The AFRICAN PRESENCE in the BIBLE
Scripture Came Primarily Through Hebrew Authors but The Gospel Message is For All People. Much of Scripture Takes Place in the ANE, but Africa and African Peoples Are a Significant Part of the Story.
WHY THIS STUDY?
WE MUST TEACH THE WHOLE COUNSEL OF GOD (ACTS 20:27, 2 TIMOTHY 4:2)
FOR THE PURPOSES OF EVANGELISM (2 TIMOTHY 4:5)
FOR THE PURPOSES OF APOLOGETICS (JUDE 3, 2 PETER 3:15)
FOR THE PURPOSES OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION & DISCIPLESHIP (MATTHEW 28:16-20, MALACHI 2:10)
Note: these reasons are adapted from Dwight McKissic’s book, Beyond Roots: In Search of Blacks in the Bible, (Woodbury, NJ: Renaissance Productions, 1990), 12-13.
OLD TESTAMENT: ADAM TO ABRAHAM
Per GENESIS 2:7, ADAM was RUDDY. A reddish brown color also ascribed to David, Solomon, and Esau (Genesis 25:25). Regarding Adam as the head of the human race, Etienne Gilson’s summary of Augustine of Hippo is helpful:
“The whole human race, which was to become Adam’s posterity through the first woman, was present in the first man … whoever is rational and mortal, regardless of color or shape or sound or voice, is certainly the stock of Adam”. - AUGUSTINE of HIPPO
GENESIS 12:3 shows Yahweh intends BLESSINGS FOR ALL PEOPLE
AFRICA / AFRICANS OVERALL IN THE SCRIPTURE
OT/NT references to Africa or Africans 867 times, per David Tuesday Adamo, page 5 of AFRICANS IN THE NT.
EGYPT in NT 40 times
Africa, AFRICANS mentioned 42 times in NT. Per David Tuesday Adamo THAT’S “more than any other nation”, PAGE 119 of AFRICANS IN THE NT.
WHO WAS HAM?
Ham, one of Noah’s three sons. A son of Ham (means “hot” or “warm”) is CUSH.
GENESIS 10 - Cush’s descendants settled: south of Egypt, west of Nile River.
Was Caleb a Hamite? Joshua 14:6, 14 GENESIS 38, 15:19, NUMBERS 13-14
WHAT ABOUT THE SO-CALLED CURSE OF HAM? IT’S WRONG!
In Genesis 9:25-27, Canaan cursed, not Ham.
Fulfilled via Joshua in JOSHIA 9:23 and then in 1 KINGS 9:20-21.
WHO ARE THE ETHIOPIANS (CUSHITES)?
Cushites to Ethiopians? Bible translations sometimes translate Cush as ETHIOPIA.
NUMBERS 12:1 - Cushite wife of Moses
PSALM 7 - Words of a Cushite
1 KINGS 10:1-13 - Queen of Sheba, see the traditions from Ethiopia
ETHIOPIAN SKIN - ISAIAH 18:2, tall and smooth skinned
Prophecy PSALM 68:31, Zephaniah 3:10, ISAIAH 11:11
Jeremiah Rescued from the Cistern by an Ethiopian man
JEREMIAH 36:14, 21, 23 “son of Cush”
ZEPHANIAH 1:1 - “son of Cush”
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF EGYPT
GENESIS 16, Abraham’s Egyptian woman is Hagar.
Asenath, wife of Joseph, mother to Ephraim, Manasseh, is Egyptian.
EGYPT (KHEM), means something like “the black land”.
SHEBA
Queen of the South (1 Kings 10:1-13, II Chronicles 9:1-12), Matthew 12:42, Luke 11:31
Josephus said she was the queen of Egypt and Ethiopia (Ant. Book VIII, 6, 5-6)
Where is Ophir?
LASTLY, in SONG OF SONGS 1:6, the Shulamite woman is dark.
THE NEW TESTAMENT
Jesus had Hamitic ancestry - Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba.
