Blacks in the Bible

Why?

it’s black history month

Bible is the only place we can go to get God’s truth about race (can’t trust people because of racism clouds their understanding)

we can learn where we came from

find out if one group superior to another

find out if one group cursed

how different/alike are we as races

refute lies that Christianity is the white man’s religion and the Bible is the white man’s book.

Christianity is a religion for all people and races

Bible is a book for all peoples and races

get a better appreciation for how God works through history

How do we know who was black in the Bible?

reading the scripture!

then use

common sense

names and geography of nations

family tree

etymology - meanings of names

let’s start out with some biblical truth about race

Acts 17:26 NLT

From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.

nations - people group, races . . . more than recognized political countries like Brazil, Mexico, USA

so every nation/race/people group came from one man - Adam, everyone in the world is basically kind of like your distant cousin (KJV - says God made us from one blood)

we see in this verse that God is in control and has an eternal plan - time for this people group/culture/race to rise, time for this group/culture/race to fall

boundaries - God even decided where different races would live, God is even in control of geography

what was God’s reasoning? . . . .

Acts 17:27 NLT

“His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us.

God wants all nations to seek him and find him

back to the first part of verse 26

Acts 17:26a (NLT)

From one man he created all the nations . . .

We actually have this twice: First, Adam and then because of the flood, we have . . .

Noah

and this is where our study starts

world has started over

and the world starts over with one family . . . Noah’s family

Noah and his wife had three sons, and each of his sons had a wife, for a total of eight people who were saved on the ark during the flood

after the flood . . . .

Genesis 9:1 NASB95

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

God blessed the father and each of his three sons

remember this . . . God blessed Noah and each of his sons

Genesis 9:18–19 NASB95

Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth; and Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.

ever person on the earth can trace their ancestry to Noah through either Shem, Ham, or Japheth

all the various races came through these three men and their wives

according to Biblical scholars

Shem

most scholars agree that he is the ancestral father of the Semites (Arabic and Jews)

according to some his name means dusky or olive colored

Japheth

most scholars agree that he is ancestral father of Caucasians

according to some, name meaning bright or fair

Ham

most scholars agree that he is the ancestral father of Negroes, Mongoloids, and Indians - dark skinned people

most scholars agree that his name means black, burnt, or hot

but now we must go back to Noah and his wife

common sense: since Ham is the father of black races then Noah or his wife, or maybe Noah and his wife have black in them

So if we saw them walking around, one of they very likely be considered black or at least a person of color

Now let’s look at why some people teach that black people are cursed . . . they call this the curse of Ham

Genesis 9:20–25 NLT

After the flood, Noah began to cultivate the ground, and he planted a vineyard. One day he drank some wine he had made, and he became drunk and lay naked inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers. Then Shem and Japheth took a robe, held it over their shoulders, and backed into the tent to cover their father. As they did this, they looked the other way so they would not see him naked. When Noah woke up from his stupor, he learned what Ham, his youngest son, had done. Then he cursed Canaan, the son of Ham: “May Canaan be cursed! May he be the lowest of servants to his relatives.”

Noah gets drunk, and lies in his tent naked

Ham saw him naked and told his two brothers

the other two covered their dad up, without looking at his naked body

what’s so evil about accidently seeing your father naked that made Noah so angry? We simply don’t know. Many have theories that “saw his brother naked” means more than just looked at him. But we really don’t know why Noah was so angry

When Noah found out what had happened, Noah cursed . . . . who? . . . Canaan!

