As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a
sign and a portent against Egypt and Ethiopia, 4 so shall the
king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians captives and the Ethiopians exiles,
both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, to the
shame of Egypt. 5 Then they shall be dismayed and confounded because
of Ethiopia their hope and of Egypt their boast. 6 And the
inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, `Behold, this is what has
happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered
from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?'" (RSV)
This text
involves the capture of Ethiopia by the Tartan (commander-in-chief) of
Sargon II of Assyria, three years after taking the city of Ashdod of the
Philistines. As mentioned in Isaiah 37:9, Judah’s later reliance on the
mercenaries of Ethiopia was in vain.
In Jeremiah
38:6ff., we see that a Cushite ‘servant of the king’ (Ebed-melech) was
instrumental in releasing the prophet Jeremiah from the dungeon following the
latter’s persistent and unwelcome predictions of disaster for Jerusalem.
Jeremiah’s mention of this minor character in Assyrian history has recently
been proven by the discovery of a tablet in the ancient records which
mentions the exact same person. This
proves that the biblical account was written at the time that was accorded to it, and is not a later invention as some
modern “scholars” assert.
Perhaps the
only positive outcome was that, because he had protected one of God’s prophets
and had himself trusted God, this Cushite or Ethiopian eunuch was informed by
Jeremiah that he was to be saved from the death and destruction coming upon the
city. This may yet have end-time prophetic significance. Also, from this we
note that God often uses the most unlikely people to effect salvation.
Jeremiah 49:15-18 For behold, I
will make you small among the nations, despised among men. 16 The
horror you inspire has deceived you, and the pride of your heart, you who live
in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill. Though you make
your nest as high as the eagle's, I will bring you down from there, says the
LORD. 17 "Edom shall become a horror; every one who passes by
it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters. 18 As
when Sodom and Gomor'rah and their neighbor cities were overthrown, says the
LORD, no man shall dwell there, no man shall sojourn in her. (RSV)
Jeremiah 46:1-10 The word of the
LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations. 2 About
Egypt. Concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was by the
river Euphra'tes at Car'chemish and which Nebuchadrez'zar king of Babylon
defeated in the fourth year of Jehoi'akim the son of Josi'ah, king of Judah: 3
"Prepare buckler and shield, and advance for battle! 4 Harness
the horses; mount, O horsemen! Take your stations with your helmets, polish
your spears, put on your coats of mail! 5 Why have I seen it? They
are dismayed and have turned backward. Their warriors are beaten down, and have
fled in haste; they look not back -- terror on every side! says the LORD. 6
The swift cannot flee away, nor the warrior escape; in the north by the
river Euphra'tes they have stumbled and fallen. 7 "Who is this,
rising like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge? 8 Egypt rises
like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge. He said, I will rise, I will
cover the earth, I will destroy cities and their inhabitants. 9 Advance,
O horses, and rage, O chariots! Let the warriors go forth: men of Ethiopia
and Put who handle the shield, men of Lud, skilled in handling the bow. 10
That day is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, to
avenge himself on his foes. The sword shall devour and be sated, and drink its
fill of their blood. For the Lord GOD of hosts holds a sacrifice in the north
country by the river Euphra'tes. (RSV)
With regard
to verse 8 here, Bullinger says that: “Egypt at this time was so strong that
Jeremiah’s prophecy seemed most unlikely to come to pass” (Comp. Bible),
and adds that the Ethiopian mercenaries formed the main part of the Egyptian
forces – together with the Libyans.
Nahum 3
refers to the destruction of Nineveh.
Nahum 3:1-19 Woe to the bloody
city, all full of lies and booty -- no end to the plunder! 2 The
crack of whip, and rumble of wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot! 3
Horsemen charging, flashing sword and glittering spear, hosts of slain,
heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end -- they stumble over the bodies! 4
And all for the countless harlotries of the harlot, graceful and of
deadly charms, who betrays nations with her harlotries, and peoples with her
charms. 5 Behold, I am against you, says the LORD of hosts, and will
lift up your skirts over your face; and I will let nations look on your
nakedness and kingdoms on your shame. 6 I will throw filth at you
and treat you with contempt, and make you a gazingstock. 7 And all
who look on you will shrink from you and say, Wasted is Nin'eveh; who will
bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for her? 8 Are you better
than Thebes that sat by the Nile, with water around her, her rampart a sea, and
water her wall? 9 Ethiopia was her strength, Egypt too, and that
without limit; Put and the Libyans were her helpers. 10 Yet she
was carried away, she went into captivity; her little ones were dashed in
pieces at the head of every street; for her honored men lots were cast, and all
her great men were bound in chains. 11 You also will be drunken, you
will be dazed; you will seek a refuge from the enemy. 12 All your
fortresses are like fig trees with first-ripe figs -- if shaken they fall into
the mouth of the eater. 13 Behold, your troops are women in your
midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your foes; fire has devoured
your bars. 14 Draw water for the siege, strengthen your forts; go
into the clay, tread the mortar, take hold of the brick mold! 15 There
will the fire devour you, the sword will cut you off. It will devour you like
the locust. Multiply yourselves like the locust, multiply like the grasshopper!
