RESTORED 2/19/22
THERE IS A CLAIM THAT IS SPREADING THAT STATES THAT BLACK’S ARE THE TRUE ISRAELITES and WHITES ARE TO DIE OR BE SLAVES TO BLACKS.
This issue has been troubling me for a long time. I could not believe that anyone could take this claim seriously. But, it is growing. I must speak out. I have no ill will against anyone. A person’s race or color is irrelevant as far as I am concerned. I care only for the hearts and minds of people and their salvation! There are only two kinds of people in this world, those who know and love the Lord and those who do not.
This crazy idea that “Black’s” are the true Israel and the ONLY ones who will be saved is INSANE. It is a lie right out of the Pit of HELL. Those who buy into this lie are being used by the enemy. I am no great brain. I don’t have all the answers. I do not consider myself to be wise or an expert on ANYTHING!. BUT, I love the LORD and I KNOW HIM and HE KNOWS ME. When I have a question, I take it right to HIM. HE ALWAYS ANSWERS ME or LEADS ME TO THE ANSWER. I follow NO MAN, NO RELIGION. I KNOW GOD! OUR HEAVENLY FATHER wants us: to accept the redemptive sacrifice that purchased our Salvation, provided by HIS SON, to follow His Commandments, to look to HIM in all things, and to fellowship with HIM. Two-way Communication with the Creator of ALL things!
I advise anyone who does not know GOD or how to hear him to focus on that one thing alone. We live in a time of GREAT DECEPTION. ANYONE can be misled, deceived, or fooled. THE ONLY ONE YOU CAN COUNT ON IS GOD! Listen to HIM and FOLLOW HIM… He will never steer you wrong.
Don’t misunderstand me, anyone is free to believe whatever they choose. You can accept or disregard anything. It is my prayer that those who need to know the truth will be moved by what is written in the articles included here and seek HIM. JESUS CHRIST, Yeshuah HaMaschiach, is the only TRUTH. THE ONLY WAY. He is LIFE. Turn to HIM, and repent. For the End is near.
P.S. For the record, those who were dispersed among the nations only GOD knows who were original Hebrews. Not that it matters because once you come under the BLOOD of Jesus, you are grafted into the VINE. But, I wanted to be clear that I am not saying that anyone is not a Hebrew. That is not my place. I am saying that the Jewish people who are in Israel, are Hebrews and have served the purpose for which they were called. God is in control of how things develop from here. I know that His word says that they have been blinded for our sake and that they will not recognize Him until He puts his feet on the Mount of Olives. THEN they will look upon HIM whom they have pierced and weep as one for a brother. That tells me, that this was the plan all along… So why don’t we all just trust GOD? And focus on our own relationship with HIM? And the SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN, THOSE JEWS WHO CALL THEMSELVES JEWS BUT ARE NOT, are the same Jews today that were present when Jesus walked the earth when he was ministering ONLY TO JEWS, when he said he came for the JEWS FIRST. They are the Jews who follow the TALMUD, man-made commandments (made up by Rabbi’s) over GOD’s Commandments and teach others to do so. BUT, even they are deceived. Because when Jesus met with one of them who claimed not to be blind… ‘Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.” John 9:41. What He was saying is that they were not held responsible because they were being held BLIND by God. So if he had not declared that he was NOT BLIND, he would have NO SIN. This is because GOD would not be a righteous GOD if he held them responsible when they were not allowed to recognize the truth. So even the “Synagogue of Satan”, will look upon HIM whom they have pierced and be saved. Just because he called them the Synagogue of Satan does not mean they are damned. He called Peter Satan, too! He was simply making a point. He was teaching the Jews that they needed to follow the WORD of GOD, not the teachings of sinful men. I have been telling people for years that the “Church” has been repeating every thing that the Hebrew people did… EVERYTHING. We are an exact copy of the Hebrews. I find it very amusing that today, Christians are not only following the teachings of so called Christian leaders, but now they are “returning to the vomit” of the Hebrews and following the teachers of the TALMUD!! INSANITY!! If you don’t know what I am talking about research the Noahides!! You can find info here
Update 5/3/19
The MOST Important Video About Israel You’ll Ever See!
Published on Oct 2, 2011
Published on May 21, 2010
10.8K subscribers
This article first appeared in the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL, volume 39, number 04 (2016). The full text of this article in PDF format can be obtained by clicking here. For further information or to subscribe to the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL go to: http://www.equip.org/christian-research-journal/
SYNOPSIS
Similar to the early church, African American Christianity historically has focused more on survival in the midst of persecution and oppression rather than systematizing doctrine. This historical context left both groups vulnerable to false teaching. However, just as the early church birthed theologians and apologists to respond to these new challenges, African Americans have come to a point in their history where there is a need for a response to teachings that have capitalized on their vulnerability.
The Black Hebrew Israelites is one group that has infiltrated black communities to preach a gospel that is contrary to Scripture. A familiarity with the history of African American Christianity will shed light on the origins of this movement. Tracing the Exodus motif in early African American Christianity reveals that the claims of Black Hebrews originate from a shift from symbolic to literal identification with the biblical Hebrews. Furthermore, the claim that all African Americans are Hebrews ignores the historical and scientifically verifiable fact that African slaves were brought from a multitude of diverse countries in Africa. Consequently, the Black Hebrew doctrine conflicts with the ethnic diversity of African Americans.
Considering life’s most ultimate question—How do I get right with God?—the Black Hebrew Israelite doctrine is impotent. Pauline soteriology rejects any claim of advantage before God based on ethnic identification or attempts to keep the Law of Moses. Although Black Hebraism addresses important issues in black communities, their worldview is founded on an unstable foundation.
Many religious philosophies flourish because Christians do not give adequate attention to them. One apologist stated that “the cults are the unpaid bills of the Church.”1Theologically conservative Christians tend to ignore the religious movement known as the Black Hebrew Israelites. This lack of awareness has caused groups such as the Nation of Islam, the Nation of Gods and Earths, Rastafarians, and the Black Hebrews to infiltrate black communities to draw away members from a predominantly Christian demographic. These facts give impetus to the present endeavor to engage with the claims of the Hebrew Israelites from a Christian perspective.
Scholars have varying perspectives in regard to the origin of this movement. Tudor Parfitt, emeritus professor of modern Jewish studies at the University of London, provides two theories for the rise of Black Hebraisms. First, he argues that Black Hebrew identity was constructed on Africans by Europeans who adhered to color prejudice. The early European travels in Africa gave rise to the myth of Hebrew African identity based on the presupposition that Africans could not develop advanced societies; therefore, the explanation for such societies was the presence of Hebrews.2 He suggests that this bias influenced how Europeans interpreted the cultural and physical distinctions of Africans: “Jews were considered to be black, to have a number of African physical qualities, and ultimately to have a good deal of African blood. Similarly, black Africans in the nineteenth century and before, in a vast and extraordinary number of cases were thought to be Jews, and indeed to have both Jewish characteristics and to be descended from the ancient Israelite stock.”3 Although he contends that this attitude was birthed from a European conception of African inferiority, Parfitt also cites an ancient writer named Sulpicius Severus (c. AD 360–c. 425) who claimed that Ethiopians and Indians descended from the Jews.4 In fact, he quotes many writers from the medieval period onward who assert that Jews were black or have very dark skin.5 However, he insists that the modern identification as Hebrews of some among the African diaspora was partially the result of the racial construct based on assumptions about African culture.
Second, Parfitt contends that Hebrew identity was constructed by members of the African diaspora for psychological resistance toward racism. He claims that “both Africans and African Americans appropriated and advocated Judaism, Jewishness, Jewish history, and often an Israelite bloodline in their attempts to counter oppression, gain approval, re-create lost history, revolt against white authority, and forge new, more useful identities.”6 Blacks claimed Jewish racial identity to escape the stigma that came with being regarded as black.7
A different perspective articulated by Dr. James Landing, author of Black Judaism, contends that Black Hebraism originated from a need for social protest. Both the frustration with Jim Crow laws and the establishment of independent black churches influenced the emergence of Black Judaism.8 Landing rejects the notion that Black Hebraism arose from the interaction between Jewish slave-masters and slaves because synagogues denied blacks from membership; this suggests that Jewish slave owners did not proselytize among their slaves.9 Instead, he argues that “Black Judaism is a form of black social protest, as opposed to a form of Jewish expression.”10 Distinguishing between blacks who converted to Judaism and those who converted to Black Judaism, Landing points out that although there were early converts to Judaism who were black, these conversions are not responsible for the rise of Black Judaism.11 In Landing’s view, blacks appropriated Hebrew identity as a means of social protest against the degradation of the black race.
Although the previous two perspectives may offer some insight into the rise of Black Hebraism, I contend that the religion of the Black Hebrew Israelites originated from African Americans’ transition from symbolic to literal identification with the ancient Hebrews, and its false doctrine of salvation cannot warrant any adherence.
HISTORY
Toward the end of the nineteenth century, a man named Frank Cherry claimed to receive a vision through which God told him to present the message that African Americans are the true descendants of the biblical Hebrews.12 This eventually resulted in the establishment of the Church of the Living God, the Pillar Ground of Truth for All Nations in Chattanooga, Tennessee, around 1886.13
Another significant figure arose during this same time: William S. Crowdy. It was during this era of lynching and the rise of Jim Crow that the prophet William Crowdy claimed to receive a revelation that African Americans were the descendants of the ancient Israelites.14 After receiving this revelation, Crowdy founded the Church of God and Saints of Christ church in 1896 in Kansas, with the claim that the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel were the ancestors of black people.15 Crowdy traveled around the United States preaching his message and was often mistreated by locals.16 Although he taught that Jesus was black, his earliest converts were white.17 Both Cherry and Crowdy laid the foundation for this movement among blacks; both claimed to receive revelation that African Americans were Hebrew. However, this movement was not confined to the Americas. On the contrary, there are communities in other countries with ancient roots that claim Hebrew identity.
History affirms that the ancient Hebrews were dispersed many times because of persecution. The Jerusalem Talmud indicates that some of the Jewish tribes were scattered in Africa.18 Furthermore, the Sepher Eldad19 is the first reference to the notion of a group in Ethiopia called the Falashas, who claim to have Jewish heritage.20 In fact, the Ethiopian Royal Chronicles21 trace its royal line to the union of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba who birthed Ethiopia’s first emperor, Menelik I.22 For this reason, the Falashas claim biological descent from the ancient Hebrews.
A group of Black Hebrews from America in 1930 failed to establish a settlement in Ethiopia that they had hoped would attract other African Americans. However, this failure set the groundwork for the importation of the Black Hebrew religion into Jamaica. Sparked by the interaction between the Black Israelite colony and Jamaican missionaries in Ethiopia, Rastafarianism has become one of the most popular forms of Black Israelite religion.23Dorman explains, “The Black Israelite colonization of Ethiopia had failed but, all was not lost. The Black Israelite engagement with Ethiopia proved critical to the formation of Rastafarianism, which lives today as Jamaica’s most visible artistic culture.”24 Though Rastafarianism is one major expression of these religious groups, there are some key doctrinal elements that are common among most of the Black Hebrew Israelite groups.
