Old Testament

People of Color in the Bible: Old Testament

It might be helpful at this point to examine and appreciate the ethnic diversity found in the pages of the Bible. Even though we find our racial origins and roots in God’s Word, our contemporary racial categories and distinctions are not necessarily the same ones of the ancient world of the Bible. Today there are labels such as black, white, colored, caste, tribe, etc. However, the Bible does have many dark-skinned, non-white, or people of color in it. Let’s pause and take a look at some examples.

Generally, people of color in the Bible are ones of African or Hamitic descent (those descended from Ham, one of the sons of Noah). The name Ham means “hot” or “heat” and may refer to the darker skin color of the peoples living in warmer climates. Here are some of the many descendants mentioned:

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42 One of the sons of Ishmael (whose mother was Egyptian) is named Kedar, possibly meaning “to be dark” (Genesis 25:13; Psalm 120:5). His family line was associated with northern Arabia. Phinehas, the son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron, means “the southerner,” a likely reference to the Nubian people south of Egypt (Exodus 6:25; 1 Chronicles 9:20). So within Israel, there were people of black or African descent. Joseph, one of the 12 sons of Jacob, married Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, Priest of On in Egypt (Genesis 41:45). He had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, who were a part of Israel’s inheritance (Genesis48:5). Even though 70 people went down to Egypt (Genesis 46:27), the Bible says that 600,000 men came out with Moses (Exodus 12:37). The total number was 1.5 to 2 million people. No doubt there were other Jews who

also married Egyptian wives.

The wife of Moses is described as a Cushite, a person from Cush (modern-day Sudan and Ethiopia) who would have had dark skin (Numbers 12:1). Solomon’s bride compares her skin color to black goat hair used in tentmaking: “Dark am I, yet lovely . . . dark like the tents of Kedar” (Song of Songs 1:5). Zephaniah the prophet was the “son of Cushi,” which may indicate that his father was of African descent (Zephaniah 1:1).

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