Who were the Cushites?

Eldest son of Ham and grandson of Noah. Gen. 10:6-8; 1 Chr. 1:8-10. His descendants are called in the A.V. Ethiopians, though the Hebrew is the same: Cush. The district also occupied by the above people, Isa. 11:11, is mostly called in A.V. Ethiopia, q.v. It will be seen by the genealogy that the descendants of Cush were numerous:-

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.

All these cannot be confined to Africa. Some were probably located in Arabia, and Nimrod is clearly associated with the East; so that though as a district Cush may usually refer to Africa, the Cushites must have had a much wider range. It seems clear too from Gen. 2:13 that even geographically the name Cush: or Ethiopia, was also applied to a region in Asia.

Of Ham's sons Cush has the first place. According to scripture that stock settled in lands the most remote. There is without doubt an Asiatic as well as an African Cush. Gen. 2:13 presents its difficulty, but it would seem to be anticipative like Havilah and Assyria; for it is certain that till the flood there was no actual settlement of lands in their nations. But we know from our chapter that a notable departure was first taken by one of the Cushite descent to possess himself of power by usurpation, and this not in Africa but in the plain of Shinar, of which there are details to follow. It was certainly not after their arrival in Africa that this ambitious movement took place, but early in that day of change; and in fact not a few traces exist, philological and historical, of early connection between Ethiopia, Southern Arabia, and the cities on the lower Euphrates, as may be seen in Rawlinson's Herod. i. 442, 443. No one doubts that in general Cush as a country lies beyond higher Egypt; but as a race they settled far more widely, as already pointed out. And this explains more than one passage, which is commonly and altogether misunderstood from not taking the facts into account no less than from holding fast the strict wording of scripture. Thus, Isaiah (Isa. 18:1) says, "Ho! land shadowing with wings, which art beyond the rivers of Cush." It is absurd to infer that this means either Egypt or Ethiopia, any more than Babylonia. The object of the phrase is on the contrary to distinguish the land in question from either those lands or from any within those limits, which had in the past interfered with Israel. It is the prediction, not yet accomplished, of a land beyond the Nile in the south and the Euphrates in the north, which are the rivers of Cush. That unnamed land, described in striking terms as distinctly outside the Gentile powers which had hitherto acted on the chosen people, is to espouse their cause at a future day; but to no good effect, for the nations will oppose, jealous and hostile as of old, just before Jehovah takes up the matter and restores Israel to the place of His name, to Mount Zion. So in Zeph. 3:10 we read, "From beyond the river of Cush my suppliants, the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring my oblation." Egypt or Ethiopia might be described as on one side of Cush, and Babylonia on the other; but Jehovah shall bring His dispersed from lands expressly beyond both.

There is no question as to the identification of Mizraim, and the great magnificence of its civilisation as of the Asiatic Cush in the remotest antiquity. The form of the word in Hebrew is the dual, which some would refer to higher and lower Egypt. However this may be, the context decides that both Cush and Mizraim mean men, and sons of Ham. Ephraim, born in Egypt, has also the dual form, but is none the less surely the name of a man.

Sabtecha is the last-named of Cush's sons, of which scripture makes no mention beyond the genealogical list here and in 1 Chron. 1. Hence we cannot say anything sure, and need not repeat more than Bochart's conjecture that they found their way to Carmania on the Persian shore of the Gulf, and that the name seems changed to the Samydace of Steph. Byzant. In his Thes. Gesenius suggests a yet less probable idea.

Of Sheba and Dedan, sons of Raamah, we may say more when we come to compare them with the same names in the Shemitic line. This only may be noticed that in Ezek. 27 Sheba occurs twice; first, with Raamah in ver. 22, which fixes him as the Cushite in the same part of Arabia; secondly, with Asshur, etc., in ver, 23, which points to the Shemitic line, confirmed by the distinct merchandise of each. In like manner the men of Dedan in Ezek. 27:15 appear to be Cushites on the Persian gulf (where the isle of Dadan perpetuates the name) and with imports and exports accordingly; whereas we have Dedan distinguished in ver. 20, who seem to be Shemitic through Keturah. Compare Ezek. 25:13.

The Jews therefore did not err in assigning to Cush, not only Ethiopia and the contiguous parts in Africa, but the opposite coast of Arabia and the southern shore of Asia generally unto India. But Arabia received also a large Shemitic population, as we shall see, which gave character to their language; and this not only from Joktan, Eber's son early, but from Ishmael's twelve sons, and from Jokshan, Abraham's son still later, with some of Esau's descendants. Even Homer (Od. i. 23, 24) speaks of Ethiopians divided into two parts, the most distant of men, some at the setting sun, and some at the rising. We shall find a Cushite element active early in Babylonia and Africa. It was a Turanian race which included the Turks, but not the Armenians whom they rightly gave to Japhet. But they seem never to have realised that the ancient Persian (Zend) language, and that of northern and central India (Sanskrit), disclose the same Japhetic source.

The Ethiopia of verse 13 is really Cush, of whom we read in Genesis 10:6. There appears to have been a district bearing his name between Mesopotamia and India, as well as the better known land we now call Abyssinia.

{Verse 5: Cush was the son of Ham, and the father of Nimrod. Cush, or Ethiopia, has reference in general to a powerful kingdom to the south of Egypt, while the connection with Nimrod associates the family with the first kingdom in Babylonia. — (J. Bloore).

The Delta, and as far south as Noph (Memphis, 29 51' N, 31 20' E), is Lower Egypt: and from Noph southward to the first Cataract (24 N) is Upper Egypt. The emblematic crowns representing the two districts were not the same; but the two were united in one crown when a king reigned over all Egypt. As there were many changes by different dynasties the same boundaries may not always have been preserved. CUSH, or ETHIOPIA, extended much farther south, but is often mentioned in scripture along with Egypt: Ps. 68:31; Isa. 11:11; Isa. 20:4; Isa. 43:3; Isa. 45:14; Nahum 3:9. Ethiopian kings appear to have reigned in Egypt, and are included in their list of kings.

The ancient Egyptians were descendants of Ham, but his descendants were numerous and diverse. As far as the name implies, Egypt naturally associates itself with Mizraim; but it is judged that the Egyptians of the times of the most ancient monuments were of the Circasian type, and apparently descended rather from Cush than from Mizraim. The examination of the mummies of the old empire show that their structure does not agree with that of the Negroes, who were also descendants of Ham. The ancient Egyptians are classed among the white races: the Ethiopians were darker, and those farther south still darker. The Copts in modern Egypt are considered to be the descendants of the ancient race.

Third son of Cush. Gen. 10:7; 1 Chr. 1:9. Where he was located is not known.

Fifth son of Cush. Gen. 10:7; 1 Chr. 1:9. It is not known where he was located.

Son of Cush, a son of Ham, and the territory where his descendants were located. Gen. 10:7; 1 Chr. 1:9; Ps. 72:10; Isa. 43:3. The descendants have been traced to Meroe, on the west of Abyssinia, and Josephus says that Meroe was at one time called Saba, or Seba. Its ruins lie between lat. 16 and 17 N. It is, however, believed by some that this tribe first settled near the Persian Gulf (probably along with the descendants of SHEBA, another descendant of Ham), and afterwards migrated into Africa. See SABEANS.