THEOLOGY
The many Black Hebrew Israelite groups affirm diverse teachings and, consequently, are far from monolithic. However, there are some doctrines that are common to most who identify as Black Hebrews. The claim that the ancient Hebrews were black and that African Americans are their descendants is a commonly held view among Hebrew Israelites. One of their rabbis taught that black Jews were the only real Jews; he goes further, stating that all blacks are descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.25 Another rabbi elaborates on this concept by arguing that “all Blacks were descendants of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, but that in Africa and the United States the heritage had been lost.”26 Although some appeal to the slave songs as Hebrew in origin27 and the alleged Hebraisms in some African tribal customs and language,28 the Bible is also used to verify the claim of Black Hebrew origins. Jeremiah is seen as claiming black ethnic features (Jer. 8:21),29 and Genesis 15:13 is interpreted as referring to African Americans who have suffered as slaves and second-class citizens under a strange people for more than four hundred years.30
Many Black Hebrews believe that the white race is particularly evil. Frank Cherry, the first man to receive a vision about the heritage of blacks as Jews also taught that white people were descendants of Gehazi, who was cursed with leprosy as white as snow (2 Kings 5:27).31Whites are also described as wicked, unrighteous,32 and rejecters of God.33 Hebrew Israelite leader Ben Ammi contends that the anti-God individual mentioned in Daniel 7:25 is spiritually and prophetically the European nations.34
The negative description of the white race informs the Black Hebrew doctrine of separation. Ben Ammi taught that African Americans are farther away from God when they live in European societies.35 He claims that the call of Revelation 18:4 to “come out of Babylon” is a prophetic warning and command for African Americans to separate from America.36 Since the American government is totally hellish and evil, there can be no good people in its midst, so blacks must “come up out of her.”37
The doctrine of salvation involves a strict adherence to the Mosaic Law. Ben Ammi explains that black people continue to suffer because of disobedience.38 Jesus had the same message as Moses;39 therefore, the Euro-Christian theological teaching that the Old Testament has been fulfilled is a lie.40 Consequently, one is made right with God through obedience to the law.
CRITICAL ENGAGEMENT
Two main claims are made by this religious movement: (1) All African Americans are the biological descendants of the ancient Hebrews, and (2) The means of salvation for African Americans is obedience to the Law of Moses.
Phenomenological Problem
I reject the validity of the claim that all African Americans descend from the ancient Israelites. Rather, this concept developed from the symbolic identification that many African Americans claimed with the ancient Hebrews of the Exodus. In fact, this transition is a historically observable phenomenon. This is no novel claim, however. “Several writers have suggested that the ultimate roots of black Judaism lie in the identification of African American slaves with the Egyptian servitude and liberation of the biblical Hebrews.”41Parfitt agrees when he asserts that there was a progressive identification with the Israelites as African American slaves learned the biblical stories.42 A brief overview of this historical-ideological development is in order.
When the African American slaves encountered the Hebrew Bible, the Exodus story became critical to African American Christianity.43 Dr. Eddie Glaude, scholar of African American studies and religion, asserts that “by the mid-1840s the metaphors of Exodus had indeed sedimented as the predominant political language of African Americans. The analogy had been diffused into the popular consciousness of black America.”44 The Exodus story became key in African American theodicy in which it produced a framework for sustained hope that the God who delivered Israel would surely deliver them.45 In their slave songs, they made claims such as: “My Lord delivered Daniel, O why not deliver me too?”46They also sung, “Come along Moses, don’t get lost, we are the people of God.”47 One easily can see that blacks recognized God’s relationship to suffering Israel and deduced that He was concerned about their suffering as well.
This identification was not an exclusively African American phenomenon. Americans constructed a sense of peoplehood through a hermeneutic of biblical typology.48 Glaude explains, “The American Revolution was viewed by colonists as the culmination of a political Exodus—a rhetoric inherited, in large measure, from colonial New England, Puritans who imagined their migration from the Old World as an exodus to a New Canaan and an errand into the wilderness.”49 Glaude termed this concept of biblical figuralism in which Americans rhetorically have elevated and transformed American history into biblical drama as “typological ethnogenesis.”50 This hermeneutical method was laden with the potential for error.
A transition began in 1896, after Ethiopian troops defeated Europeans in defense from their invasion. Some blacks began to shift from symbolic to literal connection with Israelites.51Dorman explains that “William Saunders Crowdy and his followers had themselves internalized, imagined, and lived the experience of Exodus on the way from figurative to literal identification with the ancient Israelites.”52 Following this same trajectory, Rabbi Matthews founded a church that began Christian yet “progressively incorporated more Jewish rituals and decreased the prominence of Jesus as the decades passed.”53 This led to a process of gradually moving away from syncretized Judaic Christianity54 to a full rejection of Christianity for Judaism.55 This development gives a better explanation to the rise of Black Hebraism than the claim that African Americans are actually Hebrew descendants.
Genealogical Problem
Some scholars have decided to test the validity of the claim that there exists Jews of African descent. Parfitt came to the conclusion that the Lemba people of Zimbabwe may have some connection to ancient Jewish populations based on historical and anthropological research.56 Moreover, a geneticist named Trefor Jenkins found that the Lembas had 50 percent Y chromosomes that were Semitic in origin and 40 percent Negroid.57 This test seems to verify the existence of Jews of African descent. Though this may seem to confirm the Hebrew Israelites’ claim, it implies only that those who can trace their heritage to the Lemba are likely ethnically Jewish. Contrarily, the Falashas of Ethiopia, whom the Black Hebrew Israelites use to prove their validity, were proven to have no biological connection to the ancient biblical Israelites through genetic testing.58 Therefore, the myth that the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba became the first king of Ethiopia conflicts with the available scientific evidence.
Thus, the reader should conclude that unless one can show that all African Americans originate from the Lemba tribe, Hebrew Israelites have no basis for the claim that all African Americans are descendants of the ancient Hebrews. It is false to reason that the existence of some African Hebrew descendants proves the claim that all African Americans are Israelites. Slavers captured Africans from many countries in Africa and brought them to the Americas. Further, until recently available genetic testing, most African Americans have never been able to trace back their genealogy to Africa. To suggest that they all are ethnically Hebrew goes beyond the historical and genetic evidence.
Soteriological Problem
The biggest issue that Black Hebrew Israelites have is not their claim of African American Hebrew ethnic origins but the inadequacy of their doctrine of salvation. They suggest that African Americans will be saved by observance of the Mosaic Law. The defectiveness of this approach is not in the Law itself but in mankind. The Law requires perfection. Commenting on Galatians 3:10–12, Dr. Samuel Ngewa, professor of New Testament at Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology, contends that in order to be accepted by God based on the law, one would have to keep it perfectly.59 But Paul states, “By the works of the Law no flesh will be justified”60 (Gal. 2:16). This seems to conflict with the Black Israelite teaching for black people to turn to the Law for the hope of salvation. Pauline soteriology points people to faith alone in Christ for salvation (Eph. 2:8–9).
While being sensitive to the concern of African American identity, I reject the constructed identity of the Black Hebrew Israelites. However, while not diminishing the need for African American identity formation as a means of contextualization considering the historical situation that has degraded it, ethnic identity has no effect on individuals with respect to eternal salvation. Paul explains that confidence in one’s Jewish identity for salvation is in opposition to the justification God offers through faith61 (Eph. 3:4–9).
The challenge of the Black Hebrew Israelites is real in the black community. Christians should engage actively with these men and women who are presenting a false gospel. Dorman states, “The story of Black identification with the Hebrew Israelites and their Exodus from Egyptian slavery is the best known of all the contexts that helped produce Israelite religions.”62 Consequently, it seems that the evidence suggests that the Black Hebrew Israelite religion did not come as a revelation from God but as a shift from a symbolic identification with the ancient Hebrews that began during slavery to a claim of literal descent. According to genetic and ethnographic research, the claim that some of African descended people can trace their biological lineage to the ancient Israelites is true. However, even if all Jews were black, it does not follow that all black people are Jews. The Atlantic slave trade uprooted Africans from many different countries and ethnicities. Ben Ammi shows knowledge of this diversity when he asserts, “During the era of slavery in the Americas, it did not matter to the slave master whether the slave was Hebrew, Ashanti, Watusi, or Mandingo; they were all labeled ‘negro’ by him.”63 If Israelite leader Ben Ammi recognizes that the slave population consisted of ethnic groups other than Hebrews, how can any Black Hebrew preacher look at a random African American and claim that he or she is a descendant of the ancient Israelites? Finally, even if there were proof that all African Americans were descendants of the Israelites, they would still need to surrender their lives to Jesus in order to obtain salvation.
Jimmy Butts holds an AB in Bible and BA in Christian ministry. He has ministered to adherents of African American religions for more than ten years. He is currently completing a master of divinity in Islamic studies.
Update 4/19/19
Black Hebrews are NOT Hebrew or Jewish this video has been deleted from youtube.
http://jtf.org/e Please join the exciting forum of the Jewish Task Force (JTF) http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jewish-… Please join our great Facebook page http://hayamin.org/f אנא הצטרפו לפורום המרתק של תנועת הימין האמיתי http://www.facebook.com/HayaminORG אנא הצטרפו לעמוד הפייסבוק …youtube.com 6:55 6 years ago
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 Confronting the Black Hebrew Israelites – Anti-Semitic Hate Group Disguising Itself as a Jewish SectI remember that night about as clearly as the day I was kicked out of my first Yeshiva. I’ve always been fascinated by my terminally forgetful mind’s tendency to randomly commit to memory the most insignificant events with equal if not greater clarity than the most intense and earth-shattering experiences of my life. Why exactly my brain chose to remember every detail of the interaction I had with a Black Hebrew Israelite outside of the weekly neighborhood “Funk Night” – while forgetting just about everything else “besides for my head,” as my mother would say – has remained a mystery until now.
Anyhow – as my friends and I stumbled out of the bar and onto the curbside, we saw a few black people sitting in and around a red Pontiac G6. One guy wearing a letterman’s jacket had a friendly look to him, so I walked up and said hello. We struck up a bit of a conversation, chatting about the music and some other niceties, until I bent down to pick up a coin that fell out of my pocket and he caught a glimpse of my music note embellished Kippah. Perfectly exhibiting one of the few variations of response to my KIppah that I receive on a weekly basis (less than you’d expect – see my article about wearing a Kippah on the UC Berkeley campus!), he inquired as to what kind of hat I had on my head. I told him that I was Jewish and it was my Kippah – to which he responded, after a moment’s pregnant pause, “I’m a Black Hebrew,” as his smile wavered slightly and his body language made a subtle shift that I remember perfectly to this day, like a socially ambitious high school freshman having his conversation with one of the football star seniors rudely interrupted by the interjection of his old gaming buddy from elementary school who doesn’t realize that their years of friendship are over. But still – subtle enough that I didn’t really notice and continued talking to him with my characteristically charismatic tone of amicable excitement.
