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THE AFRICAN TRIBES OF

EGYPT AND ISRAEL


By Jarrett Troupe

December 7, 2016
Exodus and Egyptian Warfare
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1

Introduction

The ancient tribes of Egypt and Israel were/are black. The identification can be reckoned

as Negro, black, or African by modern standards. This application is evident from ancient

Egyptian depictions of themselves, in statue or in wall relief (for the Egyptians) and by biblical

misidentification with Egyptians in the case of the Israelites. The Egyptians, as described by

ancient Greek and Roman sources, are/were dark-skinned and wooly haired. Ancient record

attests that people groups from ancient Babylon to ancient Ethiopia were black African, though

this term too can be misleading. Identifying Egypt with black African nations of today runs

contrary to modern archeology, yet the evidence presents this reality beyond doubt. The presence

of ancient African culture from the Euphrates to the Nile aids in identifying the most influential

African nation in history, Israel. With this emphasis, we examine ancient Egyptian ethnicity,

focusing first on the Bible, archeology and ancient testimony from cognate people groups.

In a 2005 study of skin tissues from several mummies discovered in Luxor, Egypt,

ancient Thebes, to identify mummification techniques used by the Ancient Egyptians, several

pertinent facts about Egyptian ancestry came to light. This study showed conclusively that the

mummies all exhibited tissue consistent with that of Negro ancestry, “Although much of the

epidermis had already separated from the dermis, the remaining epidermis often was preserved

well. The basal epithelial cells were packed with melanin as expected for specimens of Negroid

origin.”1 In a casual, side observation, the researchers answered a hotly contended archeological

mystery…Egypt was black. With the information concerning Egyptian ethnicity reported in

scientific journals, documented by ancient Greek and Roman sources, and abundantly portrayed
1
A.M. Vermehren and M. Mekota "Determination of optimal rehydration, fixation and staining methods
for histological and immunohistochemical analysis of mummified soft tissues." Biotechnic & Histochemistry. (New
York: Thompson Reuters, 2005) 80: 7-13.
2

on the walls of Egyptian temples and tombs, why then are the Egyptians depicted and identified

erroneously? Are their cultural motives behind these appearances? An investigation into the

ethnicity of the Ancient Egyptians will encompass many factors: the important reason for

racially identifying Egypt, the cultural connection to Israel, modern Egyptian misidentification

and the prophetic significance of both Egypt and Israel.

Time works to obscure all things. Truths of yesterday can prove to be great mysteries of

tomorrow. For this reason, it is important to view carefully ancient interpretation and rely heavily

on eyewitness report. Time holds no prisoners, thus an accurate assessment of ancient record is

necessary. History tends to shift as different people groups emerge; an ever-evolving

interpretation of history takes the forefront. There are many examples of this type of historical

revision and tampering with the identity of a culture. Josephus, 1st century Hebrew historian,

speaks of this cultural revising, from an ancient perspective, about the Greeks:

There were some also who passed over the sea in ships, and
inhabited the islands: and some of those nations do still retain the
denominations which were given them by their first founders; but
some have lost them also, and some have only admitted certain
changes in them, that they might be the more intelligible to the
inhabitants. And they were the Greeks who became the authors of
such mutations. For when in after-ages they grew potent, they
claimed to themselves the glory of antiquity; giving names to the
nations that sounded well (in Greek) that they might be better
understood among themselves; and setting agreeable forms of
government over them, as if they were a people derived from
themselves.2
Josephus indicates that the ancient Greeks, in the time of their domination of world culture,

renamed certain places, people, and people groups for two reasons: easier Greek pronunciation

and to assert antiquity. In this renaming, the Greeks were marking themselves as the most

2
Josephus and A. M. William Whiston, Josephus the Complete Works (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998),
41.
3

ancient nation; the act of designation signified both antiquity and authority. In this aspect, we

understand how and why in English Mitsraim becomes Egypt, Cush becomes Ethiopia and so on.

Today we overlook these differences, yet our entire ancient understanding automatically emerges

from a Greek perspective, even by the names given to these people and places. To identify

ancient people groups accurately, the investigator must overcome misrepresentation, from many

eras. Even in ancient times, an altered perspective can hide the identity of a people.

Race and Prophecy

What is a Negro? What does being black mean? What is an African? These three terms

are often intermingled and usually elicit a persistent definition: people with dark skin and wooly

hair. The American Heritage Dictionary defines the term Negroid as “Of or being a major human

racial classification traditionally distinguished by physical characteristics such as brown to black

pigmentation and often tightly curled hair and including peoples indigenous to sub-Saharan

Africa.”3 The term ‘black Africa’ is used to designate this race of people as (only) emerging from

below the Saharan desert, signified by dark skin, woolly hair, flat/thick noses and thick lips.

Recent studies go a long way to disprove this architype, however. John Relethford, NYU PhD of

Anthropology, writes, "Previous results obtained mtDNA and microsatellite DNA and

craniometrics variation show a pattern in which the highest level of within-population diversity

occurs in Sub-Saharan Africa. The current study shows the same pattern for human skin color.”4

The preceding study shows that the most racially diverse group of people on the Earth exist in

Sub-Saharan Africa, continuing to state that skin color, hair texture, and other physical
3
Margret S. Berube, Christopher Leonesio, Joseph P. Pickett and David R. Pritchard, The American
Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006), 1177.
4
John Relethford, "Human Skin Color Diversity is Highest In Sub-Saharan African Populations." Human
Biology (Wayne State Univerity Press, 2000) 72 (5): 773-780.
4

characteristics differ most in this region of the world. This information is important to

understand. Africans are not one group, they are an ethnically diverse group of families, more

widespread than any other continent on Earth. In secular definition, land classifies the families of

the Earth, but in biblical identification land, ancestors and prophetic significance are the major

classification components. It is seen that more than one group can exist in the same place, as was

the case for the ancient Israelites, who existed in Canaan. A son of Shem living in a place named

after a son of Ham.

