Jesus Christ African in Origin?
The question which is always relevant even more so whenever we talked Black or Afrocentrism, was Jesus African or all Black? We are in Black History Month and it is the time where the question gains wide relevance.
Some years ago I wrote a book entitled, Jesus Christ African in origin Revolutionary and Redeeming in action. During this Black History Month I'm going to do a series of articles on the said subject taken from my book My Beloved Community.
The Origin of Jesus
A good place to commence this search is in the Old Testament, and— strangely enough—not among the usual messianic predictions, shadows, and symbolism, but rather in the pedigree of Noah. In Genesis 9:20-26, we read:
And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japtheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders and bend backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
This is one of the passages that oppressors have employed to justify their exploitation of Black humanity. Since Ham means "black-ness," Noah, they said, cursed Ham and therefore all Black people are cursed to be the servants of white people. However, when we study the story carefully, we see that (if the curse means anything at all) Noah cursed not Ham but Canaan.
Moreover, Ham had other sons who where builders of civilizations. For our purposes, we will focus on just two of them, Cush and Mizraim. And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. And Cush begat Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in the earth. (Genesis 10:6-8)
Shinar-Mesopotamia-Sumer
Cush, Ham's firstborn, can also be translated Ethiopia, which means "black or burnt-faced," and which was located in the area that has been called at various times Mesopotamia, Shinar, and what is today Iraq. In this general region were the Babylonians and Assyrians, but deeper than these, or before them, was the ancient civilization of Sumer, which goes back 6000 to 7000 years. It was a civilization of extraordinary achievements. According to the Bible, the children of Cush (blackness) inherited the region.
One of Cush's most famous sons was Nimrod, who, according to the Bible, was a great hunter or builder. Nimrod is given credit for building Babylon. Significantly, he has been identified with Hammurabi, famous for, among other things, the Code of Hammurabi. We should remember that it is from this region that Abraham came.
Also of interest is the fact that some Bible scholars believe the Garden of Eden can be located in this area. When we observe the rivers that surround the Garden, two have been identified as the Tigris and Euphrates and the other called Gihon is said to encompass the whole land of Ethiopia (Genesis 2:10-14). If Ethiopia is where we have always located it—in East Africa—how can a river flow from it to Eden, which is in Asia? The answer can only be in the blackness of the entire region.
The authors of the Bible saw blackness —Ethiopia—as the beginning of civilization. This included parts of Asia and Africa. The Garden of Eden, then, was in the land of blackness. This is consistent with secular research. The geographical area under discussion has been identified with blackness by Chancellor Williams: On the flyleaf of The Destruction of Black Civilization (1976), we read:
“What became of the Black people of Sumer?” The traveler asked the old man, “for ancient records show that people
of Sumer were black. What happened to them?" "Ah," the old man sighed, "They lest their history, so they died...”
Also, Charles Silberman admitted that the Bible writers viewed this area as African.
The Biblical language itself thus shows clearly that the ancients viewed Egypt as a Black society. Lest there be any doubt of the role of the Black men in that period, the author of Genesis continues by listing the sons of Ham. The oldest was Cush, the Biblical name for Ethiopia and down to the present, the vernacular Hebrew term for a black African.
(Genesis reports that in addition to a number of other children, Cush "begot Nimrod, who was the first man of power of earth. He was a mighty hunter by the grace of the Lord," not to mention his having been the founder of Babylonia.The Israelites clearly believed that the Babylonians and Assyrians were of African origin — a belief shared by some contemporary historians.) The other children of Ham included Mizraim, the most common Biblical name for Egypt; Phut, or Libya; and Canaan, a name derived from a root meaning "to be low;" and referring originally to the low-lying coast of Phoenicia and the lowlands of the Philistines, later to all of western Palestine.2
Ethiopia—Land of the Beginnings
It is indisputable that blackness, or Ethiopia, held a high place in the ancient world. W.E.B. Dubois stated:
In Ethiopia the sunrise of human culture took place spreading down into the Nile Valley. Ethiopia, land of the blacks, was thus the cradle of Egyptian civilization.
Beyond Ethiopia, in Central and South Africa, lay the gold of Ophir and the rich trade of Punt on which the prosperity of Egypt largely depended. Egypt brought slaves from black Africa as she did from Europe and Asia. But, she also brought citizens and leaders from black Africa.
When Egypt conquered Asia, she used black soldiers to a wide extent. When Asia overwhelmed Egypt, Egypt sought refuge in Ethiopia, as a child returns to its mother, and Ethiopia then for centuries dominated Egypt and successfully invaded Asia.
Neither Greece, Rome, nor Islam succeeded in conquering Ethiopia, although they pushed her pack and shut her up in East and Central Africa, hindered at all contact between her people and the world until the day of colonial imperialism.3
Silberman, who admits that there is some evidence that the Mesopotamians were black, quotes Dioderus Siculus, a first-century Greek historian:
The Ethiopians conceived themselves to be of greater antiquity than any other nation; and it is probably that, born under the sun's path, its warmth may have ripened them earlier than other men. They supposed themselves to be the inventors of worship of festivals, of solemn assemblies, of sacrifices and every religious practice.4
We should keep in mind the Ethiopian claim, "inventors of worship, solemn assemblies, of sacrifice and every religious practice, for much of what has been associated with Judaism is found at a much earlier date in Ethiopia.
To be continued on Thursday, February 29, 2024.