Having no idea what it meant to be a Black Hebrew at the time, I mistakenly assumed that he meant he was a descendant of the Beta Israel Ethiopian Jews – many of whom I had met and befriended during my time spent living in Israel. I therefore felt extra motivated to launch into some inspired ranting regarding Torah ideas and Jewish life in general – if I had been a bit less buzzed at the time, I might have noticed that this guy wasn’t reacting with nearly as much excitement as he had shown in our initial interaction. He was basically just nodding slightly every once in a while to show he was listening, but at the same time maintaining a clear distance from me and the content of what I was saying. I finally started to get vibes that maybe he wanted to return and hang out with his friends in the car, so I asked for his Facebook name so I could add him and he could read my weekly D’var Torah posts on Facebook.
But he never accepted my friend request. Because this man wasn’t a Black Jew – he was a Black Hebrew Israelite. And the two couldn’t be any more different.
Black Hebrew Israelite. While many people hear these terms and think of them as an immediate contradiction, my hope is that more people are discovering every day that stereotypes about Jews being exclusively “white” are unfounded. In fact, the notion that Ashkenazi Jews are white is about as erroneous as asserting that South Americans are white because of their partially Spanish ancestry – but that’s another story. Israel is full of literal black Jews – Ethiopians who have been preserving Jewish customs and beliefs in Africa for millennia and have now been brought back into the fold to continue doing so alongside their Ashkenazi, Sefardi and Mizrachi brethren in Israel. There are black Jews, just as there are Asian Jews, Indian Jews, and Arab Jews. We also have those black people who convert to Judaism – another category of fully legitimate Jews.
But don’t get it twisted. A Black Hebrew Israelite is not a black Jew. Rather, they are a member of an increasingly popular pseudo-religious movement reminiscent of the “Nation of Islam” – a system of beliefs that strikes a balance between functioning as a civil rights organization and a trendy alternative to mainstream religion. Kendrick Lamar and Kodak Black are just a few of the black celebrities that have aligned themselves with the Black Hebrew Israelite movement. Black Hebrews, or Black Israelites as they are sometimes called, believe that they are the true descendants of the twelve tribes of Israel and that the Jews are impostors, wicked shapeshifters who maliciously usurped the title and identity of the actual Israelites and have been manipulating global events to ensure that black people remain in a state of constant subjugation, preoccupied with survival and subsequently unable to be concerned with the abstract task of reasserting their “Jewish” identity and exposing the white imposters.
In short, the Black Hebrew Israelite movement is a movement of virulent anti-Semites, who blame all of the problems that have befallen black people and the world on the Jews, just as Louis Farrakhan does in his astonishingly racist treatise, “The Secret Relationship between Blacks and Jews.” If you want to read some seriously triggering material, download that book as a PDF file and give it a go. If you’ve got nearly as much intergenerational trauma as I do, I doubt you’ll able to make it through the first ten pages without wanting to smash your computer or at least write some very angry letters.
So when I met this guy at the bar and thought he was a fellow Jew, and entertained him with anecdotes and pieces of Torah wisdom, I had no idea that the entire time he was either fuming with racist vitriol, or struggling with resolving the friendly individual in front of him with the conspiracy theory driven, hate fueled vision of Jews that Black Hebrew dogma had implanted in his mind. Most likely it was the former – given that he never accepted my friend request, I can only imagine his views towards Jews haven’t changed. I’ll end with a quote from a Neo-Nazi on Reddit displaying the twisted intersectionality between the Black Hebrews and White Nationalists:
“I am not an Israelite or familiar with their doctrine beyond their claiming Hebrew heritage. It would be better for them not to call themselves Jews as the scripture says that those that say they are Jews are not. They are the synagogue of Satan, the seed of the serpent. That star of David, is a high occult symbol in witchcraft. I couldn’t make this s***up if I tried.”
Unfortunately, you wouldn’t have to go to a Neo-Nazi website or social media group to read this type of anti-Semitic insanity. As more and more famous, “woke” black people embrace this increasingly hip doctrine, you might just find it in the next music video for your favorite rapper or gracing the front page of the communist zine your cousin wants you to start reading. They used to hate the Jews for being Jews – now they hate us for being impersonators of “the real Jews.” As people continue forming groups embracing ethnic nationalism at the expense of others, somehow Zionism remains the most concerning to the UN and progressive individuals across the world. May we all respond to these crazy times for Jews by embracing our identity to such a degree that there can be no question that we’re the real deal. After all, I bet you the Black Hebrews don’t know how to shtayg a Blatt of Gemara with Rashi and Tosafot. Or hold an awesome synagogue fundraising gala that weaves Jewish food, values and culture into a multifaceted event that’s fun for the whole family – or sometimes adults only, depending on how much alcohol is being served. And that, my friends, is what it really means to be Jewish.
. Jacob Schwartz regularly writes blog postings for Jewish Values Online.
Please note: All opinions expressed in Blog Postings and comments on the Jewish Values Online site and through Jewish Values Online are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views, thoughts, beliefs, or position of Jewish Values Online, or those associated with it.
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(Black) Hebrew Israelite Beliefs
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Hebrew Israelites believe those whose ancestors were put in bondage during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade are the true descendants of Biblical Israel.
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Hebrew Israelites believe modern day Israelites and Europeanized Jews are impostors and not the real descendants of true Israel.
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Hebrew Israelites usually hold the King James Version of the Bible as authoritative. Some only hold to the Old Testament. Most hold to the Apocrypha as well.
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Hebrew Israelites believe the “time of the Gentiles” means “the time of the white Europeans”, whom they refer to as Edomites or Esau. They believe this time is almost over; America and its allies will soon be judged.
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Hebrew Israelites believe righteousness is achieved by law keeping. Strict Sabbath-keeping, dietary restrictions and a certain physical appearance is important (e.g., fringes and beards are good).
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(Some not all) Hebrew Israelites believe Jesus Christ (although they use a different name – “Yahshuah” – or some other name) was a black man.
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Many (not all) Hebrew Israelites believe “Edomites” (white people) can’t be saved. They are destined to be killed or slaves for Hebrew Israelites after the Messiah returns. Others believe “Gentiles” (non-Hebrew Israelites) can be grafted into the Kingdom if they keep the law and are under the authority of a Hebrew Israelite.
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Hebrew Israelites believe both heaven and hell are conditions – mere “states of mind”. Neither are viewed as metaphysical realities as they are in orthodox Christianity.
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Hebrew Israelites are usually part of the Sacred Name movement: they believe you must refer to God as “Yah” (or some other name). Their preference for God’s name usually depends on their individual sect (which they call “camp”).
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Hebrew Israelites believe by spreading their message they are gathering the scattered Israelites who do not yet know their true ancestry and heritage. In essence, their mission is to build a nation.
In my lifetime I have seen the uprising of the Black Panthers, Black Egyptian Kings, the Black Muslim Brotherhood, and now the Black Hebrew Israelites. No matter what name they claim, they are ALWAYS violent, militant and full of hate. They always want to be exalted, and they always want revenge against ALL whites. AND let me be clear, these folks do not represent all people of color or even all men of color. These are people who are manipulated by the devil and his demons. They are self-serving and do not know our loving, heavenly Father. They preach from God’s Word, but the Word is not in them. Even the Devil himself uses the Word of God to deceive and instigate.
I will say this, I am tired of hearing “DEATH TO AMERICANS” from people living here and enjoying the benefits of our nation. I think that anyone who publicly declares “Death to America” or “Death to Americans” should be instantly deported without any due process. None of these guys look like they are hurting or wanting for anything. It is an insult to those of all races who truly did suffer slavery for these folks to count themselves among them.
Watch: Black Hebrew Israelites Openly Call for Genocide of Whites
Black Hebrew Israelites EXPOSED! TRUTH OR DECEPTION?
I can promise you, that if you KNOW Our HEAVENLY FATHER than you know that HE LOVES the Jewish People, and HE is the one orchestrating their return to the land. ISRAEL is the land where HE WROTE HIS NAME. HE chose to provide HIS WORD to us, and they are the ones HE CHOSE to preserve it to this day. HE is in control. ALL will understand EVERYTHING… Very SOON!
I am posting the following article in its entirety. It was written by a Black man so perhaps those who are currently caught up in this falsehood will listen to what he has to say. There are multiple other articles listed below, some by him, some by me, for further reference.
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Confronting “Hebrew Israelite” False Doctrine #1
For several years now I’ve encountered and engaged in numerous discussions with those from the group known as “Hebrew Israelites”. They are a very divisive cult that twists scriptures and offer no practical solutions to any real problems other than to repent and turn back to the Old Testament Law of Moses which Christ the Lord fulfilled and delivered us from. They claim Black people in North America are the lost tribe of Judah and other people of color in the Americas are the remaining lost tribes of Israel. They also adhere to the history of Robert Windsor as told in his book “From Babylon to Timbuktu” as historically accurate and seemingly almost as authoritative as the Bible itself in telling the history of the people of Israel and the Black man in America as one and the same without question. Windsor’s book is full of errors both historical and biblical for which there isn’t time or space to point them all out here.While I firmly believe the gospel addresses all issues in life, especially those pertaining to the poor and racism, I also maintain that it is a colorblind truth for all people with none being excluded or considered superior over another. I respect and love a great many of them whom I’ve come in contact with but I vehemently disagree with their position on the Holy Scriptures as it pertains to salvation (on which they are very vague), and truth overall. A half truth is still a whole lie, and their doctrine is heresy; for lack of a better term. It misleads other Black people and those of color into the same kind of supremacist dogmas as white supremacy groups and others who also often use religion or the Bible to try justifying their position. In this regard they are no different except in skin color.
I’m for truth, and truth is colorblind when it comes to God and salvation. I’ve also found in my studies that this particular group has a problem with accepting the entire New Testament, and in particular the writings of the Apostle Paul because his scriptural writings directly contradict their errant dogma and prove their teachings to be a lie contrary to the doctrine of Yeshua Messiah himself.
GALATIANS 3:26-29; “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27) For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28) There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29) And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
In their errant attempts to “blacken” everything up to justify their beliefs they’ve even gone as far as making “King James” a Black man who sat upon the throne of England, and not merely an actual white man. King James having a Black ancestor or two would not be considered unusual in as much as Moorish free men lived in Europe for centuries, and African slaves were first brought to Europe before being brought to the Americas, so intermingling was possible but not probable in this case. The Hebrew Israelites use this to justify using the KJV Bible translation as their primary authoritative scriptural resource and ignore any possible contradiction of its translation being commissioned by a white man. It makes no difference because the scholars who actually translated the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts were still predominantly white.The Bible is a book of prophecy, and prophecy is history told in advance. Once prophecy becomes history it is no longer a mystery. Who translated what is immaterial to biblical prophecy because its truth is regardless, unchangeable, and will always be revealed in time over any lie. Deuteronomy 28:68 is the supposed “big revelatory verse” used as a foundation by those who say they are the true Hebrew Israelites and of the lost tribes of Israel in the Americas.—DEUTERONOMY 28:68; “And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.”
Let’s break it down and point out a few things using good common sense and not fanaticism or a distortion of the truth:
1) The Lord is talking to the nation of Israel after He’s delivered them from slavery in Egypt (where they resided for 430 years total), as they’re coming to the close of wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, and before they have entered the “Promised Land” of Canaan. Yahweh had previously foretold Abraham when he was still known as Abram that this would happen.