There are three main groups of biblical tribes (which further break down into seventy

families), those descending from either Shem, Ham or Japheth.5 Within these families there

exists stark ranges of skin tone, with Japheth designated as the lightest and Ham as the darkest.

Rabbi Eleazer Ben Hurcanus, 1st century AD, indicates this divide in his commentary on the

Genesis 10 division of the Earth, “He especially blessed Shem, (making them) dark but comely,

and he gave them the habitable earth. He blessed Ham and his sons (making them) dark like the

raven, and he gave them as an inheritance the coast of the sea. He blessed Japheth and his sons,

(making) them entirely white and he gave them for an inheritance the deserts and its fields…”6 It

is significant that the Hebrew text of Eleazar Hurcanus7 uses the term ‫ שחור‬or shachur as both

describing Shem and Ham. This depiction is lifted directly from the Bible, located in Song of

Songs 1:5, “I am black [shachur], but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar,

as the curtains of Solomon.” The text describes a bride of Israel as being black and beautiful.

Song of Songs 5:11 continues, “His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black

[shachur] as a raven,” another depiction of an Israelite with bushy jet-black hair. In a casual

5
Gen. 10
6
Eleazar Hurcanus and Gerald Friedlander, Pirke de Rabbi Eleazar (New York: The Bloch Publishing
Company, 1916), 173.
7
http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/vl/pirkeyeliezer/pirkeyeliezer03.pdf [Accessed on December 5, 2016]
5

depiction of two Israelites, the scriptural image obtained defines black Africa; dark skin and

black, wooly hair. Rabbi Eleazar’s depiction, from a crucial 1st century perspective, indicates a

similar appearance of Hametic tribes (people groups descending from Ham) and Semetic tribes

(people groups descending from Shem). This understanding of the similar, Negroid appearance

of Shem and Ham is a prevalent theme in all ancient depiction, from the Bible, to Judaism and

even to Greek and Roman literature.

The book of Genesis provides the biblical definition of the families of the world. The

Bible divides the tribes of humanity by Noah’s sons, as has been related. The Table of Nations

(the biblical chart describing the familial divisions of the Earth) remains verified by

archeological findings and critical scholarship. This breakdown from Genesis chapter 10 details

the sons of Noah’s sons, totaling 70 individuals, “These are the families of the sons of Noah,

after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after

the flood.”8 Given the amount of time passing between even Moses’ depictions of humankind’s

national divide, one would believe that reckoning these families of the Earth in today’s current

populations would be impossible. Conversely, the Bible presents the nations by their ancient

designation in future prophecy, indicating these people groups are still active and important. The

book of Zechariah states of the last days

And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the
nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year
to year to worship the King, Yahuah9 of hosts, and to keep the feast
of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all
the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King
Yahuah of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the
family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there
shall be the plague, wherewith Yahuah will smite the heathen that
come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the
8
Genesis 10:32 KJV
9
The name of the Father, Yahauh, will replace ‘the LORD’, as originally intended in the ancient Hebrew.
6

punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come


not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.10

The Egyptians, as a people group today, may have differed dramatically from the Egyptians of

the past (as will be shown later). This however is not how the Bible describes the ancient

understanding. The Bible describes the ancient Egyptians as remaining until the final days of

Earth, when the entire world will go up to Jerusalem to keep the festival of Tabernacles. This

means that the Egyptians will still be an ethnic group descending from Mitsraim, the son of Ham,

the grandson of Noah in the far future. Another attestation to the surviving unit of people groups

is found in the book of Malachi, “For I am Yahuah, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are

not consumed.”11 Jeremiah reiterates, “Thus saith Yahuah, which giveth the sun for a light by

day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea

when the waves thereof roar; Yahuah of hosts is his name. If those ordinances depart from before

me, saith Yahuah, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me

forever.”12 According to the Bible, the nations of Israel and Egypt will still exist in the far future.

The book of Revelation states, “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed

out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the

earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of

the sea.”13 Gog and Magog draw particular importance in both the first and last book of the bible.

These families are the names of people groups derived from the Genesis 10 table of nations. This

familial group re-emerges in the book of Ezekiel,

Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus
saith Adoni Yahuah; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief

10
ZecharYah 14:16-19 KJV
11
Mal 3:6 KJV
12
YiramYahu 31:35-36 KJV
13
Rev 20:7-8
7

prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and leave
but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the
north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: And I
will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows
to fall out of thy right hand…”14

The implication here from these biblical passages is that a family of people, identified by their

ancient denomination, Gog, Magog, Meshech and Tubal, will incur wrath for their future actions.

This prophecy is directly concerning the future sons of Japheth, “The sons of Japheth; Gomer,

and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.”15 Bible prophecy

denotes future people groups by their ancient names, with the understanding that they will

remain as a people group in the future. The implication is phenomenal, original familial

boundaries are still applicable in the last days. Identifying these people groups in order to

understand prophecy is of the utmost importance. If the Bible is true for prophecy and for

identification, then these groups should still be identifiable today by their biblical characteristics.

The following sections will accomplish an ethnic identification of Egypt and the implications for

Israel.

Who Is Africa?

“When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.” – Hosea 11:1

14
Ez 39:1-3 KJV
15
Gen 10:2 KJV
8

The continent of Africa has undergone many changes, holding within its boundaries

many differing people groups. In order to identify ancient Egypt, one must understand that its

borders exist physically in Africa. In modern interpretation, Egypt is not African, in an ethnic

sense. An imaginary partition exists between people groups of North Africa and lower Africa,

beginning at the Sahara Desert. There exists a fundamental bias in the academic community

against advanced people groups emerging from a black African context. The sentiment of

European enlightenment thought concerning Africa emerges from such founding philosophers as

David Hume and Emanuel Kant. Kant writes, “The Negroes of Africa have received from nature

no intelligence that rises above the foolish. The difference between the two races is thus a

substantial one: it appears to be just as great in respect to the faculties of the mind as in

color…”16 David Hume expounds on this disposition:

Not to mention our colonies, there are Negroe slaves dispersed all
over Europe, of which none ever discovered any symptoms of
ingenuity, tho' low people, without education, will start up
amongst us, and distinguish themselves in every profession. In
JAMAICA indeed they talk of one Negroe as a man of parts and
learning; but 'tis likely he is admired for very slender
accomplishments like a parrot, who speaks a few words plainly.17

This sentiment underscores the proclivity to render Africa and its inhabitants as critically inferior

to the civilized societies of Europe. British historian and writer of African history, Basil

Davidson, expounds:

Old views about Africa are worth recalling because, though


vanished from serious discussion, they still retain a kind of
underground existence…What this leads to, despite all factual
evidence to the contrary, are endless suspicions that writers such as
Lothrop Stoddard were or are just possibly right when they wrote
or write about the ‘natural and inherent inferiority’ of Africans;
16
Immanuel Kant, Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime (Oakland: University of
California Press, 2004).
17
David Hume, The Philosophical Works of David Hume. Vol. III. (Bristol: Thoemmes Press, 1996), 228.
9

that ‘in the Negro, we are in the presence of a being differing


profoundly not merely from the white man but also from human
types’; or that ‘the Negro... has contributed virtually nothing’ to
the civilization of the world. However scientifically mistaken,
these notions apparently remain part of our culture.18

Basil continues to state that this sentiment was not only utilized to scientifically and

philosophical undermine the accomplishments of ancient Africans, but also to justify modern

subjugation and enslavement. He indicates that an undercurrent of perceived African inferiority

still exists in modern interpretation, unspoken. Davidson writes that the seemingly established

inferiority of the African was, “…exceedingly convenient in high imperial times. For it could be

argued (and it was; indeed, it still is) that these peoples, history-less, were naturally inferior or

else they were ‘children who had still to grow up’; in either case they were manifestly in need of

government by others who had grown up.”19 Ellicott’s Bible Commentary (19th century) relates

this sentiment historically, “From the study of the skulls and bodies of a large number of

mummies Brugsch-Bey in his recent history has come to the conclusion that the ancient

Egyptians did not belong to any African race, but to the great Caucasian family.”20 Ellicott’s own

statements contradict this finding, “Ham is the progenitor of the dark races.”21 While providing

no genealogical explanation for this apparent ancestry anomaly, this interpretation of Egypt

explicitly removes Africa itself from the Egyptians, providing instead a Caucasian heritage. The

Bible, however, states that Ham is the father of Cush, Mitzraim (Egypt), Canaan and Put.22 One

is left with the peculiar notion of ancient revision in accordance with a dominant societal

structure.

18
Basil Davidson, The African Genus (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1969), 25.
19
Basil Davidson, The Lost Cities of Africa (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1959), ix.
20
C.J. Ellicott, Ellicott’s Commentary on the Whole Bible Vol I Genesis - Numbers (Oregon: Wipf and
Stock Publishers, 1957), 49.
21
Ibid.
22
Gen 10:6 KJV
10

While the Bible designates the names of the sons of Ham, it does not expressly designate

all the people groups associated with a land mass. The Israelites dwelled in the land of Canaan

and were not themselves Canaanites derived from Canaan, son of Ham. This identification would

be in error if one insisted that a people group must be descended from the assigned name of a

place. The name ‘Africa’ however, does hold a few clues as to the biblical variety of its

inhabitants. While some would indicate that the name Africa stems from a purely Latin source in

the Roman era, the word is a combination of Hebrew and Latin. Josephus expounds on the

designation of Africa

ABRAHAM after this married Keturah, by whom six sons were


born to him, men of courage, and of sagacious minds: Zambran,
and Jazar, and Madan, and Madian, and Josabak, and Sous…The
sons of Madiau were Ephas, and Ophren, and Anoch, and Ebidas,
and Eldas…It is related of this Ophren, that he made war against
Libya, and took it, and that his grandchildren, when they inhabited
it, called it (from his name) Africa. And indeed Alexander
Polyhistor gives his attestation to what I here say; who speaks thus:
"Cleodemus the prophet, who was also called Malchus, who wrote
a History of the Jews, in agreement with the History of Moses,
their legislator, relates, that there were many sons born to Abraham
by Keturah: nay, he names three of them, Apher, and Surim, and
Japhran. That from Surim was the land of Assyria denominated;
and that from the other two (Apher and Japbran) the country of
Africa took its name…”23

The word ‘Aphar’ in Hebrew signifies ‘dust’ or ‘turban’.24 This description of the sons of

Abraham by Keturah fits linguistically well with the biblical list of Genesis 25:2 and 1

Chronicles 1:33. The narrative given by Josephus, however, continues the plight of Abraham in

an alternate lineage apart from the Sarah or Hagar genealogies. This extended family tree shows

conclusively that the descendants of Abraham did not only emerge in the modern Middle East,

23
Josephus and A.M. William Whitson, Josephus the Complete Works (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998),
51.
24
James Strong, Strong’s Concordance (James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.
MacDonald Publishing Company. 1898
11

but also extended into Africa, west of Egypt. The names and families of Cush, Put, and Mitzraim

can already be associated to the continent of Africa, but with this additional ancient information,

so too can some descendants of Abraham at an early point in biblical history. A population of

Semite Hebrew lineage exists within Africa, even before the patriarchal Israel, and it is,

according to Josephus, from Hebrew ancestry that Africa receives its namesake.

