Biblical Cush

See also: Kush, Kushites

Cush (Hebrew: כּוּשׁ, Standard Kuš Tiberian Kûš ; "Dark") was the eldest son of Ham, brother of Canaan and the father of Nimrod, mentioned in the "Table of Nations" in the Book of Genesis (X. 6) and in I Chronicles (I: 8). It is usually considered to be the eponym of the people of Kush. Six Arabian tribes are also sons of Cush.

In Genesis, Cush was the father of the Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. He is also the father of Nimrod.

Another person named Cush in the Bible is a Benjamite who is mentioned only in Psalm 7 and is believed to be a follower of Saul.

Josephus gives an account of the nation of Cush, who is the son of Ham and the grandson of Noah: "For of the four sons of Ham, time has not at all hurt the name of Cush; for the Ethiopians, over whom he reigned, are even at this day, both by themselves and by all men in Asia, called Cushites." (Antiquities of the Jews Numbers I:6.) The wife of Moses was a Kushite, according to the Book of Numbers.

The locality of this area has been questioned, with some believing it refers to countries south of the Israelites, and others stating it refers to part of Africa, such as Ethiopia, in ancient inscriptions written as Kesh. Samuel Bochart maintained that it was exclusively in Arabia, while Friedrich Schulthess and Heinrich Gesenius held that it should be sought in Africa.^{[citation needed]}

Others like Johann Michaelis and Rosenmuller have proposed that the name Cush was applied to tracts of country on both sides of the Red Sea in the Arabia (Yemen) and in Africa. In the 5th century A.D., the Himyarites in the south of Arabia were styled by Syrian writers as Cushaeans and Ethiopians.

The existence of a historical Kush between Egypt and Nubia (Sudan) cannot reasonably be questioned, though the term may be employed in the Old Testament with some latitude. The African Kush covered Northern Sudan,Upper Egypt, and extended southwards from the First Cataract. In addition, the Cushitic peoples who live around the Horn of Africa and today comprise the Somali, Afar, Oromo and several other tribes, are traditionally the offspring of the Biblical Cush.

Genesis also suggests that the Biblical term was also applied to parts of Arabia.^{[citation needed]} Cush is the eponymous father of certain tribal and ethnic designations that tend to point to Arabia (though Sheba may be an exception, held by some to refer to Shewa in Africa.)^{[citation needed]}

Babylonian inscriptions mention the Kashshi or Kassites, and it was once held that this signified a possible explanation of Cush, the ancestor of Nimrod in Genesis chapter 8.

Although decisive evidence is lacking, it is still alleged by some that the several references to Cush in the Old Testament do not refer to Ethiopia; however, its frequent inclusion with Phut and Mizraim (Egypt) strongly suggests that it was at least considered to be African. Views on their precise location generally depend on how willing certain scholars are to concede that Ethiopia could have enjoyed the prominence claimed for it by others.

The rhetorical question "Can the Cushite change his skin?" in Jeremiah 13:23 implies people of a markedly different skin color from the Israelites, probably an African people; also, the Septuagint Greek translation of the Old Testament made by Greek-speaking Jews between ca. 250 BC and 100 BC uniformly translates Cush as "Ethiopia."

The term Cushite or Cushi (כושי) for black-skinned people was not derogatory or insulting in the Bible, but is so considered in contemporary Israel. In spoken Hebrew it is now usually avoided in favor of "Shahor" (שחור) (Black), in conscious emulation of the American replacement of "Negro" with "Black" after the 1960s. Since most Blacks who are Israeli citizens originate from Ethiopia, often "Ethiopian" (אתיופי) is used.

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