Woman in Big Black and White Hat With Religious Saying God Is Getting Ready to Bless You Again

Created in the paradigm of God

Any serious biblical written report of race or ethnicity should start in Genesis 1. The Bible does not start off with the creation of a special or privileged race of people. When the start human is created he is simply called adam, which is Hebrew for "humankind." Adam and Eve are non Hebrews or Egyptians; they are neither White nor Black nor even Semitic. Their own particular ethnicity is not even mentioned, for the Bible seems to stress that they are the mother and begetter of all peoples of all ethnicities. Adam and Eve are presented equally non-indigenous and non-national because they represent all people of all ethnicities.

In Genesis ane:26 God says, "Allow U.s. brand man (adam) in Our image, according to Our likeness." So one:27 describes his creative activity: "So God created man (adam) in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female." [ ane ] The "image of God" relates to 1 or more than of the following: 1) the mental and spiritual faculties that people share with God; 2) the date of humankind as God'due south representatives on earth; and 3) a chapters to relate to God. Yet what is clear is that existence created in "the image of God" is a spectacular blessing; it is what distinguishes people from animals. Likewise, whether or non the "image of God" in people was marred or blurred in the "Autumn" of Genesis three, information technology is clear that at the very least people still conduct some attribute of the prototype of God, and this gives humankind a very special status in the cosmos. Furthermore, equally mentioned above, Adam and Eve are ethnically generic, representing all ethnicities. Thus the Bible is very clear in declaring from the beginning that all people of all races and ethnicities carry the image of God.

This reality provides a potent starting point for our discussion of what the Bible says almost race. Indeed, John Stott declares, "Both the dignity and the equality of human being beings are traced in Scripture to our creation." [ 2 ] To presuppose that one's own race or ethnicity is superior to someone else'south is a denial of the fact that all people are created in the image of God.

The Volume of Proverbs presents several practical implications from this connection between God and the people he created. For example, Proverbs 14:31a states, "The ane who oppresses the poor insults their Maker." Proverbs 17:5a echoes this teaching, "The one who mocks the poor insults his Maker." These verses teach that those who accept a superior attitude toward others due to their socio-economical position and thus oppress or mock others are in fact insulting God himself. To insult or mistreat the people God has created is an affront to him, their Creator. The aforementioned principle applies to racial prejudice. The unjustified self-institution of superiority by one group that leads to the oppression of other groups is an affront to God. Likewise, the mocking of people God created—and this would apply straight to ethnic belittling or "racial jokes"—is a direct insult to God. All people of all ethnicities are created in the image of God. Viewing them as such and therefore treating them with dignity and respect is non only a suggestion or "good manners," it is one of the mandates emerging out of Genesis 1 and Proverbs.

The and then-chosen "Curse of Ham" (Genesis 9:eighteen-27)

In regard to the history of racial prejudice in America no other passage in Scripture has been as driveling, distorted and twisted as has Genesis 9:eighteen-27. Thus it is important that we clarify what this passage actually says (and doesn't say).

In Genesis 9:20-21, subsequently the flood is over and his family has settled downwards, Noah gets drunk and passes out, lying naked in his tent. His son Ham, specifically identified as the father of Canaan (9:22), sees him and tells his two brothers Shem and Japheth, who and so advisedly comprehend upwards their male parent. When Noah wakes up and finds out what happened he pronounces a curse on Canaan, the son of Ham, stating, "Cursed exist Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers." Noah then blesses Shem and Japheth, declaring, "Blessed be the LORD of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend the territory of Japheth. . . and may Canaan be his slave" (9:26-27).

In the 19^thursday century, both before and later on the Civil War, this text was often cited by Whites to debate that the slavery or subjugation of the black races was, in fact, a fulfillment of the prophecy in this text. These pastors and writers argued that i) the word "Ham" really means "black" or "burnt," and thus refers to the Black race; and ii) God allowable that the descendants of Ham (Black people) become slaves to Japheth, who, they argued, represents the White races. [ three ]

It should be stated clearly and unambiguously that every reputable evangelical Old Attestation scholar that I know of views this agreement of Genesis ix:xviii-27 as ridiculous, fifty-fifty ludicrous. It is completely indefensible on biblical grounds.