Egypt is African in Ancient Artwork

“By the almost unanimous testimony of ancient historians, [the Egyptians] belonged to an

African race”25

25
Gaston Maspero, Histoire ancienne des peuples de l'Orient. (Paris: Hachette, 1917), 15.
12

The Egyptians knew themselves by the term Kemet. The biblical significance of this term

reveals a great amount of affinity to the African continent and culture. The term Kemet is

linguistically equivalent to the term Cham in Hebrew, or Ham, son of Noah. The Chet (or Het) in

Hebrew is a guttural, which can easily morph sonically into the /k/ sound. The definitions of this

word range from ‘hot’ to ‘poison’. One specific form of the word, Chemat, means wrath,

providing a direct biblical understanding of the ancient Egyptian designation for themselves. The

term Kem, in Egyptian, however signifies

something that is black, with Kemet signifying

black land.26 Egyptologist Wallis Budge writes on

the similarities in Hebrew and Egyptian sounds,

“The Egyptian alphabet has a great deal in

common with Hebrew and other Semitic dialects

in respect of the guttural and many other letters,

peculiar to Oriental peoples.”27 By itself, the

ancient appellation Cham/Kemet it’s impossible to

Figure 1 J-174 Osiride Pillar Statue of Pharaoh


identify the Egyptians, but by their own artwork,

Senusret II, 1950 BC establishing Egypt as a black African nation is

undeniable. We begin our account in the Middle Kingdom. Beni Hasan is a cemetery complex of

Egypt located about 100 miles northeast of Cairo. This ancient cemetery housed mainly tombs

from the Middle Kingdom, 11th and 12th Dynasties. Beni Hasan is important in biblical history,

dating to the start of the second millennium BC, an era slightly beyond the time of Joseph

(Joseph) being sold into Egypt, corresponding to near Abraham’s lifetime. An identification of

26
Molefi Kete Asante, The History of Africa The Quest for Eternal Harmony. (New York: Routledge,
Taylor and
27 Francis Group, 2015), 22.
Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, Egyptian Language (New York: Barns and Noble Books, 1993), 32.
13

Egyptians as African in depiction would present a unique link to African and Israelite culture.

Pictured in Figure 1 is a ruler of the Middle kingdom,

Senusret I, who ruled Egypt at the beginning of the

second millennium BC. Note clear African

characteristics in his depiction, paying special

attention to his skin color, thick lips and wide nose.

Note too, the founder of the Middle Kingdom,

Pharaoh Mentuhotep (Figure 2), who preceded

Senusret I, with distinctive features indicating a

modern black African designation. He and his

offspring remained in power in Egypt for an extended


Figure 2 Mentuhotep, Founder of the 11th
Dynasty, Funerary Statue 2000 BC Middle
Kingdom period, suggesting many Middle Kingdom Pharaohs,

and subjects, exhibited the same African

characteristics. The Pharaohs Mentuhotep and Senusret are representative of the ethnicity of the

Middle Kingdom Egyptian.

While the Middle Kingdom offers many biblical links to the ancient Israelites, the New

Kingdom offers a significantly greater link to the Bible. The 18th Dynasty Pharaohs, according to

Figure 3 Mentuhotep, Founder of the 11th


Dynasty, Funerary Statue 2000 BC Middle
Kingdom
biblical history, come into direct conflict with

the Israelites. Moses, the blood descendant of

Hebrew lineage and the adopted son of the

Princess/Queen of Egypt, was reared in the

home of Pharaoh during a time of Israelite


14

genocide. The Pharaohs and Egyptian people of this era will provide a very distinct viewpoint in

concerning the connection between them and the children of Israel. Pictured in Figure 4 is

Pharaoh Amenhotep III the father of

Akhenaten (Figure 3), the

Grandfather of Tutankhamen (King

Tut) and the descendant of Thutmosis

III, whom many link to the Pharaoh

of the Exodus. The family tree of the

Ancient Egyptians, as they depicted

themselves, was distinctively black

Figure 6 Tomb of Nahkt Dancing Girls 18th Dynasty

African. The 18th Dynasty of Egypt provides a vast

art and architectural example of the sophistication

that was Egypt, and thus gives the reader a vivid

insight into the daily lives of average Egyptians

apart from the Pharaohs. Depicted in Figure 5 are

Figure 5 Amenhotep III From the Tomb of three Egyptian women, dancing and playing
Amenhotep Valley of the Kings 18th Dynasty 1350
BC
instruments in a tomb relief. The features of the Egyptian

women are black African. The image depicts the women with
15

Figure 6 Tomb of Baqet III, Beni Hasan, Depiction of Middle Kingdom Egyptians,

11th Dynasty 2000 BC

Figure 7 Tomb of Rekhmire 18th Dynasty 1425 BC

Figure 8 Tomb of Userhat Barber Scene 18th Dynasty 1400 BC


16

braided or ’locked’ hair, dark skin and thick lips, prominent African features. The depictions

presented offer a unanimous attestation of the ethnicity of

the Egyptians, by their own artwork. While there are some

indications that lighter-skinned foreign women were

preferable for Egyptian royalty, there is no indication that

these light-skinned women were Caucasian or any sub-genre

akin to modern European women. The overwhelming

prevalence of black Africans in the Egyptian artwork renders

Ellicott’s fantastic claims of Egypt being a Caucasian race as

fantasy revision of history in accordance with the racism of


Figure 9 The Ten Commandments
Hollywood Movie 1954
the enlightenment era philosophers. It is then a profound

mystery when modern depiction, in Hollywood or elsewhere, presents images in stark contrast to

the ancient reality. Providing the benefit of the doubt is possible, seeing that Egyptian tomb

depictions are from deep antiquity and preceding Greco-Roman eras may have considerable

changed the racial dynamic of the Egyptian. A continued and careful study of Greek and Roman

depictions of ancient Egypt is necessary for closer identification.

Ancient Greco-Roman Societies Knew Black Egypt

Egypt is one of the first great civilizations in history. The philosophers and historians of

ancient Greece, of whom modern scholarship appoints the derivation of our modern governing

system, themselves travelled to Egypt to marvel at Egyptian knowledge. From these ancient

sources, we derive some of the best descriptions of Egypt’s ethnicity from the people who saw
17

them. Citing these Greek and Roman descriptions, an image of the Egyptian is further recognized

as African.