GENESIS 15:12-14;“And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. 13) And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14) And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.”
2) In Exodus 12:40-41 the scriptures are clearly talking about geographical Egypt, which still exist today, and is not an allegorical reference to the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The added 30-years onto the 400 is a result of YAH’s chosen deliverer, Moses, having fled into the wilderness of Midian for 40-years and causing a delay when he himself was 40-years old. Had he waited another 10-years instead of acting out of the will of God by trying to aid his Israelite brothers with his own might, then the 400-year mark would have been hit right on the head (see: Exodus 2:11-15*). God Almighty didn’t get it wrong but man did, and man’s interference in YAH’s divine plans always delays his own deliverance while complicating things for himself on the Earth. Just as the scriptures said, The Most High judged Egypt by the “Ten Plagues” and the children of Israel went out with great substance in the form of the wealth of Egypt.
EXODUS 12:40-41;“Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. 41) And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.”
The phony “Hebrew Negrews” believe they are going to spoil the United States and other western American powers just as the children of Israel did Egypt. What they fail to see is the disconnect between the timeline of ancient Israel and themselves. Ancient Israel had a plan and a land from God to build a nation. What do these fake Hebrews have? A plan to buy more Air Jordans, smoke more blunts, get bigger rims on their cars, or indulge themselves in polygamy which they practice so they can have as many women as they want to satisfy their sexual perversions? They have NOTHING!
Not only that, but they fail to mention that it is the Black Community being plagued from all sides with violence, political disfranchisement, social exploitation, and economic oppression more than any other group of people, yet they continue to try telling us it is because we are disobedient to GOD. If we’re disobedient then shouldn’t they be preaching “repentance” instead of “pro-black” hatred and discrimination against African blacks and other ethnicities they deem as non-Hebrew? THEY ARE FRAUDS!
To self-righteous Christians reading this: The above mentioned things such as “Air Jordans, “blunts”, and “rims” are examples of a “superficial slave mentality” run rampant in many inner cities where the Hebrew Israelite Cult spreads their doctrine but some indulge in while hypocritically condemning others for not honoring their dietary restrictions or interpretation of the “Sabbath”. Those of us in the Black Community can speak on it honestly, and I don’t care for being “political correct” in doing so. If you’re a Christian who thinks my saying it this way is racially stereotypical then don’t waste your comment calling me a racist, or talking about how much of a better “Christian” you are that’s going to win them with “your much more loving and godly approach.” You don’t know better or have more of Christ than those who confront this almost daily in the Black Community under siege by these damnable race based doctrines.
In most cases those who condemn others like me that stand against this satanic racial heresy are White Christians with no experience dealing with this, no true empathy for the Black Community, or understand the racial dynamics behind it. These same people won’t speak out against racial injustice on behalf of Black People but are quick to tell us to “just pray” about it while they continue to do nothing about it. When dealing with this type of false doctrine they pompously behave like they know better and have the perfect solution as if Black Christians don’t know the gospel as well as them. That’s being racist by behaving like the “almighty whitey”, and in some cases other uninformed Christians act the same way. Your naivety won’t accomplish anything other than disappointment by your own lack of discernment.
3) Furthermore, the scripture clearly says, “And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again…” So if they will be taken by the way where He said they would see no more wouldn’t that mean geographical Egypt? Did the ancient Israelites go into bondage in America all the way back then? NO! In order to be taken back somewhere you’ve seen before you would have had to have been there before. We weren’t in America before. So you see the twist of scripture. This is the kind of perversion of scripture they use.
Furthermore, this scripture was fulfilled literally when Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Roman Empire and all Jews were removed from Palestine either by death or taken back into geographical Egypt and sold by the Romans into slavery by way of ships traveling through the Red Sea / Reed Sea, and the Nile River. They became unwanted by the Egyptians and other citizens of the region which caused them to become so impoverished by displacement that they tried to sell themselves into bond servitude to survive, but were often rejected. This is history not a mystery.
4) The nation of Israel is a people, not a race of one particular color. The Black slaves brought to America far out numbered any national census of Israelite people in history, so there wouldn’t have been enough Hebrews/Jews to fill the slave ships over that period, and account for all the Black people here because their numbers would’ve been reduced due to the supposed “curse” that was on them. Which curse are we talking about anyway? Is it from not keeping the law as in Deuteronomy 28 or is it from rejecting Christ as in Matthew 27:25? The false Hebrew Israelites don’t even know themselves but clean overlook rejecting Christ and go all the way back to the Old Testament Law which Christ himself came to fulfill so they wouldn’t have to go back to it. To go back to it is to fall from grace which is the same as denying Christ and rejecting salvation according to the Word of Yah:GALATIANS 5:3-4; “For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4)Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.“
5) Its just a flat out lie! The cult of the Hebrew Israelites didn’t exist until the 19th century and came into existence as a means for oppressed Black people to try to explain and identify their struggles with the Israelites of the Bible by rejecting the twisted version of the Christian religion of their oppressors. The latter part of Deuteronomy 28:68 says, “…and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.”Well this couldn’t possibly be the American Negro because they were bought and sold regularly from plantation to plantation all over the South until slavery was abolished in the U.S. in 1863. So, this most definitely IS NOT Israel. There are some actual black Hebrews in existence, such as the Lemba tribe in southern Africa who scientifically, genetically, and genealogically can prove their origins. They prove these American Negroes claiming to be Israelites by birth to be a lie by their very existence in Africa and not America.
6) Not one of these false Hebrew Israelites can prove their connection to Israel. We know that much of our heritage was destroyed in slavery, but if you took our DNA it would trace back to an African slave ancestor most likely from western Africa. They most likely never knew Hebrew and many practiced paganism, or in some cases even Islam, with a few actually being Christians before the arrival of Europeans which the slaves later combined with Catholicism and other Christian elements as an attempt to hold on to their culture. You see it in Voodoo, Santeria, and throughout other southern superstitions passed down through generations. Could some true Hebrews have come over? It could’ve happened, but not to the degree these false Hebrew Israelites say, and if truly so it should be expected that they retained some connection to their true heritage so they could pass it down like most true Jews and Hebrews. We can find no such distinctly clear and indisputable connection.
One of the main points of “Hebrew Israelite” dogma is to convince Black people they are unrelated to Black Africans who they say sold them into slavery, and that American Blacks who they say are really Hebrews are cursed by God for disobedience as to why we’re here but should be mad at white people for it. If Yah cursed us then why be mad at white people or other Black Africans for it? That’s stupid! The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade didn’t start until the 15th century so they would have you believe that God Almighty has been pissed off at Black folks for nearly 2,000 years in total and even the more so over the last almost 600 years because of our disobedience. Again, that’s stupid! Why would I want to serve God according to them if he holds a grudge for such a long time? Is God a vengeful terrorist? They also errantly teach a “Negro” and a Black African are two different types of Black people. They are so “Hebrew” they don’t bother recognizing that the word “negro” is Spanish for “black”.
Falsely claiming someone else’s heritage to try filling in the gaps of our own lost heritage is due to“identity displacement” brought on by slavery. Any racially biased or racial identity based religion or philosophy is not of God but of man. The good news of the gospel is that you can find your identity in Christ. You can also search out and trace your earthly heritage as others have done. Calling one’s self a “Hebrew Israelite” is irrelevant. All who’ve tried to live by the Old Testament Law failed except our Lord &Savior Yeshua Messiah. Rather than twist scriptures to “Blacken” them up so you can feel special to God Almighty why not just obey his Word by faith and receive the grace of Christ unto salvation? Trying to do it any other way only puts you at odds with Yah, and in claiming to be an Israelite you put yourself in the same situation as national Israel who rejected Christ. The scriptures say plainly Christ is the “end of the law”, which means that’s it, that’s all, “it is finished.” You get it all in Christ and not in the law. ~ Isaiah J. West
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ROMANS 10:1-4; “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2) For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3) For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4) For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”You can find “CONFRONTING HEBREW ISRAELITE FALSE DOCTRINE WITH HISTORY, #2” here,http://ijwest.blogspot.com/2017/04/confronting-hebrew-israelite-false.html
Here’s another blog article you may find of interest as it pertains to the above subject matter that is titled“DEBUNKING RACISM FROM A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE” athttp://ijwest.blogspot.com/2013/08/debunking-racism-from-biblical.html
Also, please read “IDENTITY DISPLACEMENT – Who Are You?” athttp://ijwest.blogspot.com/2015/04/identity-displacement-who-are-you.html
Watch “The Detriment of a Lie Called White Jesus”at https://youtu.be/3ZEYvZFjGJsWatch “If Ancient Israel Was Black Why Are Today’s Jews White?”at https://youtu.be/StUlLb5liQE
Were the Israelites Black?
by Peter Salemi www.British-Israel.ca
Were the Israelites Black?
by Peter Salemi
Time and time again we have proved that the Israelites of the Bible are the modern day peoples of the USA, British, Scandinavian, Celtic peoples. Of course many are not convinced of this. There are wild theories and speculations about what race the Israelites belonged. One such theory is that the Israelites were black. Some try to prove it in the Bible. Let’s examine these theories.
Races in the Old Testament
All peoples on earth today have descended from Noah’s three sons-Shem, Ham and Japheth-as recorded in Genesis 10. (NOTE: By comparing the known geographic origins of the major racial groups with the ancient locations of the biblically listed descendants of Noah’s sons, it is possible to determine which son of Noah fathered which major race.)
Encyclopedia Americana, we find the following statements: “Most physical anthropologists accept modern man as one genus, and one species; Reginald R. Gates, alone, suggests that there are five species. The majority viewpoint recognizes THREE MAJOR “DIVISIONS” or “stocks” which taxonomically occupy the level of sub-races. These groups are CAUCASOID or “white,” MONGOLOID or “yellow,” and NEGROID or “black.” (1960 ed., Vol.II, P. 20d).
Ham is the father of the Negroids-the dark-skinned peoples who inhabited Africa, India, and, anciently, certain eastern Mediterranean countries like Canaan. The Hebrew word for Ham (“burnt”) shows that he was a dark or burnt-appearing person. Nimrod the one who built the first empire was of Ham (Gen 10:6-11). Hyslop illustrates (in The Two Babylons) a picture or likeness of Nimrod (ibid., p. 44) and the features are very clearly those of a black man.
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“Now Nimrod, as the son of Cush, was black, in other words, was a Negro” (ibid., p. 34).
The prophet Jeremiah was inspired to write “Can the Ethiopian (Cushite) change (the color of) his skin.…?” (Jer. 13:23). The Hebrew word for “Ethiopian” is Cushite. So this verse should read “CAN THE CUSHITE CHANGE HIS SKIN.…?” There can be no question that the present day Ethiopians (who are the descendants of Cush) are very dark skinned. Nimrod (son of Cush) was certainly a dark-skinned person! Now according to Fasold, stated that the ancient Greeks recognized Shem as Typhon of Egypt and it was also recognized a such by Herodotus (485-425 BC) and Plutarch (46 BC). Nimrod is depicted as a Black Man-[Editors Note: Fig 18 above is the illustration referred to. This has been incorporated for the benefit of the reader, it was not reproduced in the original text] |
Now let us notice some quotations from Plutarch which show that not only was Nimrod a black man, but Shem (the father of the majority of the Caucasians) was a fair person with a red complexion. “TYPHON HAD RED HAIR.” (ibid., p. 73). “Osiris [Nimrod], on the other hand, according to their legendary tradition, was dark….” (ibid., p. 81). (Only fair-skinned people are truly “red in complexion”).
