Are there any black people mentioned in the Bible?

This is the Greek and Roman name for CUSH, a kingdom in Africa to the south of Egypt. The boundary between the two kingdoms is not well defined, indeed, it may have varied at different times. The first cataract, 24 N, 32 52' E is generally taken as its northern boundary: its extent southward is altogether unknown. Gen. 2:13; Esther 1:1; Ezek. 29:10. At times Ethiopia conquered Egypt: two of the kings mentioned in scripture were Ethiopians. 2 Chr. 14:9; Isa. 37:9. In some of the prophecies they are mentioned as separate kingdoms. Nahum 3:9. See EGYPT, LAND OF.

Some of the descendants of Cush, the son of Ham. They are represented on the Egyptian monuments as darker in colour than the Egyptians. Without being black they may have been the darkest of any people known to the Israelites, as the question is asked: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin?" Jer. 13:23. As 'Ham' signifies 'black,' he was probably a dark man, and it is implied in Cant. 1:6 that the sun causes the complexion to be black or dark, therefore the farther south in Africa (to the Equator), the darker would be the skin. This, with degraded habits, had changed the features of those in the centre of Africa, from the more cultivated sons of Ham in the north. The Ethiopians appear to have been nearly as far advanced in the arts and sciences as the Egyptians, but some of the monuments in the south are by Egyptian kings. As far south as Abu-Simbel, about 22 20' N, 31 37' E are two temples hewn in the rock, which rank in interest next to the ruins at Thebes; these are attributed to Rameses 2 king of Egypt, with colossal statues of himself cut out of the solid rock. It was an Ethiopian who befriended Jeremiah and drew him out of the pit, for which his life was spared. Jer. 38:7, 10, 12; Jer. 39:16. It was a pious Ethiopian, of great authority with his queen, to whom Philip preached of Jesus, and then baptised him. Acts 8:27.

The Ethiopian eunuch represented the family of Ham; Saul of Tarsus the family of Shem; and Cornelius, the Roman centurion, the family of Japheth. It is not a little remarkable that this is so, that without parading the point, it nevertheless shows how God would reach all mankind with the message of the gospel of the grace of God. “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter” (Prov. 25:2). The Ethiopian eunuch would carry the news to his dark heathen country. There is to this day, a Christian church in Ethiopia, whose beginning is lost in the mists of antiquity, and many think it owes its origin to the eunuch’s conversion. Note Philip, who was used to his conversion, was at the time preaching in Samaria, one of the places mentioned by our Lord as a place where the gospel was to be proclaimed.

But the servant of the Lord was not in the hands of the princes, but in the hands of his Master. God chooses for the deliverer a slave, an Ethiopian, Ebed-melech (servant of the king). The heart of this Ethiopian eunuch was touched with pity. He goes to the king, who seems to have been ignorant about what had been done to Jeremiah and tells him that Jeremiah is likely to starve to death in the filthy hole where they had put him. The king commands the eunuch to act at once with thirty men to deliver Jeremiah. With what tenderness, to spare the man of God all needless pain, Ebed-melech carried out the king's wish (verse 12)!

A child of Ham had traveled a toilsome journey across the deserts of Africa, from the abodes of Cush, and with a burdened heart, to “Judah, where God was known” (Ps. 76:1-2). He had heard of the God of Israel, and of the Holy city where He might be found. Up to this the stream of mercy from God’s throne had been poured forth upon Jerusalem. But Jerusalem, refusing the “sure mercies of David,” had diverted the stream. Still, it had not ceased to flow, though its course was changed. It turns its course now to unclean Samaria, and onward still, till it reached the deserts beyond. There, this Ethiopian was seen, returning to his own land, with his soul unsatisfied, for Jerusalem’s day had passed; she “knew not the day of her visitation.” But God is “a rewarder of those that diligently seek him,” and this seeking heart shall not have sought in vain. Philip draws near at the Spirit’s bidding, and hears this man read the prophet Esaias. Neither wealth nor learning, nor worldly place, had given him the riches he was about to find-treasured in the book which he had brought away from Jerusalem. Philip began at the same scripture which he read, and “evangelized to him Jesus.” The Person who alone could satisfy his soul was found, and he goes “on his way rejoicing.” Ethiopia had not stretched out her hand in vain to God! (Ps. 68). God did not change His governmental ways in placing the race of Ham under degradation (Gen. 9), in the blackened skin of the negro race: but while leaving all questions of government as they were, He makes — not the face — but the heart and conscience of the negro as white as snow, by the blood of the Lamb!