First of all, annotation that the expletive is placed on Canaan and not on Ham (Gen. 9:25). To projection the curse to all of Ham'south descendants is to misread the passage. It is Canaan (and the Canaanites) who are the focus of this expletive. This text is a prophetic curse on Israel'due south future enemy and nemesis, the Canaanites. The Canaanites are included here in this prophetic expletive because they are characterized by similar sexual-related sins elsewhere in the Pentateuch (run across Lev. xviii:2-23 for case). The curse on Canaan is not pronounced considering Canaan is going to be punished for Ham'south sin, only considering the descendants of Canaan (the Canaanites) will exist like Ham in their sin and sexual misconduct.

Furthermore, it is wildly speculative to assume that the proper noun Ham actually means "black" and thus refers to the people in Black Africa. In that location is an ancient Egyptian word keme that means "the blackness country," a reference to the land of Egypt and to the dark fertile soil associated with Egypt.  Yet to assume that the Hebrew proper name Ham is even connected at all to this Egyptian give-and-take is questionable. And so even if information technology is, to say that "the black land," a reference to fertile soil, is actually a reference to Black races in Africa is likewise quite a leap in logic. Thus the etymological argument that "Ham" refers to the Black peoples of Africa is non defensible. Too, every bit mentioned above, the actual curse is on Canaan, who is clearly identified as the son of Ham. Thus the curse is placed on the Canaanites and not on the supposed (and unlikely) descendants of Ham in Black Africa.

This passage finds fulfillment after in Israel'southward history during the conquest of the Promised Country when the Israelites defeat and subjugate the Canaanites. Information technology has absolutely nothing to do with Black Africa or the subjugation of Blackness peoples. Such an interpretation seriously distorts and twists the meaning of this passage.

The ethnic composition of biblical Israel

Using cultural and geographical "boundary markers" such as language, territory, religion, dress, appearance, and ancestor origins, the aboriginal peoples in the regions in and around ancient Israel can be divide up into four major indigenous groups: i) the Asiatics or Semites (including the Israelites, Canaanites, Amorites, Arameans, etc.); two) the Cushites (Black Africans living along the Nile River south of Arab republic of egypt; also referred to every bit Nubians or Ethiopians, although they are not connected to modern Ethiopia); 3) the Egyptians (a mix of Asiatic, north African, and African elements), and 4) Indo-Europeans (Hittites, Philistines).

Ancient Israel develops from inside the Asiatic/Semitic group of peoples, although several of the other groups take pregnant input. Note that Israel is not mentioned in Genesis 10 equally one of the ancient peoples. When God first calls Abraham, he is living in Ur of the Chaldees, an Amorite region of Mesopotamia. Yet later in the Bible, Abraham is nearly closely associated with the Arameans (Gen. 24:4; 28:5; Deut. 26:five). While both Abraham's son Isaac and grandson Jacob marry Aramean women, the next generation also marries Canaanites (Judah, Gen. 38:ii; Simeon, Gen. 46:10) and Egyptians (Joseph, Gen. 41:fifty).

Thus at the dawning of the Israelite nation, the descendants of Abraham are a mix of Western Mesopotamian (Aramean and/or Amorite), Canaanite, and Egyptian elements, and looked very much like the Semitic peoples of the Heart East today, such every bit modern Arabs and Israelis.

It is during the 400 plus yr sojourn in Arab republic of egypt that the family unit of Abraham develops linguistically and culturally into an identifiable Israelite people. Yet even and so, in terms of ethnicity they are hardly monolithic. In improver to the diverse indigenous streams that influence the formation of the Israelite nation during the patriarchal period, numerous other ethnic influences connected to shape the germination of State of israel. For instance, when God delivers State of israel from Egypt, the Bible mentions that "an ethnically diverse crowd went up with them" (Exod. 12:38). This term indicates that the group Moses leads out of Egypt and into covenant relationship with God is an ethnically diverse group. The majority of them are probably descendants of Abraham just many of them are not.

At this item time in Egypt'south history, there are numerous Cushites (Blackness Africans) living in Egypt, at all levels of lodge. In all likelihood some of these Africans are function of the "ethnically various crowd" that comes out of Arab republic of egypt and joins Israel. During the exodus Moses will marry one of these Cushites (come across below). Likewise, the proper noun of Moses' great nephew Phinehas, a very prominent priest, suggests a connexion with the Cushites. Phinehas' proper noun is an Egyptian name. The Egyptians referred to the Black African inhabitants of Cush past the ethnic term nehsiu. In Egyptian the prefix "ph" functions like a definite article, so the name "Phinehas" literally means "the Cushite" or "the African," that is, one of the Blackness Africans living in Cush.