Yes, Nimrod was a dark or black man, but Shem (Typhon – a derogatory name applied to him by the Egyptians) “was red in complexion” and “had red hair.”
For a further account of Nimrod’s death at the hands of Shem (Typhon) see Diodorus of Sicily, Vol. I, Book 1, para. 21, and para. 88. Notice the following interesting quote: “RED oxen, however, may be sacrificed, because it is thought that this was the colour of TYPHON (Shem), who plotted against Osiris [another name for Nimrod] and was then punished by Isis [Semiramis] for the death of her husband. Men also, if they were of the same colour as Typhon, were sacrificed, they say, in ancient times by the kings at the tomb of Osiris; however, only a few Egyptians are now found RED in colour, but the majority of such are non-Eqyptians….” (Diodorus of Sicily, Book I, para. 88).
Thus we can clearly see that secular history shows Nimrod was a black man, and Shem (Typhon) was a person with a ruddy complexion, having red hair! These historical accounts show that Ham’s descendants were “dark” (not all necessarily black) and that Shem’s descendants were fair with “red” or ruddy complexions!
Japheth is the father of the Mongoloids-the yellow and brown peoples of Asia and the native Indian tribes of North, Central and South America. Many of the olive-skinned peoples who inhabited the countries of the northern rim of the Mediterranean Sea (e.g. Greeks) are also descendants of Japheth and his sons.
Shem is the father of the Caucasoids-the fair-skinned blonds, red-heads and brunets who are often called the “white” peoples. “… the Semites, they were a Caucasian people…,” (An Anthropologist Looks at the Judeo-Christian Scripture). Shem as noted above is ruddy with fair skin and red hair. Such words could never be used to describe either Hamites or Japhethites. “Ruddy: red; reddish; of the colour of healthy skin in white-skinned peoples” (Chambers Concise Dictionary, 1988, p. 932). The term “melanchroes,” is used to describe the ancient Greeks as one who has “flushed cheeks” describing a healthy color as opposed to a pale face. Notice Homer’s Odyssey, “With this, Athena touched him [Odysseus] with her golden wand. A well-washed cloak and a tunic she first of all cast about his breast, and she increased his stature and his youthful bloom. Once more he grew dark of color [melanchroiês], and his cheeks filled out, and dark grew the beard about his chin.” This episode Odysseus would “no more eaten and drunk as before, nor overseen the fields, but with groaning and wailing he sits and weeps, and the flesh wastes from off his bones.” (Book. 16, 135-185). He deprived himself of food that would make anyone pale. “To Hippocrates the Phasians of Colchis were sallow (ochros) (Aer 15) whilst the complexions of the modern-day Georgian population have been described as ‘fair, sallow or ruddy’ (Lang the Georgians, p.19)” (Herodotus book commentary by Alan B. Loyd, p.22, emphasis added).
The ancient Greeks are also described as having wooly hair. The woolly hair, the term “ulotrichous” meant curly hair. The same commentary says, “Despite the efforts of Armayor and English, there is no linguistic justification for relating this term to Negros.” (ibid. p.22, emphasis added). Many white people have curly as well as straight hair.
Most likely it means “bushy” hair like Solomon, “His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven” (Song 5:11). Many British people have bushy black hair like a raven with blue eyes and a ruddy rosy cheek complexion.
Some, though, have argued that Shem’s descendants-including Abraham’s descendants (Gen. 11:21- 32)-are not white. Yet the Bible clearly describes Abraham and Sarah’s descendants as “fair” (Heb. yapheh–Gen. 12:11; 24:16; 26:7; Esther 2:7 KJV). It is from a Hebrew root meaning “to be bright.” The context shows that this word refers to the physical appearance, and is not here associated with mental aptitudes. There is every reason to believe that this word is to be understood according to its literal sense in regard to Sarah. Gill’s Commentary says about Sarah, “…she would be reckoned so among the Egyptians, whose women were of a blackish, sallow, swarthy complexion.”
There is a description of Sarah, “In the seventh Dead Sea Scroll, whoever wrote this extolled Sarah’s perfection from head to foot and while it was written in prose poem, the description as it appeared in the news media was as follows:
“Her skin was pure white;
“She had long lovely hair;
“Her limbs were smooth and rounded (her thighs were shapely 😉
“She had slender legs and small feet;
“Her hands were slim and long and so were her fingers.’
“Unfortunately as far as is known, no description of Abraham appears in the Dead Sea scrolls, but as Sarah’s description is that of her racial attributes, one can only conclude that Abraham [being a relative of Sarah, see Gen 20:12] would be identical” (R. Weliland, God’s Covenant People, p.340, emphasis added).
Just before Abraham died, he told his trusted servant to go to the city of Nahor to get a wife for his son, Isaac (Gen. 24:1-10). “And he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor” (ibid., v. 10).
Isaac did the same – before he died!
“And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, ‘Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padan-aram, [the plain of Syria] to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of LABAN thy mother’s brother’ “ (Gen. 28:1,2). If one will read the rest of the 28th chapter of Genesis, and also the 29th and 30th chapters, he will see that Jacob obeyed his father, Isaac, and went to Padan-aram, “the plain of Syria,” to the home of his uncle, Laban. Here he met and married Leah and Rachel, two of Laban’s daughters.
But what does the name “Laban” signify? In the Hebrew language in which the Old Testament was written, “Laban” means “white.” (Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, under “Laban”).
Any good Bible dictionary will show that the word “Laban” means “white” and comes from the same Hebrew stem as does the word “Lebanon” – meaning “white.” Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance defines the word “Lebanon” in the Hebrew as “(the) white mountain (from its snow).” So we see that the Lebanon Mountain was named Lebanon because it was a white mountain.
Why, then, would Laban have been called “white” unless he was a fair, light-skinned or “white“ person? He must have been a very fair person in order to have been called by this name, Laban. Judging from his modern descendants, one would conclude the same thing. See Genesis 49:12, “teeth ‘white’ with milk,” and Numbers 12:10, where we read that Miriam became “white as snow.” The word “white” in both of the references just cited is the same word in the Hebrew as the name translated “Laban.”
Jacob, also called Israel, went to the plain of Syria (Padam-aram) and married into his own family. He married two of his own cousins, Leah and Rachel. It was quite customary in Patriarchal times to marry a close relative. Even Abraham married his half-sister (Gen.20:12); and Adam’s children all had to marry their own brothers or sisters, since at that early stage in the development of “homo sapiens” there was no one else to marry.
Since Laban was a fair or “white” person, his two daughters, Leah and Rachel, whom Jacob married must have also been very fair; and since Jacob was their cousin, he must have had some of the blond, “Syrian” features of his uncle, Laban. This is also borne out by the modern-day descendants of Jacob, who have many blonds among them.
So Abraham, Isaac, Jacob-Israel were of the Semitic white race of peoples. So how does the bible describe the Israelites?
As a youth, King David (a Jew) was “ruddy and of a fair countenance” (1 Sam. 17:42 KJV). The word translated “fair” in this verse is the same word as was used in regard to Sarah. We have already noticed that this word in the Hebrew means “to be bright.” It undoubtedly refers to the complexion of the individual.
The Hebrew word from which the English word “ruddy” is “admoniy” and it means “reddish.” It is the same word as is used in Genesis 25:25. “And the first [Esau] came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.” The word here translated as “red” is the same as is found in I Samuel 16:12, which is translated as “ruddy.” “Now he [David] was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to.”
Israel’s Nazarites are described as being “purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies” (Lam. 4:7 KJV). What peoples might have “ruby-red cheeks”? These are words that could never apply to darker-skinned peoples. Black, brown, yellow or even olive-skinned Mediterranean-type people could never be called “ruddy in body.”
This word “ruddy” is from the Hebrew word “awdome” and means “rosy.” It is the same word used in The Song of Solomon 5:10 and Isaiah 1:18 (“red like crimson”). There can be no doubt that this word means ruddy, reddish, or rosy. This is another definite statement from God’s inspired Word proving that the Israelites were a fair-skinned, ruddy complexioned type of people.
This author also says: “The Old Testament book The Song of Solomon appears to confirm this description of Yhshua. Many theologians are convinced that the ‘Husband’ in this book has a dual fulfillment in both Solomon and, prophetically, in Yhshua [Jesus] the Messiah: ‘My beloved [husband] is white and ruddy…(Song of Solomon 5:10 KJV)”’ (R. Weiland, p.342, emphasis theirs). This is the same description of David. And since Jesus is a descendant of David and Solomon, its only logical that Jesus looks or resembles David.
In Jesus day, a large segment of the Jewish population was Greek-speaking and Hellenistic in outlook. (See John 12:20; Acts 6:1.). The Greek Hellenistic style for men was to wear the hair short (Cornfeld, pp. 15, 146). On page 146 of Daniel to Paul is a picture of a “marble statuette of an unidentified man of the Hellenistic period – a time of close contacts between the Jewish and Hellenistic civilizations in thought, art, and everyday life. Whether Jewish or Gentile, he evokes his age and environment.” Notice that the author, a learned historian and archaeologist, COULD NOT TELL whether the man was Gentile or Jewish. Why? Both races are white! In the days of Jesus the Jews were white!
What color are the majority of today’s ethnic Jews–many of whom live in Russia or New York City? White! Many of them could easily pass for British, Scandinavian or other Nordic European types. Notice this quote by Huxley and Haddon in We Europeans, concerning the few Nordic type people in Germany: “Hence their physique… is identical: fierce blue eyes, red hair (rutilae comae), tall frames…. It may be noted that red hair is rare among modern Germans, save among those of Jewish origin” (p. 36)!
Job also was undoubtedly a descendant of Issachar a son of Israel (see Gen 46:13). “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job” (Job 1:1). JOB WAS THE CHEOPS WHO BUILT THE GREAT PYRAMID. Cheops was the same person as Khufu, and Khufu, according to the Egyptian Manetho, “was of a different race” from the true Egyptians (Wathen, Arts and Antiquities of Egypt).
Now let us examine a very interesting quotation concerning Cheops proving that he was not of the dark-skinned, dark-haired Hamitic, Egyptian type.
The pigmentation of the Egyptians was usually a brunette white; in the conventional figures the men are represented as red, the women often as lighter, and even white. Although the hair is almost inevitably black or dark brown, and the eyes brown, Queen Hetep-Heres II, of the fourth dynasty, the daughter of Cheops, the builder of the great pyramid, is shown in the coloured bas reliefs of her tomb to have been a definite blonde. Her hair is painted a bright yellow stippled with fine red horizontal lines, and her skin is white. This is the earliest known evidence of blondism in the world (Coon, The Races of Europe, p. 98). [Emphasis is mine].