Herodotus, circa 450 BC, a Greek historian sometimes cited as “the father of history”

wrote several descriptions of his travels and the people groups he met. As a Greek and natural

admirer of the Egyptian culture, his casual depiction of the Egyptians takes this first precedence

For the people of Colchis are evidently Egyptian… but the


Egyptians said they believed that the Colchians were a portion of
the army of Sesostris. That this was so I conjectured myself not
only because they are dark-skinned and have curly hair (this of
itself amounts to nothing, for there are other races which are so),
but also still more because the Colchians, Egyptians, and
Ethiopians alone of all the races of men have practised
circumcision from the first.28
Herodotus evidently points out that the Egyptians are a dark or black skinned (melanchronous)

people group with wooly hair, a description mirroring ancient Egyptian depiction of themselves.

It also is of note that Herodotus mentions a Pharaoh (or line of Pharonic names) that have

previously been mentioned from the 11th and 12th dynasties, Pharaoh Sesostris, whose Egyptian

name is the previously depicted Senusret, in Figure 1. Aeschylus, another 5th century BC

Grecian, a playwright sometimes referred to as ‘the father of tragedy’, also depicts the Egyptians

in scene, “The sailors too I marked, conspicuous in white robes and their sable limbs.”29 The

American Heritage Dictionary defines the term ‘sable’ as, “the color black or dark brown as the

fur of the sable.”30 We note that this black skinned depiction is consistent with ancient artwork

now stemming from 2000 BC in the Middle Kingdom to 400 BC, a full 1600 years without

change.

28
Charles William Eliot. The Harvard Classics. vol 33. (New York: P.F. Collier & Son 1909), 51.
29
James Cowles Pritchard, Physical Ethnography of the African Races (London: Sherbet, Gilbert and Piper:
1837), 228
30
American Heritage Dictionary, 1528
18

While the 5th century BC contains notable Greek references to the depiction of ancient

Egyptians, a later era of racial divide may be a factor. One hundred years later Alexander the

Great made it a point to conquer Egypt and crown himself a Pharaoh. It is possible the mixture of

Greek and Egyptian cultures would do much to alter the racial characterization of Egypt.

Accounts from after the Hellenized period take further priority in identifying Egypt. Diodorus

Siculus, respected Greek historian from the 1st century BC, describes the people of Egypt as

descending from the Ethiopians, just as the Bible and other aforementioned contemporaries have

mentioned:

Ethiopians were the first men that ever lived, the only truly
autochthonous race and the first to institute the worship of the gods
and the rites of sacrifice. Egypt itself was a colony of Ethiopia and
the laws and script of both lands were naturally the same; but the
hieroglyphic script was more widely known to the vulgar in
Ethiopia than in Egypt.31
Siculus goes on to mention the supposed ethnicity and racial make-up of the Ethiopians

But there are also a great many other tribes of the Ethiopians, some
of them dwelling in the land lying on both banks of the Nile and on
the islands in the river, others inhabiting the neighbouring country
of Arabia, and still others residing in the interior of Libya. The
majority of them, and especially those who dwell along the river,
are black in colour and have flat noses and woolly hair.32
Siculus casually assumes that the Ethiopians, the biblical Kushites, are the progenitors of the

ancient Egyptians, describing them as black skinned. Further still removed from the ancient

interpretation, the 2nd century AD Greek satirist Lucian Samosatensis describes an Egyptian boy

he meets, “besides being black he had thick lips, and was too slender in the legs, and that his

hair, and the curls bushed up behind marked him to be of servile rank.”33 The publication this

31
Diodorus Siculus and C.H. Oldfather, Book III. (Cambrigde: Harvard University Press 1967), 103
32
Ibid.105
33
John White Webster and Daniel Treadwell, The Boston Journal of Philosophy and the Arts: (Boston:
Cummings, Hilliard 1825), 283.
19

source emerges from contains an interesting footnote, attempting to explain the boy’s black skin

as an indicator of his status as a servant; however, the ancient text states that this servile rank

was designated by his hairstyle. The publication inexplicably attempts to provide an explanation

against the ancient attestation of Egyptians as black.

In final support for ancient evidence pertaining to the ethnicity of the Egyptians

according to the ancient Greeks and Romans, Roman soldier Ammanius Marcellius in around the

year 375 AD, testifies to the Egyptian depiction, “…the men of Egypt are mostly brown or black

with a skinny and desiccated look.”34 It is thus noted that the ancient Greek and Romans, who

were in direct contact with Egypt, are in agreement with what the Egyptian art and Rabbi

Eleazaar Hurcanus have testified. The Greco-Roman witness extends for nearly one thousand

years, from the 5th century BC to the 4th century AD, that Ancient Egyptians were an African race

of people. One should take careful note that this era includes the 1st century AD, the era of the

Messiah, thus the Egyptians of the Messiah’s time were indisputably black.

The accounts of the ancient Egyptian Negro by Greco-Roman authors are overwhelming,

causing many modern historians to testify likewise. James Prichard, 19th century historian,

described the Egyptians, “In their complexion and many of the physical peculiarities the

Egyptians were an African race.”35 Pritchard continues, “From comparing these accounts, some

of which by persons who had travelled in Egypt, and whose testimony is not likely to be biases

in any respect, we must conclude that the subjects of the Pharaohs had something in their

physical character approximating to that of the Negro.”36 French historian Marius Fontane, 19th

century French Archeologist, repeats this sentiment, “Besides, there is a scientific tendency to

34
G. Moghtar, Ancient Civilizations of Africa. (Paris: UNESCO, 1990), 26.
35
James Cowles Prichard. The Natural History of Man. (London: Bailliere, 1855).
36
James Cowles Prichard. Researches into The Physical Ethnography of the African Races. (London: Arch,
1837), 230.
20

find in Africa, after excluding foreign influences, from the Mediterranean to the Cape, from the

Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, nothing but Negroes or Negroids of various colors. The ancient

Egyptians were Negroes, but Negroes to the last degree.”37 Finally, Jean Francis Champollion,

19th century Egyptologist and co-translator of the Rosetta Stone, wrote, “We find there Egyptians

and Africans represented in the same way, which could not be otherwise.”38

In a closing thought to the evidence presented for the ethnicity of ancient Egypt, the

amount of testimony from the Egyptians themselves and from surrounding cultures, including

the biblical Hebrews, provides sufficient evidence to denote Egypt as a black African culture,

stemming from at least 2400 years of testimony. Starting from the depiction of themselves in the