Moses and inter-indigenous matrimony

In the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy the central character, apart from God, is Moses. Appointed by God equally Israel's leader and mediator between God and the people, Moses dominates the human being side of the story. Interestingly, the biblical story includes quite a bit of personal data about Moses, even specifically mentioning his ii inter-ethnic marriages. Keep in heed that at this fourth dimension in Israel's history the norm of monogamous marriage had not yet been established. Recall that even afterward in history King David volition have seven wives, plain with God'south approving.

Early in Moses' life he flees from Egypt to Midian, where he meets and marries Zipporah, a Midian woman (Exodus 2).  The Midianites are a Semitic-speaking people, ethnic cousins to the Israelites. What is surprising near this matrimony is that the Midianites worship Baal. In fact, Reuel, Zipporah's father, is a priest of Midian (Exod. ii:15-22; Num. 25). At this phase of his life Moses is not serving God however, and there is no indication that God approves of this marriage. Indeed, later in Numbers 25 the Midianites will appear as a deadly and dangerous theological enemy of State of israel who threaten to undermine the theological and ethical faithfulness of Israel to God.

Later in his life, however, while Moses is faithfully leading Israel and serving God, he marries a Cushite woman (Num. 12:1). In the past, some scholars, perhaps bothered by Moses' marriage to a Black African woman, tried to argue that this woman is actually Zipporah the Midianite. Such an argument is quite weak, however. The Cushites are well-known in the OT and there is aught ambiguous about their identity or their ethnicity. Moses marries a Blackness African adult female; there is no dubiousness about this. [ iv ]

All the same what of the biblical injunctions confronting inter-ethnic marriage? Is Moses violating these commandments? Not at all. In the Pentateuch the prohibition against inter-marrying with other groups ever specifically refers to the pagan inhabitants of Canaan (Deut. 7:ane-4). The reason for this prohibition is theological. If they intermarry with these pagan peoples, God warns, "they volition turn your sons away from me to worship other gods" (Deut. 7:4; see also Exod. 34:15-16). Underscoring this distinction is Deuteronomy 21:10-14, which describes the procedure for how the Israelites are to ally foreign women, a exercise that was allowed if the women are from cities that are outside that land; that is, not Canaanite. Afterwards in Israel's history, Ezra and Nehemiah will reissue the prohibition confronting intermarriage (Ezra 9:1; Neh. 13:23-27), but in one case once again the context is that of marrying outside the faith. Both Ezra and Nehemiah seem to stress that earlier intermarriages (especially Solomon's) played a negative role in Israel'due south betrayment and idolatry.

The implications of Moses' wedlock to a Cushite adult female are significant.  Moses is one of the leading figures in the OT. Every bit the story unfolds in Numbers 12:1-sixteen it is articulate that God approves of this union, for he rebukes Miriam and Aaron for opposing it, and he then strongly reaffirms Moses equally his chosen leader. Thus early on in Israel's story nosotros find 1 of Israel'southward almost faithful leaders intermarrying with a Black African woman while serving God faithfully.

The decision we can draw from these Scripture passages is that interracial marriage is strongly affirmed by Scripture, if the spousal relationship is within the faith. Marriage exterior of the faith, however, is prohibited.

The Cushite Ebed-Melech: Hero and representative of gentile inclusion

Ebed-Melech the Cushite plays a key role in the Book of Jeremiah, both historically and theologically. Jeremiah the prophet preaches for years against the sinful actions of the leaders and the people in Judah, only meets just with rejection and hostility. Equally Jeremiah has predicted, the Babylonian ground forces invades and lays siege to Jerusalem (Jeremiah 38-39). The leaders in Jerusalem, rather than listening to Jeremiah, instead charge him of treason, and lower him down into a muddy water cistern, ostensibly to permit him die there. At this point in the story, no ane in Jerusalem believes the discussion of God spoken past Jeremiah or stands up for him. His bulletin is ignored and he is left to die in the cistern as the Babylonian siege rages.