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| In this book, The Israelites by B. S. J. Isserlin. He shows a carving of an Israelite wearing plaid Garments like the Celts and Scots as well. Margin note says: “15 Representations of the king and high-ranking Israelites on seals. (Above, left to right) Shu/ebnaiau (Shebaniahu?), servant of Uzziau (King Uzziah); ‘Ushna’ ( Ashna ), servant of (King.9haz); Pera `, possibly a high Israelite official; Pekah, perhaps the later ruler of Israel, before he acceded to the throne. (Right) A king of Judah (Manasseh?), handing over the insignia of office -a bow and some arrows-to a newly appointed governor (of Jerusalem). They are all shown in an attire also used by high officials and kings in neighbouring countries; they wear their hair long, or a wig, and may be clean-shaven or bearded. Their dress may be long or short tunics or kilts, sometimes perhaps a short upper tunic above a long one. A long mantle may hang down their backs. They often hold a staff of office topped by an ornamental head, and one seems to carry a long-handled staff over his shoulder. Perhaps it represents the ceremonial key of the major-domo of the royal palace, which was carried thus (cf. Isaiah 22:15, 20-22), though this is not indicated in the inscription.” (p.98, emphasis added) |
One such source is C.F. Parker in Israel’s Migrations states, “The most concrete evidence as to the ethnological characteristics of the true Israelites is to be found in the period c.1400-900 B.C., and when they had been in occupation of the Promised Land for over 500 years. This evidence shows conclusively that the Israelites were of the Nordic type, a fact which has taken the scholarly world completely by surprise … It is evident that to the element of surprise, not a little confusion has been added, in that the predominating and almost sole type to be found in the lands of Israel’s settlement was Nordic, but has wrongly been called “Amorite” by even the highest authorities on the subject. (p.9, emphasis added). These Israelites were as Parker states, “Nordic people [erroneously called “Amorite”] occupied exactly the territory of Israel, even to that [portion of land] on the east of [the] Jordan [River]-a fact which further confirms their identity as Israelites. As we have seen, Sayce identifies these people as similar to the “fair Kelts of an Irish village”; but he also traces them into Britain and Ireland! There is no break in the chain of evidence, and the accuracy of his identification is further established when he remarks: [from The Hittites; p. 16ff., emphasis added].
Geographic Locations
The Bible tells us where these nations migrated to. This can also be confirmed in secular history. The BLACK “RACE” inhabits primarily Africa south of the Sahara, parts of India and many of the islands. The YELLOW (Mongoloid) “RACE” lives mainly in Eastern, Northern and South-eastern Asia. Myers says the “ARYAN or INDO-EUROPEAN” and also the “SEMITIC” peoples belong to the so-called WHITE “RACE” which inhabits Europe, Western Asia, North America, South Africa and Australia (Myers, The Eastern Nations and Greece., pp. 15,16).
Bible Proof Texts
Now let’s examine some of the so called “proof texts” that some use to prove that the Israelites were black.
Job 30:30 says, “My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.” By itself people tend to say this proves the Israelites were black; but of course people forget the context. Verse 28 says, “I went mourning without the sun:” or as it should read “I go about blackened, but not by the sun.” (Pulpit Commentary) which means “Grief and suffering, according to Oriental notions,” (ibid). So first of all he is black but not by the sun but by grief and suffering. So if the sun can turn him black, then he must be white! And what did Job suffer from? By the burning ulcers and black scabs with which he was covered, (Job 2:7-8) this is why his skin was black!
In lamentations 5:10 it says, “Our skin was black like an oven.” Many forget to quote the rest of the verse that says their skin was black “because of the terrible famine.” Hunger dries up the pores so that the skin becomes like as if it were scorched by the sun. This proves they were white. The same is the context in Job 30:30.
Jeremiah 8:21 says, “For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.” Many miss the context of the verse. Jeremiah is not talking about his skin color but how he feels inside. Mourning and grief “The root means rather ‘foulness’ or ‘squalor’ than ‘blackness’ (comp. Job 6:16,)” (Pulpit Commentary). He is sad in visage with grief (Joel 2:6), nothing to do with the color of his skin.
In Song of Solomon many quote chapter 5 verse 11 that says, “His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven.” Yet never quote Verse 10 that says, “My beloved is WHITE and RUDDY, the chiefest among ten thousand.” The raven-blackness of the hair contrasts with the whiteness and redness of the countenance, which shines forth as from a dark ground, from a black border. You know there are many English, Irish and Jewish people that have white skin blue eyes and black bushy hair. This proves the Israelites were and are Caucasian.
Scriptures about Jesus are dealt with below.
Acts 13:1 is another proof text, it says, “Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.” Simeon was called “Niger” which means “Black.” Many say that this means they called him “Niger” because he was black. Now nothing more is known of him, but his surname “Niger” was common in the Roman world, as the People’s New Testament says, “As Niger means ‘black,’ some have fancied that he was an African, but Niger was as common a Roman surname as Black is now.” (emphasis added). Some speculate that it could mean that he was black but that is what it is pure speculation.
Joseph the Egyptian
Some people claim that the Israelites were of the Egyptian race because the Canaanites called them, “Egyptians” (Gen 50:11). Since the Egyptians are from the race of Ham, the Israelites are therefore of the black race. Is this true?
The Egyptians themselves called Joseph a “Hebrew” (Gen 39:14, 17; 41:12). So the Egyptians themselves knew the difference between them and the Hebrews. They even called Canaan the “land of the Hebrews” (Gen 40:15).
When Joseph found favor in Pharaoh’s sight, he dressed him in Egyptian apparel and jewelry (Gen 41:42), riding Egyptian vehicles (Gen 41:43). Then gave him an Egyptian name, “And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnathpaaneah;” (Gen 41:45). Now if the Canaanites see people dressed in Egyptian clothing, and jewels, and drive Egyptian vehicles, obviously they are going to call them “Egyptians” even though racially they are not. In Ex 2:16-19 Moses was called an Egyptian as well. So racially Joseph was NOT an Egyptian.
What of Joseph’s wife? Many believe he married an Egyptian; therefore their sons were of the Egyptian race as well. “…he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On” (Gen 41:45). It does not state that she was an Egyptian at all. Now, given that “On” was in the Goshen area where many Arameans and their aristocracy settled, it is reasonable to assume that he married into that stock for the Egyptians proper were driven southwards. White says, “Around 1750 BC the Babylonians overthrew the Kingdom of Mari (ie the Aramaeans – sometimes incorrectly labeled as Amorites by historians). Many of the tribes under Mari control migrated westwards and infiltrated into the Goshen or delta region of northern Egypt.” (A note on the Hyskos and Joseph’s Marriage, p.1). This is why Pharaoh told the Israelites to dwell in Goshen so they can dwell with their own people who were also shepherds (Gen 46:34).
“for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.” (Gen 46:34). If they were such an abomination to the Egyptians what reason would they have to intermarry with them?
The Arameans were of the same stock as Israel (Gen 10:22). Although her name is Egyptian, remember that most Black Americans, for example, have names of Whites, so a name itself is not proof for her being a Black Egyptian.
The Aramaeans were closely akin to the Hebrews. Aram is a son of Shem (Genesis 10:22). The
Israelites were even taught to say “A Syrian (Aramaean) ready to perish was my father”
(Deuteronomy 26:5). In Genesis 24 and 29 we find that the kinship of the Hebrews and Arameans was cemented by the marriage of Isaac with Rebekah, the sister Aramaean, Laban; and later of Jacob with his daughters. In I Chronicles 7:14 the Israelite Manasseh marries an Aramaean woman. This demonstrates the ethnic closeness of the descendants of Arphaxad through the generations to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with the descendants of Aram.
It has also been stated in Egypt that the Tribes tended to marry only within themselves and thus physical differences between different tribes were emphasized (Rabbi Avigdor Miller, A Nation is Born, Parshat Beshelach, Exodus 15; 27). So Joseph’s wife was of the same race as Joseph Aramean.
Cult Statue of Joseph found in Avaris and reconstructed. He has flaming red hair and white skin.
Moses the Egyptian
As noted above Moses was called an “Egyptian.” Others outside of Egypt would of called him an Egyptian because of his dress, but racially he was not an Egyptian. The Egyptians themselves knew the difference between them and the Israelites.
Moses was of the tribe of Levi (Ex 2:1). When Moses was found, the Egyptian the daughter of Pharaoh herself said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” (Ex 2:6). Even she knew the difference between the Egyptians and the Hebrews. At that time there were many non-Egyptians in Egypt. The Hebrew-Canaanite-Egyptian combination known as the Hyskos had ruled over the country. The Israelites were now enslaved in Egypt but not necessarily that distinguishable in dress, etc, from the others. This would apply especially to Moses who had been raised by Egyptians in the Egyptian manner.
Judging by archaeological remains, The Ancient Egyptians were on the whole not black but rather mainly of Mediterranean Type. Egypt is on the fringe of Africa passing into Asia. Due to climate AND environment the further south you go in Egypt the darker the people become. Some of the Egyptians could be quite fair, others very dark. This applies today and it applied then even though the racial stock may have changed somewhat.
You will note most have dark hair; some are darkish, some of brown or yellowish complexion, others light skinned. There are a few women
of blondish and light brown-haired appearance, etc, and these may have been of foreign origin or not. Blondish types elsewhere, without outside admixture, account for ca.15% of the Mediterranean physical type. Also, amongst the Ancient Libyans, and the modern Hamitic Berbers both of whom were close of kin to the Ancient Egyptians blondish types are found.
It is admitted that most Ancient Egyptians where darkish when compared to modern Westerners. Some more fair haired types however were also present. These too, in the eyes of outsiders, would have been considered Egyptian. So when the daughters of Jethro saw Moses, they knew he was Egyptian, not by race, but more by appearance, since the overall racial features of Egyptians were dark, there were also light colored Egyptians as well.
A Midrash says that albino blond and red-haired types (“Bohakanim”) were common amongst the Tribes of Simeon and Levi. One relatively recent and somewhat obscure commentator (Etz Yoseph, ca. 1845, on Midrash Tanchuma) opines that most of the high Priests had red or golden hair. At all events red-hair is fairly common amongst Jews. It could be that those who are Levites may have a slightly higher percentage of red-heads amongst them. Most likely Moses was a red head.
What of Moses’ wife. The Bible says, “for he had married an Ethiopian woman” (Num 12:1). Was she black?
Moses fled to Midian (Ex 2:15), and met Jethro or Reuel (Ex 2:18), and married “Zipporah his daughter.” (Ex 2:21). These were also called the Kenites. Judges 1:16 says, “And the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father in law.” And Moses father in-law was, “Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses’ father in law” (Numbers 10:29). The Hebrew word for Ethiopian is “kûshı̂yth” (Strong’s#3571). A Cushite.
In Habakkuk 3 it says, “I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.” (v.7). Cushan (kûshân Strong’s #3572), is the same word as Cushite.
Gill’s Commentary writes, “The same with Cush or Ethiopia; hence the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render it, ‘the tents of the Ethiopians’; and these are the same with ‘the curtains of Midian’ in the next clause, tents being made of curtains, and the Ethiopians and Midianites the same people; so the daughter of the priest of Midian, whom Moses married, is called an Ethiopian woman, Exo 2:21.” (Emphasis added).