Wise men/Magi of Matthew 2:1-12 (TRADITIONS):
Sedatus, bishop of Besiers (589 BC) suggested one was Ethiopian
Bede the Venerable named him: BALTHAZAR
Some EUROPEAN art began to depict him w/matching features, circa 12th ctt.
A fulfillment of … PSALM 72:10-11 used, plus ISAIAH 45:14, 60:6
Treasures of Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya in DANIEL 11:43, gold, spices, etc.
EGYPT
Egypt a place of refuge
MATTHEW 2:13-19 (HOSEA 11:1, 1 KINGS 11:40)
CYRENE = LIBYA (PHUT/PUNT)
Pliny (V 8.84) indicates many AFRICANS in Cyrene, founded by GREEKS 7th ct BC.
Simon of Cyrene, father of Alexander and Rufus (ROMANS 16:13?)
DEFINITTLEY in MARK 15:21 (Matthew 27:32, Luke 23:26)IRENAEUS of Lyons (Adv. Haer. I.24:3-7) said Egyptian Basilides taught Simon died on the cross (see SECOND TREATISE OF THE GREAT SETH VII 256)
Copts claim Mark is founder of church, first patriarch.
And that Mark established missions Egypt, Cyrenaica, Libyan cities.
Mark preached in Egypt per Clement of Alexandria in letter to Theodore, Jerome in Latin version of Chronicle of Eusebius.
John Chrysostom cites Eusebius on 1 Peter 5:13: “And they say (phasim) this Mark was the first to establish churches in Alexandria … In the eighth year of the reign of Nero” (62-63). Annianus was the first to succeed Mark the Evangelist in the custody of the community in Alexandria, per tradition.
See this article: “ASSOCIATION OF MARK AND BARNABAS WITH EGYPTIAN CHRISTIANITY” by JOHN J GUNTHER in the EVANGELICAL QUARTERLY
BOOK OF ACTS
Acts 2:10-11 countries at Pentecost - Africans at Pentecost Acts 2:13, 37-41
PROSELYTES? Matthew 23:15, Rom 2Stephen mentions Egypt 16 times in Acts 7:6-40, 54 verses dedicated to events in Africa. ACTS 7:20 mentions African education of Moses.
ACTS 8:26-39 ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH. Acts 8 tells the story of the Ethiopian eunuch, one of the first Gentiles to be baptized. He came from a black region, so he may have been black. See Deut 23:1.
NOTE on Ethiopia: Ancient Greek historian Herodotus (484-425 BC) describes “colony of Egyptians” w “black skin and frizzled hair”, writing around 500 BC. He refers to paintings w reddish brown to black skin. Ethiopia in Greek means “burnt-faced”.
Cyrenian refuges in Acts 11:18-30. Helped found church there.
ACTS, 13:1 (SIMEON NIGER). We read of Simeon, called Niger, the Latin term for black (see NLT, GNT). Lucius of Cyrene, a geographical location of many people, including what “moderns” would describe as black people.
ACTS 18, Apollos, an ALEXANDRIAN JEW
(Also see 1 CORINTHIANS 1-4, 16:12, TITUS 3:13)
NOTE on Alexandria: Barnabas visited Alexandria? Per Clementine Homilies I: 7.14, II:4 and Alexander the Monk.Paul mistaken for Egyptian ACTS 21:38.
See the books by Aziz S Atiya A History of Eastern Christianity (13-48) and The Copts and Christian Civilization (228)
THE BIG MESSAGE
In Galatians 3:26-29, the Apostle Paul tells us (among other things) that there is “neither Greek nor Jew, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Jesus Christ”. (Also see ACTS 10:34 & ACTS 17:26).
LUKE 4:17-21 tells us Christ came to set free the oppressed and ROMANS 3:23-26 tells us we are all in sin and in need of a savior. See Walter McCray’s great quote on the subject.
The Bible begins with a promise to bless all peoples on the earth in GENESIS 12:3 and ends with ALL PEOPLE blessing Yahweh at the throne scenes before the Lamb in the book of Revelation.