Middle Kingdom (2000 BC) to the testimony of the Romans (375 AD), Egypt is proven to be a

black nation, despite their depiction in popular culture. The delineation between supra and sub

Saharan ancient Africa is a recent artifact that should be relinquished to antiquity. Many reasons

for why the falsehood of the European styled Egyptians persists, but the most poignant

explanation emerges from 18th century French Explorer Count Constantin De Volney:

…the ancient Egyptians were true Negroes of the same type as all
native-born Africans…. Just think, that this race of Black men,
today our slave and the object of our scorn, is the very race to
which we owe our arts, sciences, and even the use of speech! Just
imagine, finally, that it is in the midst of people who call
themselves the greatest friends of liberty and humanity that one has
approved the most barbarous slavery, and questioned whether
Black men have the same kind of intelligence as whites!39
While this explanation provides a substantial clue to the motivation behind the discrepancy

between the race of ancient Egyptians and their modern depiction, there is another reason why

37
Marius Fontanes, Les Egyptes (Paris: Ed. Lemerre, 1880), 44-45
38
Jean Francis Champollion, Egypte Ancienne. (Paris : Collection l'Univers, 1839)
39
M. Constantin de Volney, Travels through Syria and Egypt in the Years 1783, 1784, and 1785 (London:
Pater, Noston, Rowe, 1787), 80-83
21

the ancient interpretation has not been more forth coming. The true reason lies in the connection

between Egypt and Israel.

The African Tribe of Israel

Egypt and Israel share an ancient history that travels nearly back to the original inception

of Israel. The narrative of Jacob, whose name changed to Israel, begins the biblical tracking of a

single family of people, from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation. The Bible is wholly

dedicated to Yahuah’s interaction with one family. This family sojourns to Egypt and flourishes,

for a time:

And Elohim spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said,
Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. And he said, I am Elohim,
the Elohi of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will
there make of thee a great nation: I will go down with thee into
Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall
put his hand upon thine eyes. And Jacob rose up from Beersheba:
and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little
ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to
carry him. And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they
had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and
all his seed with him: His sons, and his sons' sons with him, his
daughters, and his sons' daughters, and all his seed brought he with
him into Egypt.40

The nation of Israel became in Egypt a great nation and a distinct people group, flourishing and

producing many offspring. It is here that the first recognition of the children of Israel as African

begins to take shape.

As depicted earlier, the Egyptians were a black African nation, defined as such by their

own testimony in relief, as well as by ancient and modern historians. This evidence dates back to

40
Gen 46:2-7 KJV
22

the earliest Pharaohs, but receives noteworthiness when Egypt and Israel come in contact with

one another in the 12th Dynasty of Egypt. Noting that the Senusret line of Pharaohs in this

Dynasty maintained clear African characteristics, along with their subjects, the narrative of

Joseph, son of Israel, builds to provide an ancient depiction of the Israelites. As Joseph’s capture

and subsequent promotion to vizier of Egypt unfolds in Genesis, Joseph’s brothers attempt to

purchase grain during a famine prior to their reuniting and sojourning in Egypt. In a test to show

the resolve of his brethren for their younger brother, Joseph pretends not to recognize his

brothers. It is then seen that Joseph’s brothers, however, truly did not recognize him in Egypt,

“And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and

spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land

of Canaan to buy food. And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.”41 Though this

seems like a casual overlook by the sons of Israel, the implication is clear. If Joseph was of

starkly different racial characteristics in Egypt, then his brethren would have recognized him

instantly. Instead, Joseph blended into the milieu of ancient Egyptians well enough for his

brethren to miss. Joseph must have appeared racially consistent with the surrounding Africans,

meaning Joseph too was black. Further biblical evidence confirms this line of thought in the

book of Genesis. Upon the death of Jacob, Joseph requests of Pharaoh to bury his father in

Canaan. In the funeral precession to bury his father, Joseph is accompanied by the adults of his

family and many nobles of Egypt. On looking Canaanites describe the large group as Egyptians,

“And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad,

they said, ‘This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians…’”42 These two instances in this first

book of the Bible begin a long series of history, spanning thousands of years, where Israelites are

41
Gen 42:7-8 KJV
42
Gen 50:11 KJV
23

consistently mistaken for Egyptians. The only way this is possible is if the Israelites too are a

black nation.

The second book of the Bible also goes a long way to identifying the ancient Israelites as

an African tribe. The book of Exodus describes the rapid multiplication of Israelites in Egypt as a

burden upon the Pharaoh, assuming that in the Israelite multitude an enemy nation may gain an

ally. The Pharaoh then decrees an act of genocide. The male infants born to Israelites are doomed

to death by throwing them into the river Nile. The infant Moses, rescued from an ark in the river

by the princess of Egypt, raises Moses as her own son in the palace. “And when she had opened

it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This

is one of the Hebrews' children...And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's

daughter, and he became her son.”43 The Bible explains the captivity in Egypt lasted for 430

years.44 Reversing from the 80 years Moses accomplishes before leading the children of Israel

out of captivity reckons Moses birth 350 years after the time of Joseph. This dating sets the time

of Moses in the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. Pharaoh Amenhotep III, previously depicted in Figure 3,

displays similar African characteristics as the Senusret Pharaoh line. Amenhotep belongs to a

family of Pharaohs in the 18th Dynasty also, a different line, signifying the African depiction has

maintained since the time of Joseph. Three Pharaohs, three different lines of kingship, all

presenting African characteristics, indicating a specific, African people group in power from the

time of Jacob to the time of Moses.