16 You increased your merchants more than the stars of the heavens.
The locust spreads its wings and flies away. 17 Your princes are
like grasshoppers, your scribes like clouds of locusts settling on the fences
in a day of cold -- when the sun rises, they fly away; no one knows where they
are. 18 Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles
slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them. 19
There is no assuaging your hurt, your wound is grievous. All who hear the
news of you clap their hands over you. For upon whom has not come your
unceasing evil? (RSV)
About 60
years before Nahum wrote this prophecy, it is known that: “Thebes, the old
capital of Egypt, was destroyed by Assyria about 663 B.C. Assurbanipal has
recorded his conquest. … Nineveh fell later, just as Nahum had foretold” (note
in Comp. Bible).
Cush
is included with other nations when referring to the coming of Messiah and the
restoration of Israel, in Isaiah 11:1 to 12:6, where the remnant are drawn out
of many nations including Ethiopia. Also, as shown earlier in Isaiah 43:3, Cush
and his son Seba, together with Egypt, are given as a ransom for Israel.
Cush or ‘Ethiopia’
is also mentioned prophetically in Ezekiel 29:10 and 30:4-9. These texts are
discussed in the paper The
Fall of Egypt (No. 36): The Prophecy of Pharaoh’s Broken Arms.
Similarly, the texts relating to Cush or Ethiopia in Ezekiel 30:4-9 and 38:5
are included in the paper The
Day of the Lord and the Last Days (No. 192).
Amos 9:7 "Are you not like
the Ethiopians to me, O people of Israel?" says the LORD. "Did I not
bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and
the Syrians from Kir? (RSV)
When all
nations are brought to Jerusalem, the Sabaeans – whether sons of Cush or
otherwise – will finally acknowledge the One True God and give honour to His
chosen nation of Israel, into which all people are to be inducted.
Isaiah 45:14 Thus says
the LORD: "The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabe'ans,
men of stature, shall come over to you and be yours, they shall follow you;
they shall come over in chains and bow down to you. They will make supplication
to you, saying: `God is with you only, and there is no other, no god besides
him.'" 15 Truly, thou art a God who hidest thyself, O God
of Israel, the Savior. (RSV)
We see in
Zephaniah 2:12-13, the Ethiopian warriors are slain along with their Assyrian
adversaries. Earlier in the text, and ostensibly speaking to Judah, but with
application to every nation and individual, God entreats them to seek
His protection and salvation.
Zephaniah 2:1-3 Come
together and hold assembly, O shameless nation, 2 before you are
driven away like the drifting chaff, before there comes upon you the fierce
anger of the LORD, before there comes upon you the day of the wrath of the
LORD. 3 Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who
do his commands; seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden
on the day of the wrath of the LORD. (RSV)
When the
Temple has been rebuilt, and the city is at peace, the people of Cush will be
there as a people who know their God.
Psalm 87:1-6 A Psalm of the Sons
of Korah. A Song. 1 On the holy mount stands the city he founded; 2
the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of
Jacob. 3 Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. [Selah] 4
Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon; behold,
Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia [Cush] -- "This one was born
there," they say. 5 And of Zion it shall be said, "This
one and that one were born in her"; for the Most High himself will
establish her. 6 The LORD records as he registers the peoples,
"This one was born there." [Selah] (RSV)
Similarly, in Psalm 68 we see that the people of Cush will one day hasten both
to bring gifts to God’s Temple at Jerusalem, and to stretch out their hands to
Him in supplication and worship.
Psalm 68:20-35 Our God is a God
of salvation; and to GOD, the Lord, belongs escape from death. 21 But
God will shatter the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who walks in
his guilty ways. 22 The Lord said, "I will bring them back from
Bashan, I will bring them back from the depths of the sea, 23 that
you may bathe your feet in blood, that the tongues of your dogs may have their
portion from the foe." 24 Thy solemn processions are seen, O
God, the processions of my God, my King, into the sanctuary -- 25 the
singers in front, the minstrels last, between them maidens playing timbrels: 26
"Bless God in the great congregation, the LORD, O you who are of
Israel's fountain!" 27 There is Benjamin, the least of them, in
the lead, the princes of Judah in their throng, the princes of Zeb'ulun, the
princes of Naph'tali. 28 Summon thy might, O God; show thy strength,
O God, thou who hast wrought for us. 29 Because of thy temple at
Jerusalem kings bear gifts to thee. 30 Rebuke the beasts that dwell
among the reeds, the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples. Trample
under foot those who lust after tribute; scatter the peoples who delight in
war. 31 Let bronze be brought from Egypt; let Ethiopia [Cush]
hasten to stretch out her hands to God. 32 Sing to God, O
kingdoms of the earth; sing praises to the Lord, [Selah] 33 to him
who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens; lo, he sends forth his voice,
his mighty voice. 34 Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over
Israel, and his power is in the skies. 35 Terrible is God in his
sanctuary, the God of Israel, he gives power and strength to his people. Blessed
be God! (RSV)
Amen.
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