An unlikely hero emerges at this point. A man named Ebed-Melech, identified repeatedly as a Cushite (i.e. a Black African from the region forth the Nile south of Egypt), confronts King Zedekiah and obtains permission to rescue Jeremiah from the cistern, probably saving the prophet's life. Shortly Jerusalem falls to the Babylonians, who then execute most of the leaders who had opposed and persecuted Jeremiah. At this indicate God makes a clear statement about the fact that Ebed-Melech volition live and be delivered considering of his trust in God (Jer. 39:xv-18).

In essence God does for Ebed-Melech precisely what he would not exercise for King Zedekiah and the other leaders of Jerusalem—save him from the Babylonians. The contrast is stark, and in this context Ebed-Melech plays an important theological role in the story. At a time when all of Jerusalem has rejected the word of God—thus falling under his judgment—this Cushite greenhorn trusts in God and finds deliverance. Ebed-Melech, a Blackness African, stands as a representative for those Gentiles who will exist incorporated into the people of God by organized religion.

There is a tendency amongst White Christians to view the biblical story equally primarily a story nigh them (White people), with people of other ethnicities either absent-minded from the story or added on peripherally later in the story. In reality, the story of Israel is a multi-ethnic story. The ancient Hebrews are a mix of ethnicities, with continual influxes of other nationalities. At the centre of this trend is Moses' union to a Cushite woman. Besides, at a very critical juncture in the story, it is the Cushite Ebed-Melech who emerges as the example and representative of the future inclusion of Gentiles who will be added to the people of God based on faith.

The Gospels and Acts: Crossing ethnic lines with the Gospel

One of the central themes introduced in the Gospels and brought to the forefront of the story in Acts is that the gospel is for all peoples and ethnicities. In that location are numerous allusions in the Gospels to the Abrahamic promise in Genesis regarding the blessings that volition come through Abraham and his descendants to peoples and nations (Gen. 12:3; 22:18). Besides the Gospel of Matthew closes with the Lord's command to "go and make disciples of all nations" (Matt. 28:19). Also significant is the observation that Matthew ane includes several inter-ethnic marriages in the genealogy of Jesus. Tamar and Ruth were Canaanites, while Ruth was a Moabitess. The ethnicity of Bathsheba is not known, but she was married to a Hittite named Uriah, so possibly she was also a Hittite. The point of mentioning these foreign women in the genealogy of Jesus is to highlight the mixed nature of Jesus' lineage, suggesting and alluding to the upcoming Gentile mission and speaking to the readers of their responsibility to cross cultural and ethnic boundaries to spread the gospel. [ 5 ]

Luke and Acts in particular are especially concerned with developing this theme of Gentile inclusion and the crossing (or obliterating) of cultural or ethnic boundaries between peoples with the gospel. In the parable of the Proficient Samaritan (Luke ten:25-37), for case, Jesus teaches that loving your neighbour as yourself means loving those in particular who are dissimilar than you ethnically. That is his point in using the ethnically explosive Judean-Samaritan situation for the groundwork of his parable. At this time the Judeans and Samaritans hate each other and indigenous tensions between them are high. Yet Jesus tells the story to a Judean audience with the Samaritan as the hero, clearly didactics his audience that "loving 1'due south neighbor" meant crossing indigenous lines and caring for those who were ethnically different. Jesus as well explicitly mentions crossing this same ethnic and cultural boundary in his marching orders to his disciples in Acts 1:8, "you will exist my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

Continuing with this theme, as the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem reject the message of Christ and begin openly persecuting the apostles, Acts eight presents the story of how an Ethiopian believes in the gospel and is saved. The term translated every bit "Ethiopia" in the NT refers to the verbal same region that "Cush" refers to in the OT. Similar to Ebed-Melech the Cushite in Jeremiah 38-39, this Ethiopian in Acts 8 believes the word of God proclaimed by the prophets and trusts in God, thus finding salvation, in contrast to the leaders back in Jerusalem. As the kickoff Gentile believer in Acts, this Ethiopian serves as the fore-runner or model representative of the coming Gentile inclusion, much similar the part of Ebed-Melech in Jeremiah.

Paul and Revelation: Edifice the unified, multi-ethnic church building

At the center of Paul'southward theology is the doctrine of justification by faith. That is, believers are forgiven their sins and are justified before God by the grace of God through faith in Christ. Nevertheless Paul also develops the consequential and practical outworking of this doctrine. Since we all come before God based on what Christ has done for us rather than what we have washed, then nosotros are all equal before him. Paul stresses this in passages such every bit Galatians 3:28, "There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; you are all one in Christ Jesus." The slightest notion of ethnic superiority is a deprival of the theological reality of justification.