The genocidal order by the Pharaoh for all Hebrew male newborns runs contrary to

Moses’ upbringing in the palace of the Pharaoh. Moses must then have been identical in

appearance to the other Egyptians in the household, which signifies that Moses was also black.
43
Ex 2: 6,10 KJV
44
Ex 12:40 KJV
24

This line of reasoning is validated by a second witness. As Moses fled from the Pharaoh after

murdering an Egyptian, he rescues the daughters of Jethro from local shepherds, “And when they

came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day? And they said, An

Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and

watered the flock.”45 Moses here is mistaken by the neighbors of the Egyptians, for an Egyptian,

four hundred years after the same mistake is made to Joseph by his brothers. Moses, Joseph and

the 11 other brothers of Israel were all black and all resembled the Egyptians, by biblical

testimony.

1500 years later, during the New Testament era in Jerusalem, the Apostle Paul of Tarsus

is also mistaken for an Egyptian. The previously documented testimony of ancient Greek and

Roman writers Diodorus Siculus and Ammenius Marcellius show even after this extended period

of time, Egypt remains a distinctively black nation. This information comes into play during

Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem, taken captive by a Roman soldier. Upon conversing with the soldier,

the he replies to Paul, “Canst thou speak Greek? Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these

days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were

murderers?”46 By Paul’s mere appearance, in 1st Century Jerusalem, a Roman soldier believes

Paul to be an Egyptian, even to the extent that he is surprised to learn he can speak Greek. The

implications of this information are conspicuous; Paul too can blend-in in an Egyptian society,

meaning he was black. In 2000 years of biblical history, the Israelites are consistently mistaken

for black Egyptians. The Bible conclusively indicates that the appearance of the Israelites was

historically identical to the Egyptians. For many, the evidence securing the ethnicity of both

45
Ex 2:16-18 KJV
46
Acts 21:37-38 KJV
25

Egypt and Israel could end here as definitively black, but more evidence is forthcoming. Outside

scholarship must be approached.

African Israel in Secular Sources

We firmly establish that ancient Egypt is a black African nation. We also establish that

according to the Bible, Israel and Egypt were very close in appearance one to the other, close

enough to fool relatives, neighbors and soldiers, spanning at least two thousand years, from

Jacob to Paul. If the Bible is accurate in this depiction, of Israel being mistaken for Egyptians,

then the secular world will also reflect this sentiment. Wallis Budge, 20th Century Egyptologist,

describes that ancient assessment of Ethiopia, the so-called land of the blacks:

It seems certain

that classical

historians and

geographers

called the

whole region

from India to

Egypt, both

countries

inclusive, by Figure 8 Tomb of Sobekhotep, Asiatics Paying Tribute 13th Dynasty 1700 BC

the name ‘Ethiopia’, and in consequence they regarded all the dark

skinned and black peoples inhabited it as ‘Ethiopians’. Mention is made of


26

Eastern and Western Ethiopians, and it is probable that Easterners were

Asiatics and the Westerners Africans.”47

Budge eludes to the classical nature of identifying African nations by the same title as the Asiatic

nations, Ethiopians. This includes the Canaanites, Israelites, Syrians, Libyans, Egyptians and

biblical Ethiopians, the Cushites. Further attestation occurs from author and historian Joyce

Tyldesley, upon describing how the enemies of Egypt are depicted in wall relief, “The third

group of enemies, the asiatics, are given the same red-brown skin as their Egyptian

contemporaries, but they display distinctive non Egyptian profiles and sport beards.”48 According

to Tyldesly, Asiatics (people deriving from the area of Canaan) and Egyptians are often depicted

the same shade of ‘red brown’, indicating a strong, common racial background.

Ancient historians also show a tendency to relate the Egyptians and the Israelites as one

people. Strabo, 1st century AD Greek geographer states, “…Amoung many things believed

respecting the temple and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, is that the Egyptians were the ancestors

of the present Jews.”49 Tacitus, a Roman historian, concurs on the assumed familial make-up of

the Jews, “Others assert that in the reign of Isis the overflowing population of Egypt, led by

Hierosolymus and Judas, discharged itself into the neighboring countries. Many, again, say that

they [the Jews] were a race of Ethiopian origin…” Josephus chooses in his history of the

Yahudiym to provide the genealogy of Jacob for the expressed purpose of showing a distinction

between the Egyptians, “Now they were in all seventy. I once, indeed, thought it best not to set

down the names of this family, especially because of their difficult pronunciation [by the

Greeks]; but, upon the whole, I think it necessary to mention those names, that I may disprove
47
Ernest A. Wallis Budge. A History of Ethiopia: Nubia & Abyssinia; According to the Hieroglyphic
Inscriptions of Egypt and Nubia, and the Ethiopian Chronicles; in 2 Vol. (Oosterhout, the Netherlands:
Anthropolog. Publ., 1966).
48
Joyce A. Tyldesley Joyce A. Ramesses. 1st ed. (London: Penguin, 2001), 61.
49
Strabo and H.C. Hamilton, The Geography of Strabo. (London: Bohn, 1917), 177.
27

such as believe that we came not originally from Mesopotamia, but are Egyptians.”50 This

ancient association in depiction and family descent could not be possible if the ancient Israelites

themselves were not an African nation in appearance. Just as the Israelites became a nation in

Africa, so were they by their contemporaries considered Africans.

The Significance of Identification

“For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all Parties to leave the past to

history, especially as I propose to write that history”51 – Winston Churchill

Modern examples of historical revisionism are everywhere. The depiction of the ancient

Egyptians as a Caucasian race is but one example. Publishers and commenters on the Bible can

make grave errors and allow their own presuppositions to interfere with actual interpretation.

This type of mistake can be easy, especially when the contemporary science corroborated one’s

own ego. Brugsch was obviously of great importance to Ellicott’s interpretation of the Bible

…this science believes itself to possess positive proofs, as the


result of which the forefathers of the Egyptians cannot be reckoned
among the African races, properly so called. The form of the skull
—so at least the elder school teaches—as well as the proportions
of the several parts of the body, as these have been determined
from examining a great number of mummies, are held to indicate a
connection with the Caucasian family of mankind.52
Associating with ancient accomplishments is common for any ruling class, as it provides

legitimacy and authority for both the ruler and the ruled. The Greek nations linked themselves to

50
Josephus and William Whiston. Complete Works. 1st ed. (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1960), 75.