The JFB Commentary says the same thing, “the same as Cush; made “Cush-an” to harmonize with “Midi-an” in the parallel clause. So Lotan is found in the Hebrew of Genesis for Lot. Bochart therefore considers it equivalent to Midian, or a part of Arabia. So in Num 12:1, Moses’ Midianite wife is called an Ethiopian (Hebrew, Cushite).” (Emphasis theirs and mine).
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia under “Cushan” writes, “ ‘the tents of Cushan’ are mentioned in an individualizing description of the effects of a theophany. Parallel is the phrase ‘the curtains of the land of Midian.’ Septuagint renders Cushan, כּוּשׁן, kūshān, by Αἰθιόπων, Aithiópōn, reading perhaps כּוּשׁים, kūshı̄m, or כּוּשׁין, kūshı̄n (כּוּשׁן, kūshin). The context indicates that the same land or people is intended…” (emphasis added). So Cushan and Midian is one and the same people. But why are they called “Cushan”? Some seem to think its Cush of the black races, but clearly Midian in meant, who are Semitic. The Midianites are descendant of Abraham and Keturah (Gen 25:1-2).The answer lies in the Bible.
In Judges 3 the Israelites were oppressed by a power in Syria, where the Midianites dwelt at that time! It was headed by “Chushan-rishathaim.” He was “King of Mesopotamia.” (v.8). “or Aramnaharaim; that is, Syria, between the two rivers, which were Tigris and Euphrates; hence the Greek name of this place is as here called Mesopotamia” (Gill’s Commentary).
This name “Cushan” was “analogous to other Oriental titles of royalty” (JFB Commentary) like “Hur” or the Hurranians, the warrior class of the Midiantes. Since Jethro was a priest Of Midian, Cushan was one of the titles he also had since he was a man of importance. Hence Moses’ wife was called a “Cushite.” So Moses did not marry a black woman but the Midianite meaning Zipporah who was of Semitic white stock. The Midianites today are the modern day Ukrainians.
Jesus Christ
Since Jesus is a descendant of David and Solomon, its only logical that Jesus looks or resembles David.
Publius Lentrelus, a resident of Judea in Jesus Time wrote about Jesus and said that he had “…eyes bright blue…” (Weiland., p.341). Just like David! Jesus most likely had reddish or blond Hair, Maybe even freckles? Many writers like the letter to Caesar himself by Pontius Pilate, and “Gamaliel’s interview,” about Jesus all describe Jesus with light colored hair and eyes, see ibid., pp.340-341.
Now also with the Shroud of Turin being proved as genuine, the experts say that the man on the Shroud, who is Jesus is “male Caucasian” (Robert Bucklin M.D., J.D. Las Vegas, Nevada). And that Jesus Had “light blonde hair” (Unlocking the Secrets of the Shroud, p.137, Gilbert Lavoie).
Some argue that Jesus went to Egypt (Matthew 2:14) when he was a boy because he would of blend in with the other Egyptians because he was the same color as them. Again this is pure speculation and not based on the facts. In fact the reason Egypt would of been a great place for them to flee is because “Mary and Joseph’s flight to Egypt was not an odd move. Eighty-Five percent of all Jews lived outside of Israel, and Alexandria, Egypt, contained a large and old Jewish population. Joseph and Mary may have had friends or relatives there” (McDowell He Walked Among Us, p.199, emphasis mine). That’s why they went to Egypt not because he looked Egyptian, but because he was JEWISH (John 4:9). In fact, “in Christ’s day, a large segment of the Jewish population was Greek-speaking and Hellenistic in outlook. (See John 12:20; Acts 6:1.) The Greek Hellenistic style for men was to wear the hair short (Cornfeld, pp. 15, 146). On page 146 of Daniel to Paul is a picture of a ‘marble statuette of an unidentified man of the Hellenistic period – a time of close contacts between the Jewish and Hellenistic civilizations in thought, art, and everyday life. Whether Jewish or Gentile, he evokes his age and environment.’…But notice that the author, a learned historian and archaeologist, COULD NOT TELL whether the man was Gentile or Jewish.” (Article; Did Jesus wear long hair? Tomorrow’s World Magazine, 1971 issue, emphasis added) Why? because like today, the Ashkenazi Jews in Christ day look just like the Europeans.
Some say that the reason why Simon the Cyrene was called to carry the cross for Christ (Matthew 27:32) is because he was of Cyrene. “Cyrene was a city of Libya, in Africa, lying west of Egypt.” (Barnes Commentary). However at the time Cyrene was a Phoenician colony “where Jews and Phoenicians and their descendants had been working together for centuries [see Acts 11:19-26]…Large populations of our race [meaning Phoenicians] permanently settled in Africa, in Egypt and other parts about Cyrene…both Crete and Cyrene had a large Jewish population… “(Coming of the Saints John Taylor, pp.16, 49, 52). The Phoenicians are the Israelites of the Bible as we have proved in our booklet the USA and the British in prophecy. They also had a large Jewish population as well. Most likely Simon was either Jewish or Phoenician, most likely Jewish since he was in Palestine for the Passover. Barnes even admits, “There were many Jews there [in Cyrene], and they were in the habit, like others, of going frequently to Jerusalem.”
What of the scriptures in the book of Revelation? The description of Jesus Christ in the book of Revelation has been misquoted by many to suit their ideas about Christ. Many believe that these scriptures prove that Jesus was black. But does it really?
Notice, “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow;” (Rev 1:14). The scriptures here are not speaking of the texture of his hair, as some claim-and the reason they claim this is because they misquote the scriptures- it is speaking of the color of his hair and head. His hair was WHITE “LIKE” WOOL, not the texture of wool as some claim and say that his hair was like the hair of a black man. But instead it says that Jesus head and hair were “white.”
The same description is given in Daniel 7:9, “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.” Like the pure wool again the context is NOT the texture but the color like his garment was white as snow so was his hair, “That is, for whiteness – a characteristic of venerable age. Compare the notes at Rev 1:14. The image here set before us is that of one venerable by years and wisdom.” (Barnes Notes, emphasis added).
The next scripture says, “And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace;” His feet were “like” fine brass. What color would that be? Barnes Notes, “The word used here – χαλκολιβάνω chalkolibanō – occurs in the New Testament only here and in Rev 2:18. It is not found in the Septuagint. The word properly means ‘white brass’ (probably compounded of χαλκός chalkos, brass, and λίβανος libanos, whiteness, from the Hebrew לבן laban, white). Others regard it as from χαλκός chalkos, brass, and λιπαρόν liparon, clear. The metal referred to was undoubtedly a species of brass distinguished for its clearness or whiteness. Brass is a compound metal, composed of copper and zinc. The color varies much according to the different proportions of the various ingredients. The Vulgate here renders the word ‘aurichalcum,’ a mixture of gold and of brass – perhaps the same as the ἠλεκτρον ēlektron – the electrum of the ancients, composed of gold and of silver, usually in the proportion of four parts gold and one part silver, and distinguished for its brilliancy. See Robinson, Lexicon, and Wetstein, in loco. The kind of metal here referred to, however, would seem to be some compound of brass – of a whitish and brilliant color.” (emphasis added)
The Popular New Testament also translates it “white brass.”
The Ellicott Commentary explains, “The exact meaning of this word (used only here) is not certain. The most trustworthy authors incline to take it as a hybrid word, half Greek, half Hebrew—chalcos, brass, and labân, white, to whiten—and understand it to signify brass which has attained in the furnace a white heat.” (emphasis added).
White heat means, “a temperature (as for copper and iron from 1500° to 1600° C) which is higher than red heat and at which a body becomes brightly incandescent” (Merriam Webster under “white heat” emphasis added). His feet were like metal burning so hot they were burning bright, “brightly incandescent” meaning “white, glowing, or luminous with intense heat” (ibid, under “incandescent” emphasis added).
Notice the rest of the description “as if they burned in a furnace” The JFB Commentary states, “having in the furnace reached a white heat:” The heat so intense he was glowing white, as the Dictionary.com defines white heat as, “an intense heat at which a substance glows with white light.” (White Heat, emphasis added). Remember Jesus feet were “like” white brass, the same color as white heat glowing in a brilliant white light.
Blessings?
Now if the Israelites were black why is it they do not have the blessings of Israel? They are not a nation and a company of nations (Gen 35:10-11; 48 and 49). n
They are not the leader nations of the world (Jer 31:7).
God said after the deportations into captivity 7 times would pass, and then they would receive their blessings. 2520 years passed, which comes to 1800 A.D. and who became a nation and a company of nations? The British and American peoples, not the black Africans.
The Israelites would also administer justice and judgment around the world (Gen 18:19). They would be God’s battle axe against tyrants and dictators (Jer 51:20). They would a have strong global military (Gen 49:23-24; Micah 5:7-15). These blessings all belong to the British and American peoples.
They would be Christian nations (Gen 49:24).
In fact there is a prophecy that the black people would go to them and become part of their country, and convert because they know God is with them, and that the Israelites would set them free from slavery, “Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.” (Isa 45:14).
The verse itself speaks of an ultimate acknowledgement of the God of Israel by the captives. According to our understanding of the Prophet Isaiah (43;3 and 45;14 and the verses around them) it was predicted that the Lost Ten Tribes would rule over India, Egypt and much of Africa. The trade with India would be theirs, the recompense arriving (via the Suez Canal) at Egypt would be theirs, and they would transport Africans (many of whom were large-bodied) across the seas. Notice it says, “in chains they shall come over.” The black slaves were brought to them by the Muslim masters who controlled the slave trade at the time in chains.
The British ruled India. Economically they gained very much from trade with India, they ruled Egypt and controlled the Suez Canal linking the Mediterranean Sea with the East. They also controlled much of Africa and the Negro Slaves in chains were sent by them and others acting on their behalf across the Sea to North America and to the West Indies.
During that time of great colonization, when Israel was, “to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;” (Isaiah 49:8). The prophecy says, “That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.” (Isaiah 49:9). The British let the prisoners go in North America and the West indies, as well as Australia into the colonies, and they became part of the citizens of America, Canada and Australia and became Christian in religion.
The British and American possess the “gates of their enemies” (Gen 24:60). During the last of the nineteenth century and much of the twentieth, Britain had possessions all over the globe! Here are some of them: Palestine, Trans-Jordan, Gibraltar, Malta, Crete, the Suez Canal, The Khyber Pass, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Ceylon, Rhodesia, Kenya, and Tanganyika; Singapore and the Straits of Malacca; Hong Kong, Brunei, the Gilberts and Solomons, New Georgia and New Guinea; Santa Cruz. In the Atlantic, Britain controlled the Hebrides, the Falklands, Bermuda, Bahamas, Barbuda, Antigua, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Barbados, the Cayman Islands, and British Honduras, as well as British Guiana.
The major sea and land gates of the world were possessed almost entirely by the British and the United States.
