Kush (bible)
In the Bible, Kush ( Hebrew כּוּשׁ) the name of one of Noach's grandchildren ( Gen 10.1 + 6 EU ), his descendants ( Gen 10.7 EU ), the Cushites , as well as the countries in which the Kushitic peoples live ( Gen 10.10–12 EU ).
The name Kush is also found in Egyptian sources and denotes the Nubia region . At the end of the 8th century BC The Nubian rulers of the kingdom of Kush even conquered power in Egypt for almost 50 years . This is why the Cushites are usually presented in the Bible as dark-skinned inhabitants of Africa (in Martin Luther's translation they are consistently referred to as " Moors "). However, the Bible also reports about Cushites as residents of Palestine and Arabia .
The current speakers of Cushitic languages in Ethiopia and Somalia (whose language is named after the biblical Cushites) must be distinguished from these .
The progenitor
According to the Tanakh , after the Flood, all humanity goes back to the three sons of Noah, Shem , Ham , and Jafet . The Kushites are therefore descended from Kush, the eldest son of Ham. According to Gen 10.6–20 EU , the Kush brothers were: Mizraim (“Egypt”), Put (“Libya”? Maybe Punt ?) And Canaan ; his sons: Seba , Hawila , Sabta , Ragma and Sabtecha (here one usually thinks of Arab tribes). Particular emphasis is placed on Cush's son Nimrod , the "capable hunter before the Lord", who is declared to be the founder of the empire and city-builder in Mesopotamia and Assyria . Typically, a clear distinction is not made here between people and the clans and peoples who descend from them . Cities and countries also have a progenitor in the biblical conception .
Cushites in the Middle East
It is reported of Moses that he took a Cushite wife. In the 4th book of Moses ( Num. 12.1 EU ), his siblings Mirjam and Aaron reproach him for this . It is not clear whether this Cushitin is Zippora , the daughter of the priest Jitro (or Reguel) ( Ex 2.16-22 EU ), or a concubine . In the first case, she would be a Midianite woman (more precisely a Kenite woman ), a member of a people who, like the Israelites, practiced the Yahweh cult and who settled in the East Bank and the Negev .
According to 2 Sam 18 : 21–31 EU , only one Kushite servant dared to bring the news of Absalom's death to King David .
In the second book of the Chronicle ( 2 Chr 14.7–14 EU ) the victory of King Asa , king of Judah (around 900 BC), against a huge superiority of the Cushites is described. However, the numbers of one million Kushite warriors with 300 chariots are obviously greatly exaggerated. The mention of the place names Marescha and Gerar rather suggests that these Cushites were a small tribe in the Negev . It fits that also in 2 Chr 21,16 EU Cushites are mentioned as neighbors of the Philistines and Arabs .
The vision of the prophet Habakkuk “I see the tents of Kushan full of mischief; The tents are shaking in Midian as well . ”( Hab 3.7 EU ) could also indicate Cushitic nomads in the East Bank.
Cushites from Africa
In the case of the prophet Isaiah (around 740 to 701 BC), however, the Cushites appear in a different context. Towards the end of his reign, King Hezekiah became embroiled in the conflict between Sennacherib of Assyria and the Egyptians under the Cushitic pharaoh Tirhaka ( Isa. 37.9 EU ). Cush is placed next to powerful countries such as Assur, Egypt , Elam and the "Islands of the Sea" ( Isa 11:11 EU ), from which one day the remainder of the people of Israel will be saved. In Isa 18 : 1-7 EU the prophet proclaims God's judgment of Cush:
“Woe to the land of swarms of locusts across the rivers of Kush. It sends its messengers out on the Nile , in papyrus boats across the water. Go, you swift messengers, to the tall people with the shiny skin, to the nation that is feared far and wide, to the people who forcefully crush everything, whose land is cut by the rivers. "
In Jer 13.23 EU the prophet Jeremiah alludes to the skin color of the Cushites. When Jerusalem in 597 BC Chr. By the Babylonians conquered sets Nebuchadnezzar king there Zedekiah as vassal one. This, however, is forming a coalition with Egypt. The prophet criticizes the king and is then arrested on suspicion of treason ( Jer 37 EU ). According to Jer 38,7-13 EU , it is the Cushitic courtier Ebed-Melech (literally "servant of the king") who draws the king's attention to his injustice and frees Jeremiah from a cistern . This story of an uprooted man taking care of a persecuted person is one of the most popular stories of the Jews , of which various versions have circulated.
In the New Testament , the African, referred to by Martin Luther as the “chamberlain from the Mohrenland”, is identified in the Acts of the Apostles ( Acts 8.27 EU ) as a Kushite for his queen because of the title Kandake .
Cushites in Israel today
Kushim"Kushiter" is an official term for Africans in today's Iwrit .
literature
- Fritz Rienecker (ed.): Lexicon for the Bible. 4th edition, Brockhaus, Wuppertal 1962.
- Jean Leclant : Kushites. In: Kathryn A. Bard (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Archeology of Ancient Egypt. Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-415-18589-0 , pp. 423-28.