Who is Canaan? One of Ham’s sons

How come Noah didn’t curse Ham?

because you can’t curse what God has blessed

Canaan may have had a part in this situation

it’s also a prophecy, because the descendants of Canaan turned out to be very evil, and later God allowed them to be conquered because of their evil

So Ham was not cursed, only one of Ham’s four sons were cursed, therefore all black people are not cursed . . . lie to promote racism and defend American slavery

why does the name Canaan sound so familiar?

why is Canaan the only grandson mentioned in chapter 9?

this is the origin story for Abraham, and then Abraham’s descendants, David, eventually to Jesus . . . and the land of Canaan is a big part of that story

the promised land

today Israel is in what used to be called the land of Canaan

this curse is mostly fulfilled when the children of Israel take over the promised land when Joshua was leading them

and others say the rest when Carthage was defeated by Rome

but until then, Canaan started out real strong! Feared and mighty people! Remember the 12 spies report? (good land, powerful people)

Chapter 10 - Table of Nations

names each of Noah’s sons and their descendants

so let’s look at Ham’s sons

Genesis 10:6 NASB95

The sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan.

Cush - Ethiopia

hear the term Cushites, Mesopotamia

people lived from Sudan all the way to India

Mizraim - Egypt

earliest inhabitants called the land Kam, or Khem . . . comes from Ham

and called themselves Hamites,

Kamites, Khemites which means black people

Put - Libya (in africa)

Canaan - only Canaan is not around as a country any more

they started in these areas and apparently migrated south, east and west

then we get grandsons of Ham through Cush

Genesis 10:7 NASB95

The sons of Cush were Seba and Havilah and Sabtah and Raamah and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.

so we use the sons of Ham and the grandsons of Ham, to trace people of color in the Bible . . . you will see these names or variations of these names

1 Kings 10:1 NASB95

Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with difficult questions.

what pops out, now that we know the family tree? . . . . Sheba

Genesis 10:7 NASB95

The sons of Cush were Seba and Havilah and Sabtah and Raamah and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.

it’s all there staring us in the face that she is connected to Ham . . . how dark, how black, we don’t know but she is from the Ham family branch

Nimrod

anyone know him?

Genesis 10:8 NLT

Cush was also the ancestor of Nimrod, who was the first heroic warrior on earth.

first big time leader/conqueror, safe to say king after the flood was a black man . . . grandson of Ham

Genesis 10:9–12 NLT

Since he was the greatest hunter in the world, his name became proverbial. People would say, “This man is like Nimrod, the greatest hunter in the world.” He built his kingdom in the land of Babylonia, with the cities of Babylon, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh. From there he expanded his territory to Assyria, building the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, and Resen (the great city located between Nineveh and Calah).

he built a kingdom, a large one

the description of the places is called the land of Shinar or Sumer

Historians agree that Sumer was the starting point of civilization

when people tell you black people were the first civilized people . . . yeah . . . (people started out all together though, but Nimrod was their leader)

unfortunately, we believe he is the one who tried to build the tower of babel . . . not a man who please God

Genesis 10:13–20 NASB95

Mizraim became the father of Ludim and Anamim and Lehabim and Naphtuhim and Pathrusim and Casluhim (from which came the Philistines) and Caphtorim. Canaan became the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth and the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite and the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite and the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite; and afterward the families of the Canaanite were spread abroad. The territory of the Canaanite extended from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; as you go toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, by their nations.

more ways to to find out who was from the dark skinned son of Noah

Glory Years

use these names, locations, archeological finds

after the flood of Noah, the Descendants of Ham dominated civilization for 2,000 years, starting with Nimrod

when people say we came from kings and queens . . . true . . . but not every black person was a king . . . some were merchants, fishermen, crafts people, cooks, servants, ect.

but black heritage and history starts way before american slavery

it appears that God let “black people” dominate the earth over the descendants of Shem and Japeth for about 2,000

with the rise of Israel, we see descendants of Shem dominating for about 2,000 years (think of Solomon and his kingdoms and Babylonians)

seems that now we are in a period of the descendants of Japheth dominating about 2,000 years

Lessons - all have tried and all have failed to please God . . . each period ends with sin . . . corruption . . . . greed . . . . violence . . .. no morals . . . we all need a savior

we can be proud of black heritage but only with the understanding that we failed, others failed, and white people are failing now

Black History Month Bible Test

no Bible study next week - Valentines