The Ethiopians
Due to the fact that so many believe what the judeochristian clergy has taught them that Moses married a black it is quite important to acquire an understanding of the word �Ethiopian,� as the Greeks called the Kushites, as the word is often translated in our Bibles and as we call the people inhabiting the land of Kush in Africa today.
The word �Ethiopian� comes form the Greek word ΑίθίΨ which properly means �shining face,� �glowing face� or sunburnt face,� AND WAS CERTAINLY NOT USED BY THE EARLIEST GREEK WRITERS TO DESCRIBE THE DARK RACES.� There are several words used to describe �black,� �swart,� �dark,� etc., in Greek which are applied to people. Among them are (here are several Greek words that I don�t have the knowledge to put the proper Greek letters here so will just leave them out). There are other words meaning �dark,� but seemingly not applies to people.
Words related to �fiery burning...of metal, flashing, glittering...� ; �to light up, kindle...;� �clear sky, fair weather;� the closest, �fiery-looking, of metal, flashing; of wine, sparkling,� but according to Liddle & Scott, someone recorded in the Greek Anthologies, a late and wide collection of Greek inscriptions mostly from well into the first millennium A.D., either translated or used as �swart, dark.� However this is clearly contrary to the true spirit of the word�s meaning. Applied to Kush, a White man, or bright red or brassy-colored, which is something which happens only to Caucasians in the outdoors and is exactly what one may expect Kushites in Ethiopia to look like.
Moses fled Egypt the land of Ham (Psalm 105:23; 105:27; 106:22), as recorded in Exodus chapter 2, and met with the Midianites, descendants of Abraham and Keturah (Genesis 25:1-2) from whom he took a wife. These Midianites lived in the land of Kush, as an be discerned from Numbers chapter 12. Abraham had sent his sons with Keturah �east-ward unto the east country� (Genesis 25:6), and surely this �east country� is that called Kush in Genesis 2:13, beyond Mesopotamia, to where we have the Hindu-Kush mountains today. Or at least somewhere between the Euphrates and that country, as we will soon see from the Greek writers. Moses did not go to Ethiopia in Africa for his wife, and there are no Midianites ever spoken of here.
In Hesiod�s �Theogony,� probably written in the 8th century B.C., Memnon, legendary king of the Ethiopians, was the son of Eos, or �Light.� In the �Aethiopis� by Arctinus of Miletus, written as a sequel to Homer�s Iliad, Memnon the Ethiopian aided the Trojans in the war against the Greeks, only to be slain by Achilles. Herodotus (3:94) mentions the �Ethiopians of Asia,� and although he also describes black and wooly-haired Ethiopians (3:101; 7:70), we will refer to Diodorus Siculus for a more complete picture below. Herodotus calls Susa, the famed capital city (along with Persepolis and also the Median city Ecbatana) of the Persian Empire, the �city of Memnon� (5:53-54), since the Greeks believed that Memnon founded that city.
Diodorus Siculus, relating the tradition concerning Memnon, has Ethiopia in Asia sending aid to the Trojans, including Assyrians and �men of Susiana.� (2:22:1-5; 4:75:4) So the Greeks have many witnesses of an Ethiopia in Asia, in lands and cities known to be inhabited by Caucasians, and with people taking part in some of the first events recorded by the Caucasians of Europe. Thus, the Hebrews have a Kush in a land which may be supposed to be the same as the Greek, if not close, yet the Hebrew record is not much earlier than the events the Greeks were recording. As a third witness, we have a Kush on our own modern maps not much further east than where we may assume that the ancient district was situated. This surely can not be coincidental, especially considering the reference in Genesis 2:13, mentioned previously.
Now to turn to the Kush, or Ethiopia, of Africa. In the first eleven chapters of his third book, Diodorus draws from earlier historians (as he always did) to describe the various peoples of African, Ethiopia and the various tribes contrast with one another quite starkly. The first �Ethiopians� he discusses are endowed with what we may consider a well-developed form of �western civilization,� for he states �they say that they were the first to be taught to honor the gods and to hold sacrifices and processions and festivals.�
They quote Homer in reference to themselves (Iliad 1:423-24), they recount the unsuccessful invasions into their country by Cambyses and Semiramis, and they claim that the Egyptians were originally Ethiopian colonists, led by Osiris. The two types of their writing (like Egypt) popular (demotic) and sacred (hieroglyphic), are described, and it is said that the sacred is common among these Ethiopians.
Their priests were much like the Egyptian. They believed that their kings gained sovereignty by Divine Providence, their laws and punishments were from custom, and they practiced the same flight of refuge which the Greeks did, which was similar to the Hebrew Levitical cities of refuge. An Ethiopian king under Ptolemy was educated in Greece and studied Philosophy, and aside from a few odd customs there is no reason to believe that these Ethiopians, whose physical characteristics were not mentioned, were anything but civilized, and not much different than the rest of �western� society.
Now we know that Ham was a White Man as the son of Noah, and therefore that in the beginning Egypt consisted of White Men; also had white men as their rulers for many centuries known as the shepherd kings.
Psalm 105:23
23: ISRAEL ALSO CAME INTO EGYPT; AND JACOB SOJOURNED IN THE LAND OF HAM.
Psalm 105:27
27: They shewed his signs among them, AND WONDERS IN THE LAND OF HAM.
Psalm 106:22
22: Wondrous works IN THE LAND OF HAM, and terrible things by the Red sea.
In stark contrast to those Ethiopians first discussed, starting at 3:8:1, Diodorus says:
�But there are also a great many other tribes of the Ethiopians, (here it is made apparent that, like �Phoenicia� and other labels, �Ethiopia� has become only a geographic designation), some of them dwelling in the land lying on both banks of the Nile and on the islands in the river, others inhabiting the neighboring country of Arabia (between the Nile and the Red Sea; the land of Ham, and others residing in the interior of Libya (the rest of Africa; and Sudan here). The majority of them, and especially those who dwell along the river, are black in color and have flat noses and wooly hair.�
Here it is evident that Diodorus is describing the Nubians and other wandering black tribes of the region. He continues:
�As for their spirit they are entirely savage and display the nature of a wild beast...and are as far removed as possible from human kindness to one another...and cultivating none of the practices of civilized life...they present a striking contrast when considered in the light of our own customs.�
So surely it seems here that if we do not have a White culture in Ethiopia in an era not long before Diodorus� own, we certainly have at least a remnant of one. Ezekiel 30 lists Ethiopia among �all the mingled people,�
Jeremiah 25:20‑26
20: And all the MINGLED PEOPLE, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,
21: Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,
22: And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea,
23: Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners,
24: And all the kings of Arabia, AND ALL THE KINGS OF THE MINGLED PEOPLE that dwell in the desert,
25: And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,
26: And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
Jeremiah 50:37‑39
37: A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, AND UPON ALL THE MINGLED PEOPLE that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.
38: A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.
39: Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
Ezekiel 30:5
5: Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, AND ALL THE MINGLED PEOPLE, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.