51
Winston Churchill. Speech at the House of Commons. (Jan 1948)
52
Heinrich Brugsch, Henry Danby Seymour, and Philip Smith. A History of Egypt under the Pharaohs,
Derived Entirely from the Monuments, to Which Is Added a Discourse on the Exodus of the Israelites. (London: J.
Murray, 1881), 8.
28

the ancient knowledge of the Egyptians, just as the Romans tied themselves to the antiquity of

the Greeks. There is nothing new under the sun.

A danger exists when taking the associations of provided history at face value and not

performing the necessary investigation to solidify claims. The Bible is not just a book of lifestyle

or history; it is also a book that purports to tell the future. This future is completely dependent

upon one’s understanding of the past and the ability to link prophecy with reality. If the Bible

can be trusted to accurately predict future events and the people within them, then it is a critical

error to allow these persons to be defined outside of biblical understanding. The real possibility

exists that one could miss a prophecy concerning themselves.

Olaudah Equiano, 18th century Christian pastor and former slave, recognized himself in

prophecy and decided to write about his discoveries :

Such is the imperfect sketch memory has furnished me with of the


manners and customs of a people among whom I first drew my
breath. And here I cannot forbear suggesting what has long struck
me very forcibly, namely, the strong analogy which even by this
sketch, imperfect as it is, appears to prevail in the manners and
customs of my countrymen and those of the Jews, before they
reached the Land of Promise, and particularly the patriarchs while
they were yet in that pastoral state which is described in Genesis--
an analogy, which alone would induce me to think that the one
people had sprung from the other53

Equiano, the African slave taken from his home on the Nigerian slave-coast in West Africa,

continues his assessment

Like the Israelites in their primitive state, our government was


conducted by our chiefs or judges, our wise men and elders; and

53
Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Or Gustavus Vassa, the
African. Written by Himself. 4th ed. (Dublin: Printed For, and Sold By, the Author. Sold Also at the Dublin
Chronicle Office, by W. Sleater, and the Other Booksellers in Dublin, 1791), 26
29

the head of a family with us enjoyed a similar authority over his


household with that which is ascribed to Abraham and the other
patriarchs. The law of retaliation obtained almost universally with
us as with them: and even their religion appeared to have shed
upon us a ray of its glory, though broken and spent in its passage,
or eclipsed by the cloud with which time, tradition, and ignorance
might have enveloped it; for we had our circumcision (a rule I
believe peculiar to that people:) we had also our sacrifices and
burnt-offerings, our washings and purifications, on the same
occasions as they had.54

Equiano’s testimony on the peculiar similarities between the Igbo people of Nigeria, West Africa

and the ancient Israelites is markedly different from Brugsch’s representation of Caucasian

Egyptians. There were no cranial analyses performed, or elder schools established, only a

recognition of customs, culture and condition.

The promise given by Yahuah as prophecy concerning the Israelites directly concerns

Olaudah Equano, especially upon considering that the Israelites major point of escape was

always into Africa. Jeroboam fled into Egypt in order to escape the wrath of Solomon,55 Uriah

fled into Egypt concerning his prophecies against the kingdom of Yahudah,56 the children of

Israel are scolded repeatedly during the siege of Assyria for fleeing into Egypt,57 even the

Messiah, Yahusha58, escapes to Egypt from the wrath of Herod.59 Olaudah did not possess an

academic mechanism to generate press and publicity for his discoveries, nor the potential to

influence artistic representation. He only has prophesies concerning the remnant of Yahuah’s

people if they failed to keep his commandments, “Yahuah shall cause thee to be smitten before

thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and

54
Ibid p 28
55
1 Kings 11:40
56
YiramYahu 26:21
57
YishaYahu 30:2 KJV
58
Corrected Hebrew pronunciation of the Messiah’s name
59
Matt 2:13 KJV
30

shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.”60 The curse associated with Deuteronomy

28 may have echoed in his memory as well as the collective memories of his brethren, who were

not escaped from bonds, “Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and

thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might

in thine hand.”61 His voyage across the ocean must have reckoned familiar, “And Yahuah shall

bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it

no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and

no man shall buy you.” The finality of the prophecy, coming to bear before his eyes, may have

reminded him of an ancient warning, ancient curses, “…And they shall be upon thee for a sign

and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever.”62 Indeed, there is no other group of people that fit

the biblical paradigm of Israelite prophesy, better that Equiano and his brethren.

The promise given that the children of Israel will always be a people63 and that the sons

of Jacob will never be consumed64 should be taken just as literally as the promise of salvation.

They are one in the same. The biblical identification of ancient cultures and people groups

proves to be of utmost significance, as the prophecies therein have a direct effect on the salvation

of the world. In order to find oneself on the right side of history, in the end of all history, one

may need to reject their personal worldview, especially if it is consistent with the world’s view.

The Egyptians understood as an African nation helps identify Israel as an African nation, in the

past, present and future. This is not reckoned to identify Israel and Egypt as the same group of

people, as did the ancient Greeks and Romans, rather that they appeared the same based on

specific racial characteristics, namely black skin and curly hair. This information also aids in
60
Deut 28:25 KJV
61
Deut 28:32 KJV
62
Deut 28:46 KJV
63
YiramYahu 31:37 KJV
64
Mal 3:6 KJV
31

identifying salvation Himself. The Messiah, Yahusha, prophesied also about coming false

Messiahs65 with the ability to fool the very elect. A rejection of an unfamiliar Messiah, one with

an unfamiliar name (Yahusha in the Hebrew) and an unfamiliar face, may result in a negative

fulfillment of prophecy, “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they

also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so,

Amen.”66 The onus then is upon the believer to believe that the scriptures cannot be broken and

that the prophecy is true, “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from

generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom Elohim would make known what

is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Mashiach in you, the hope

of glory…”67 The Egyptians were true Africans which means the Israelites were also. The

Israelites were true Africans, which means the Messiah is also. An identification of the Messiah

is indeed life or death, as the mystery of His name, His appearance and His reappearance is

manifested to the world.

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66
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