The Justice of God: Africans in the Bible
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
I. Noah and his sons after the Flood
I. Noah and his sons after the Flood
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered.
3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.
God blessed them all.
God commanded them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth (vs. 1)
God put fear of man in the animals
God gave them authority over the animals (cf. Gen 1:26-28)
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
II. The “Curse of Ham” Myth
II. The “Curse of Ham” Myth
This myth has been used by many to justify their treatment of black people. Some have even thought that blackness is a curse pronounced by Noah.
18 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.)
19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.
20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.
21 He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.
23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.
24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him,
25 he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
26 He also said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant.
27 May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.”
III. Noah’s Sons, Babel and the Table of Nations
III. Noah’s Sons, Babel and the Table of Nations
Noah had 3 sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth
the whole earth was replenished by these 3 sons (Genesis 10:32)
32 These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.
c. Based on where they settled, we can approximate where the greatest concentrations of brown and dark skinned people settled and how they developed at their earliest after the flood.
IV. Ham
IV. Ham
While it is likely that African peoples descended initially from Ham (Cush, Phut, and Mizraim), it is not likely that they are descended from Canaan. Hodge, Bodie. Tower of Babel. Master Books. Kindle Edition.
a. The Bible shows that Ham settled in land named after him. (Psalm 105:23, 27; 106:22)
23 Then Israel came to Egypt; Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
27 They performed his signs among them and miracles in the land of Ham.
22 wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
b. Ham’s descendants settled in many parts of Africa and the Middle East and can even be traced to Central America. Hodge, Bodie. Tower of Babel. Master Books. Kindle Edition.
V. Ham’s sons were: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.
V. Ham’s sons were: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.
Cush: The name of Noah’s grandson Cush is the Hebrew word for old Ethiopia (from Aswan south to Khartoum). Without exception, the word Ethiopia in the English Bible is always a translation of the Hebrew word Cush. Josephus rendered the name as Chus, and says that the Ethiopians ‘are even at this day, both by themselves and by all men in Asia, called Chusites’. (https://creation.com/the-sixteen-grandsons-of-noah)
Egypt (Mizraim): Mizraim (mitsrayîm, מצרים) is the Hebrew word for Egypt. The name Egypt appears hundreds of times in the Old Testament and (with one exception) is always a translation of the word Mizraim. E.g. at the burial of Jacob, the Canaanites observed the mourning of the Egyptians and so called the place Abel Mizraim (Genesis 50:11).
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
Put: Phut, the name of Noah’s next grandson is the Hebrew name for Libya. It is so translated three times in the Old Testament. The ancient river Phut was in Libya. By Daniel’s day, the name had been changed to Libya (Daniel 11:43). Josephus says, ‘Phut also was the founder of Libia [sic], and called the inhabitants Phutites, from himself.’
Canaan: Canaan, the name of Noah’s next grandson, is the Hebrew name for the general region later called by the Romans Palestine, i.e. modern Israel and Jordan. Here we should look briefly at a few of the descendants of Ham (Genesis 10:14–18). There is Philistim, obviously the ancestor of the Philistines (clearly giving rise to the name Palestine [ed. note: but see Origins of the word “Palestine”, 2011]), and Sidon, the founder of the ancient city that bears his name, and Heth, the patriarch of the ancient Hittite empire. Also, this descendant is listed in Genesis 10:15–18 as being the ancestor of the Jebusites (Jebus was the ancient name for Jerusalem—Judges 19:10), the Amorites, the Girgasites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites, ancient peoples who lived in the land of Canaan.
VI. Abraham, Hagar, Ishmael, and the Angel of the LORD
VI. Abraham, Hagar, Ishmael, and the Angel of the LORD
10 The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.”
11 And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction.
VII. Joseph and His family
VII. Joseph and His family
a. Joseph married Asenath in Egypt. (Genesis 41:45, 50; 46:20)
45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneah. And he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.
50 Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore them to him.
20 And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera the priest of On, bore to him.
b. Joseph bore Manasseh and Ephraim in Egypt. (Genesis 41:51–52)
c. Jacob’s family migrated and were nourished in Egypt. (Genesis 47)
d. Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh. (Genesis 48:11–20)
e. God used Joseph in Egypt to nurture and save the lives of all Israel.
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
VIII. Moses took a Cushite wife.
VIII. Moses took a Cushite wife.
34 Therefore the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had the craving.
1 Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman.
5 And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward.
6 And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream.
7 Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house.
8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”
9 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed.
IX. King David may have been a ‘person of color’.
IX. King David may have been a ‘person of color’.
12 And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.”
42 And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance.
The word “Red, Ruddy” as a description of David’s appearance
X. King Solomon
X. King Solomon
a. Solomon made a marriage allegiance with Pharoah.
1 Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem.
b. Another one of Solomon’s wife was a ‘person of color’.
5 I am very dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.
6 Do not gaze at me because I am dark, because the sun has looked upon me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept!
c. The Queen of Sheba visited Solomon
1 Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions.
2 She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind.
XII. The line of Judah included a man named Jarha.
XII. The line of Judah included a man named Jarha.
34 Now Sheshan had no sons, only daughters, but Sheshan had an Egyptian slave whose name was Jarha.
35 So Sheshan gave his daughter in marriage to Jarha his slave, and she bore him Attai.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Though we have only looked briefly, one should discern that the concept of ‘race’ is really unknown in ancient times apart from the one human race created by God, descended from Adam and Eve as Genesis 1-2 record. Defining people according to their skin, nose, and eye colors and characteristics are simply not enough of what makes up the human family to be used as definite categories, let alone for other more sinister reasons like racism and discrimination. The body of Christ would do well to fight against these manifestations of hatred and sin by proclaiming and teaching the true history of our world based on the eyewitness account and only reliable witness to the world’s true history–the Bible!
Excursus:
About Egypt and ‘blackness’
Race in Ancient Egypt is political, there is no such thing as a trans-historical African identity. [1][2] Therefore, in Africa’s ancient history the term ‘African’ as an identity would have had no meaning; people defined themselves as members of kingdoms, religions, and ethnic groups. [1] However, these identities were still of people in the continent we call Africa.[2] ‘The people of Africa is more than a name, it is linked to indigenous rights and issues of sovereignty. Africaness and skin color are not verification of each other.
‘Blackness’ fails at every level in both the historical and political context. Africans are the natural people of Africa: The diverse hair textures, the diverse skin hues, are all specific adaptations to living in the diverse African landscape. For this reason alone ‘skin blackness” is certainly not a marker for African identity; far too many native Africans, depending on geography, have light skin. The Motherland of these adaptations and the cultures are primarily Africa; hence the relevance of the name. [2] ‘African’ refers exclusively to the historical people of Africa and their descendants in the Diaspora.In plain language, no one is an African unless they can also be considered a ‘Black’ person. But not every ‘Black person’ is an African. https://africanholocaust.net/race-in-ancient-egypt/