Furthermore, Paul's emphasis is not just on equality, but on unity. Thus in Colossians 3:11 he writes, "Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; merely Christ is all and in all." Likewise in Ephesians 2:14-xvi Paul stresses that in Christ groups that were formerly hostile (similar the Jews and Gentiles) are at present brought together in unity in one body.

Paul is not just commending toleration of other ethnic groups in the Church building, he is education complete unity and common identity among the groups. He proclaims that nosotros are all members of the same family unit, parts of the same body. In one case nosotros accept been saved by faith and brought into Christ, and so our perception of our self-identity must change, leading to a radical shift in thinking most other groups of people within the religion as well. Our primary identity now lies in the fact that nosotros are Christians, part of Christ and his kingdom. This overshadows and overrides all other identities. Thus the primary identity for us, whether we are White Christians or Black Christians (or Asian or Latin American, etc.) is that we are Christian ("in Christ"). This should boss our thinking and our self-identity. We should at present view ourselves as more closely related to Christians from other ethnicities than we are to non-Christians of our own ethnicity. We don't just tolerate each other or "have" each other; we realize that we are continued together into 1 entity as kinfolk, brothers and sisters of the same family, united and on equal footing before God, and only considering of what God has done for united states of america. This does not obliterate the reality of skin color or cultural differences. What information technology changes is where nosotros look for our primary cocky-identity. Our ethnic distinctions should shrink to insignificance in light of our new identity of existence "in Christ" and part of his family unit.

This unity is brought to a climax in the Book of Revelation. Central to the climactic consummation presented in Revelation is the gathering of multi-ethnic groups around the throne of Christ. Revelation v:9 introduces this theme by proclaiming that Christ has redeemed people "from every tribe and language and people and nation." This fourfold group (tribe, language, people, nation) occurs seven times in Revelation (5:9; vii:9; 10:eleven; 11:9; 13:seven; 14:6; 17:fifteen). In the symbolic world within the Book of Revelation the number four represents the world while the number seven represents completion. Thus the seven-fold utilise of this four element phrase is an emphatic indication that all peoples and ethnicities are included in the terminal gathering of God's redeemed people around his throne to sing his praises. [6]

Conclusions

The master points of this study [7] tin be synthesized into the following points:

1. The biblical world was multi-ethnic, and numerous different indigenous groups, including Black Africans, were involved in God's unfolding plan of redemption.
2. All people are created in the epitome of God, and therefore all races and ethnic groups accept the aforementioned equal status and equal unique value.
3. Inter-ethnic marriages are sanctioned by Scripture when they are within the faith.
4. The gospel demands that we conduct pity and the message of Christ across ethnic lines.
5. The NT teaches that as Christians we are all unified together "in Christ," regardless of our differing ethnicities. Furthermore, our main concept of self-identity should not exist our ethnicity, but our membership equally part of the trunk and family of Christ.
6. The picture of God's people at the climax of history depicts a multi-ethnic congregation from every tribe, language, people, and nation, all gathered together in worship around God'due south throne.

By Dr. J. Daniel Hays, dean of the Pruet School of Christian Studies and professor of biblical studies. This article appears and is adjusted from The Gospel & Racial Reconciliation (Gospel for Life Series)edited by Russell Moore and Andrew T. Walker, B&H, 2016.

References:

[1] Biblical citations will exist from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

[2] John R. W. Stott, Human Rights and Human Wrongs: Major Issues for a New Century (Grand Rapids, MI: Bakery, 1999), 174-75.

[iii] For a more detailed discussion, meet J. Daniel Hays, From Every People and Nation: A Biblical Theology of Race, NSBT (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2003), 52-54.

[4] Encounter the discussion on this marriage in Hays, From Every People and Nation, 70-77.

[5] Craig S. Keener, A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999), 79-80. Meet also Hays, From Every People and Nation, 158-60.

[half-dozen] Richard Bauckham, The Climax of Prophecy: Studies in the Book of Revelation (Edinburgh: T & T  Clark, 1993), 336. See also the word in Hays, From Every People and Nation, 193-200.

[seven]From Hays, From Every People and Nation , 201-206.

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