From that time the gospel went out, not to the Jew only, but to all men, and the Spirit of God in moving Luke to write the Acts chose three cases of this work of God's grace: the Ethiopian Eunuch (chap. 8); Saul of Tarsus (chap. 9); Cornelius, the centurion (chap. 10). The Ethiopian was a son of Ham; Saul, the Jew, a son of Shem; Cornelius, the Roman, a son of Japheth; one of each of the three families into which mankind was formed after the flood, clearly showing the universal reach of the gospel of the grace of God and its power. We should have put the centurion first and the man of colour last; but God's ways are not as our ways; He knows how to rebuke our pride, and with Him the last shall be first.

Soon after God's dealing so seriously with Israel's complaints, both Miriam and Aaron are infected with a similar spirit of murmuring. It was plainly Miriam who led in this, but she influenced Aaron in the same way. they spoke against Moses because he had married an Ethiopian woman, but also used this occasion to question the fact that God had spoken through Moses, urging that He had also spoken through them. Scripture does not forbid marriages between whites and blacks, though 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 forbids a believer to marry an unbeliever. But to use an occasion like this to put the Lord's servant down in order that they may virtually take his place is wickedness in the sight of the Lord.

Miriam would seem to have been the instigator of the rebellion, for she is first named, and on her falls the weight of the chastisement. The occasion, or the ostensible occasion, was the fact that Moses had married an Ethiopian woman. This he had certainly done, but it was long before he was appointed to be a ruler and deliverer of his people — when indeed he had been rejected of Israel in Egypt, and driven into exile by the wrath of the king. In this position therefore the very marriage of which they complained was the exhibition in type of the sovereign grace of God, who, on the rejection by Israel of His beloved Son, would give Him a bride from among the Gentiles, to be His companion for ever in glory. Miriam and Aaron were thus not only blind to the actings of the sovereign grace of Jehovah, but they also were forgetful that they themselves were debtors to that same grace; for He who had called Moses to be the mediator, had also assigned to them their respective places.

Ethiopian eunuch in the service of king Zedekiah. He aided Jeremiah and God sent word to him that he should be delivered from death at the taking of Jerusalem. Jer. 38:7-12; Jer. 39:16-18.

In Lamentations the prophet recalls the distress of his soul in this terrible situation: “They that are mine enemies without cause … have cut off my life in a pit, and cast a stone upon me. Waters streamed over my head; I said, I am cut off” (Lam. 3:52-54). Feeling that he is perishing, he cries to God: “I called on your name, O Lord, from the lowest pit. You have heard my voice. You drew near on the day I called on You, and said, ‘do not fear!’ O Lord, You have pleaded the case for my soul; You have redeemed my life” (v.55-58). In answer to the ardent supplication of His servant, the Lord directs Ebedmelech, an Ethiopian eunuch in the king’s house, to draw Jeremiah out of his predicament. This man takes it upon himself to go to Zedekiah to intercede for the prophet, obtaining the authorization to deliver him. The king provides thirty men to assist him. Ebed-melech, with much regard for the prisoner, takes old shreds and rags and asks Jeremiah to put them under his armpits beneath the ropes. “And they drew up Jeremiah with the ropes, and brought him up out of the pit.”

I want to ask you if you experienced anything like this when you felt an urge to do something for the Lord? It may have been just a visitation or to write a letter and you did not do it, and afterwards there was a tremendous regret, an opportunity had been missed. There is nothing mystical about this. One Scripture that appeals to me very much in this respect is Romans 8:16, "The Spirit himself witnesses with our spirit". There is a clear indication that the Holy Spirit and our spirit are in close affinity and whether it is witnessing to the truth or whether it is direction and guidance here is something that is open for every Christian, here is a clear way in which the Spirit speaks to us in order to help us to do something to guide us into the pathway of the will of the Lord. So Philip obeyed, the Ethiopian Eunuch man was converted, went back to Ethiopia, and as far as I am aware, the Christian testimony has continued in Ethiopia right up to the present day because Philip obeyed the voice that he heard, the urging of the Holy Spirit.