For our own part, the strategic location of the United States itself, protected from Europe’s wars by the vast Atlantic and Pacific oceans, has played a vital role in the preservation of freedom in America. We possessed vitally important sea gates and strategic island defenses in the Panama Canal; Guantanamo on Cuba, the Hawaiian Islands; Midway, Guam, and Wake. We possessed the frigid island chain of the Aleutians with Dutch Harbor. Only a cursory knowledge of history would serve to impress upon anyone the vital, all-important strategic value of these areas.
Britain possessed Gibraltar and Suez, thereby bottling up the Mediterranean, and with Malta, Crete and Cyprus available as naval bases, not to mention Alexandria, in Egypt, as well as the Bosporus-Dardanelles between European Turkey and the Anatolian Peninsula, bottling up the Black Sea. Britain stood astride the most vital sea lanes in the world.
Add to this the huge naval base at Singapore and the Straits of Malacca, Hong Kong on the Chinese littoral, together with Brunei, and one gets a picture of how and why Britain was able, together with the Dutch (who are the descendants of Zebulon, another of the so-called “lost ten tribes”) who possessed the East Indies, to maintain a powerful naval and military presence in the Far East. What about the possession between those two SAXON BROTHERS, the Great Company of Nations of Britain, and America, a Great single Powerful Nation “Possessing the Gates of their enemies.” THE STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF ALL OF THOSE AREAS, IS IMPOSSIBLE TO OVER EMPHASIZE!
Israel were also to be a missionary people. God says, “Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen” (Isaiah 43:10). Britain and America and the great missionary movements of the 17th to the 20th centuries that converted many peoples to Christianity including the Black Africans is unprecedented. Missionaries gave their lives to delivering the Gospel to the heathen. The Colonial charters of the American colonies specifically say that the colonies were created for the spreading of the Gospel to the heathen. Only British, Americans, and other Northwestern Europeans can make this claim, while the Black Africans were still lost in heathenism.
In conclusion, according to the blessings in the Bible. The races and where they migrated to. The description of the Israelite and the Semites in the Bible, one can only come to the conclusion that the Israelites are of the white race and not black.
“Back in ships to Egypt” in Deut. 28
And the Lord will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.” (ESV)
What is meant by being brought “back in ships to Egypt”? Did this happen historically?
Also, how can God warn Israel with making a journey “[he] promised that [they] should never make again”?
6 Answers
God makes it very clear to the children of Israel that the objective of the exodus is the subsequent arrival in the land of Israel. The exodus from Egypt is not merely a liberation from slavery, but a means of attaining the land of Israel and the fulfillment of historical destiny. The most tragic and severely punished event in the entire Torah, found in Numbers 13, is when Moses’ spies return from exploring the land of Israel and say that they prefer Egypt. Throughout the Tanakh, Egypt and Israel are set up as two opposing and mutually exclusive ideological/cultural paradigms.
If we adhere to God’s word, we will be protected from the afflictions that God placed on Egypt:
and said, “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the LORD that healeth thee.” (Exodus 15:26, KJV)
And by the same token, all the afflictions that God placed on Egypt are given as a punishment for disobedience:
Moreover He will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt which thou wast afraid of, and they shall cleave unto thee. (Deut. 28:60, KJV)
The return to Egypt described in Deuteronomy 28:68, “a journey which I promised you should never make,” describes the exile from the land of Israel as an undermining and reversal of the entire exodus process.
This prophecy was fulfilled when the Babylonian empire exiled the people of Israel and destroyed the First Temple. It’s a matter of tragic irony that this prophecy of doom would not be directly fulfilled by the Babylonians, but by the frieghtened people of Israel who leave on their own accord:
“Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before Him: ‘If ye will still abide in this land [the land of Israel], then will I build you and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up; for I repent of the evil that I have done unto you. Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD, for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. And I will show mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you and cause you to return to your own land.’ “But if ye say, ‘We will not dwell in this land,’ neither obey the voice of the LORD your God, saying, ‘No, but we will go into the land of Egypt where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger for bread, and there will we dwell’– and now therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye remnant of Judah! Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there, then it shall come to pass that the sword which ye feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine whereof ye were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die. So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there. They shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.’
(Jeremiah 42:9-17, KJV)
…then spoke Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, “Thou speakest falsely. The LORD our God hath not sent thee to say, ‘Go not into Egypt to sojourn there.’ But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death and carry us away captives into Babylon.” So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people obeyed not the voice of the LORD to dwell in the land of Judah. But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces took all the remnant of Judah, who had returned from all nations whither they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah– even men, and women, and children, and the king’s daughters, and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah. So they came into the land of Egypt, for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD; thus came they even to Tahpanhes.
(Jeremiah 43:2-7 KJV)
It’s worth reading Jeremiah 42 and 43 in full since these are awesome chapters.
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1@JonEricson, a) Today and in Biblical times people travel from Israel to Egypt by sea, b) I don’t think that the only time the threat in Deut. 28 was ever carried out was in Jeremiah 43. I assume that over the course of multiple exiles there were plenty of opportunities for Israelites to be put on ships and sold as slaves in Egypt-whether or not we have a record of it.– Amichai
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Drop the vowels, Ships also means sorrow, and they have the root ‘I’. So he is saying, “Though at times you wished to return to Egypt, in this case I myself will take you back to Egypt in sorrow.”
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1@BobJones, that would be a great answer from a text-critical point of view! Could you write it up with an example of which Hebrew word for “sorrow” you intend here?
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1Other than the initial vowel point, both Hebrew words are identical (H591 = אֳנִיָּה = ship) and (H592 = אֲנִיָּה = mourning), although it would seem odd, since the latter word otherwise only appears twice in the Hebrew Bible as part of the expression “lamenting and mourning” (Is 29:2 & Lam 2:5). If it is H592 then one fulfillment would be Josephus Wars of the Jews, Bk 6, Ch. 8 §384: the Romans find the Jews are worth little to nothing as slaves, and the young males were deported to Egypt to work as slaves in the Egyptian mines (Ch. 9 §418). There is no mention of “ships” of course.– Joseph
Mekelburg and some modern commentators suggest reading ho-`oniyyot as “in mourning, in a lamentful condition.” They understand `oniyyot as `anniyyot, an abstract plural of `anniyah, ‘mourning, lamenting’.
The footnote, in turn, reads:
Meklenburg; NEB; Mayes: cf. NJPS at Is 43:14. This interpretation requires revocalizing ho-`oniyyot to ha-`aniyyot. For the singular see Isa 29:2; Lam 2:5; for the abstract form see GKC section 124d-f; B.K. Waltke and M. O’Connor, Biblical Hebrew Syntax (Winona Lake, Ind: Eisenbrauns, 1990) sectoin 7.4.2.
I find no reason from the text in question to assume that the Lord’s threat to “send you (national Israel) back to Egypt in ships” is anything but literal. I take it to mean specifically the nation as a whole because the entire address regarding the Blessings and the Curses in Deut. 28:1 says; “If you fully obey.., the Lord will set you high above all nations of the earth.” Then verse 15 begins; “However, if you do not obey,..,”
In other words; a partial return of Jews to Egypt cannot be the fulfillment of this prophecy. The times in history that we find a measure of the Jewish population returning to Israel via land or ship cannot fully satisfy the force of the prophecy; nor can it be surmised that it was the Lord himself who sent them to Egypt.
Furthermore, the other parts of the prophecy from Deut. 28:64-68 do not align with any known historical return to Egypt: 1) Scattered among all nations from “one end of the earth to the other” v.64. 2) There, from among those nations the Lord will give them no repose, a despairing heart, constant suspense, dread day and night, terrors in their heart and before their eyes, etc. vss.65-67. 3) And most remarkably, the Israelites will then offer themselves as slaves but no one will buy them! vs. 68. Therefore, vss. 64-67 must precede returning to Egypt in ships and vs. 68b must follow it in order for this specific prophecy to be fulfilled.
By and large, the Jews have found great comfort and ease in their diaspora surroundings even throughout their sad history of pogroms including 586 bc and 70 ad. None the less, the prophecy regards the entire nation of Israel and such an all inclusive prophecy has not been seen in the historical record. I find that Ezekiel’s prophecy in 20:32-38 is most likely a prophecy of the same event which has surely not yet happened.
There is no archeological evidence of the books of Joshua, no invasions, no great Davidian empires, or empires of Solomon in archeological records.
All we have is the Hyksos people as a contender for the true Israelites, who suddenly dissapeared after their exodus from Egypt.1
According to the IVP Old Testament commentary:
Assyrian kings of the seventh century coerced their vassals into supplying troops for their military campaigns. One way then for Israelites to return to Egypt in ships would be in the Assyrian campaigns launched from the Phoenician coast in which they were obliged to take part. This represents continued oppression by foreign enemies, as the curses have detailed. Another possibility would include falling victim to Egypt’s slave trade in Syro-Palestine, where the slaves were often transported by ship.
Footnotes
1 It is not certain that the Hyksos were indeed the Israelites, however. According to the Jewish Virtual Library:
The Hyksos are not mentioned explicitly in the Bible, but some reminiscences of them can be detected. The connection made by Josephus and Manetho with the exodus is correct to the extent that the traditions of descent into Egypt and exodus therefrom were at least in part inspired by distant memories of the Hyksos movements (Redford). There are two instances where the history of the Hyksos is connected with Palestine. The first is during the beginning of their penetration into Egypt, since their domination over Lower Egypt must have been preceded by control over Palestine. The second is during the decline of the Hyksos, when they were expelled from Egypt by the rulers of the 18th Dynasty northward toward southern Palestine. It is not surprising, therefore, to find signs which distinguish the culture characteristic of the rule of the Hyksos in Egypt and in Palestine.
D. Redford, Egypt, Canaan and Israel in Ancient Times (1992)
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2This post was edited to help bring it into conformity with site standards. Please review.– Dan
Moses told the Israelites that:
“The LORD will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone…. Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you. (Deut. 28:36, 47–48)”
“And Moses said unto the people, “Remember this day in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place. There shall no leavened bread be eaten.” (Exodus 13:3)
As you can see Egypt is the House of Bondage. The “IT” they would see no more is Israel and the enemies they would be sold to are the Edomites. They were sold as slavemen and slavewomen. (They were sold by their enemies the Africans and the Arabs.)
The word “buy” in this verse is an old Quaker word meaning to Redeem! To Redeem means to free from captivity by payment of ransom. So no one would pay the ransom to free them from captivity.
From Frederick W. Farrar, The Early Days of Christianity (1882), Volume II, Chapter VII.
Titus had these slaves transported to Egypt in ships, fulfilling Deuteronomy 28:68.
Israel: The Number #1 End Time Sign
This video was censored but it has been reposted on Rumble. To watch it on RUMBLE Click the Title Link Below:
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Israel: The Number #1 End Time Sign
Israel: The Number #1 End Time Sign
All the signs of the last days are converging at the same time. Bible Prophecy is happening right before our eyes and like birth pains, the predicted events are happening more frequently and more intently. Never, in the history throughout the world have so many forces, including economic, scientific, techno-logic, ecologic, cultural, geopolitical, moral, spiritual and religion, converged together to bring this world that’s already teetering over the edge into the abyss, to a point of no return. Jesus said when you see all these signs happening, know that I am near, even at the door.
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Apr 5, 2014 at 20:48
Apr 7, 2014 at 8:04