Continuing in My Beloved Community
Chapter Four; Part II: The Origin of Jesus Christ
Mizraim — Egypt — Ethiopia’s Daughter
Let us now tum to Ham's other son, Mizraim, which means "Egypt." No one argues against the accomplishments of Egyptian civilization. The only argument heard in a few quarters is whether or not the early Egyptians were black. Those who hold out for whiteness or anything but blackness manifest the same mentality that refuses to yield its illusion of divine sanction in the exploitation of other people's resources. To everyone but the most incorrigible Eurocentric the facts are incontrovertible.
The ancient Egyptians were Negroes. The moral fruit of their civilization is to be counted among the assets of the black world. Instead of presenting itself to history as an insolvent debtor, that black world is the very initiator of the Western civilization flaunted before our eyes today. Pythagorean mathematics, the theory of the four elements of Thales of Miletus, Epicurean materialism, Platonic idealism, Judaism, Islam and modern science are rooted in Egyptian cosmogony and science. One needs only to mediate on Osiris, the redeemer-god, who sacrifices himself, dies and is resurrected to save mankind, a figure essentially identifiable with Christ.'
Significantly, though, according to Diop, Ethiopians considered Egypt to be one of their colonies.6
In any event, the Bible writers understood Egypt to be black. After all, Mizraim was the second son of Ham. It is important to establish the blackness of Egyptians because the Israelites spent over four hundred years in this country.
According to the Bible, Joseph's brothers sold him to the Midianites, who in turn brought him to Egypt. After many ordeals, Joseph became prime minister, a reward for interpreting the pharaoh's dream and advising him to prepare immediately, during the years of plenty for the years of leanness that would follow. The gracious pharaoh also told Joseph to bring his family to Egypt, and he gave them the land of Goshen. There were 70 souls; Jacob, the old patriarch brought with him to Egypt just 70 starving cultureless nomads.7
When they departed hundreds of years later, the Bible said they took silver and gold. “Israel also came into Egypt; and Joseph sojourned in the land of Ham" (Psalm 105:23).
But they took more than silver and gold. They also carried with them Egyptian or African culture, art, philosophy, and religion. Even circumcision and sacrifice, according to Herodotus, were ancient practices of the Egyptians.8 Monotheism occurred in Egypt a long time before Jacob entered that land. The scripture writers, identifying Cush as Ham's first-born, agreed with the Ethiopians' own estimate of themselves.
In a word, the few souls who came into Egypt were swallowed up or assimilated the culture of the Egyptians. When they departed they were really more African than anything else because Egyptians were African. How could it be otherwise? A small, insecure group coming into a country of teeming masses would surely have been assimilated into the dominant culture.
The time continuum in the history of the blacks is highly important in reference to the state of civilization in the lands from which the invading groups came during the first thousand years of black ascendency in Egypt, and southern incursive groups were largely tent-dwelling nomads. They had no tradition of great cities with imposing temples, obelisks, pyramids or indeed, stone masonry at all. In particular, one should know the number of centuries after Thebes and Memphis before their ancient cities were founded:
Nowe (Thebes) Prehistory
Memphis 3100 B.C.
Babylon 2100 B.C.
Jerusalem 1400 B.C.
Athens (Village) 1200 B.C.
Rome (Village) 1000 B.C.
Antioch 400 B.C.
Athens (City) 360 B.C.
Rome (Town) 250 B.C.
In short, what great contributions did these roaming nomads have to make to an already highly developed black civilization? Since even Jerusalem was not in existence, what people in Lower Egypt came from a country with a city as great as Thebes or Memphis?9
We need look no further than Black people in the U.S.A. Our origin is African. But after four hundred years, we are more American than anything else. Whether we like it or not, we have been assimilated. This has happened to Blacks even when millions were involved. Imagine only 70 Blacks dwelling among millions of Europeans for 400 years.
We cannot overemphasize the point. When God liberated the Israelites, the hundreds of thousands of people who came forth were not the 70 people who went in. They were now Africans. If their stay in Egypt were not enough to Africanize them, their sojourn in Canaan, another black land, would have done it. Canaan, meaning "low-lying," you remember, was the grandson of Noah, he was the cursed child. 10
Rudolph Windsor quotes the Talmud, which claims that Africans came to Alexander the Great, asking him for the land of Canaan, thus validating the Africanness of Canaan.11
Throughout their stay in Canaan's land, there was widespread miscegenation; and to further mix things up, in 721, the Assyrians conquered Israel and carried away all but one tribe-Judah (I Chronicles 36:1-21). Then, in 605 B.C., the Babylonians duplicated the feat of the Assyrians and carried most of the people to Babylon, at least those who did not escape into Egypt (I Kings 17:13-31; Jeremiah 52:28-30).12 While in Babylon, most of the Israelites became well integrated into the society. There was more mixing with the Persians, who conquered the Babylonians; and then mixing with the Greeks, Syrians, Romans, and God only knows who else. So by the time Jesus came, He could accurately say that He was the "Son of Man."3 The people who by now were called Jews were the compilation of many cultures, of many lands; and while color would have to be de-emphasized, it is still worth noting that the description of Jesus in the Book of Revelation, indicated that He had still retained some of these African features.
His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. (Revelations 1:14-15).
To be continued on Thursday, March 7, 2024.