Cush

Biblical Text

Cush is used as a personal name and as the name of a region and a people.

• Son of Ham: Genesis 10:6–8 lists Cush, Mizraim (Egypt), Phut, and Canaan as the sons of Ham, son of Noah, and records that Cush begat Nimrod. This genealogy sets out the nations descended from Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
• River of Eden: Genesis 2:13 records that Gihon, the second river flowing out of the Garden of Eden, "compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia" (Hebrew: Cush).
• Wife of Moses: In Numbers 12:1, Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses because he had married a Cushite woman (KJV: "an Ethiopian woman").
• Kingdom and army: 2 Kings 19:9 mentions "Tirhakah king of Ethiopia" in the time of Hezekiah, and 2 Chronicles 14:9 mentions "Zerah the Ethiopian," who fought against King Asa.
• Individuals: In 2 Samuel 18, the messenger who brought David the news of Absalom's death was a Cushite. In Jeremiah 38:7–13, Ebed-melech, the royal official who rescued Jeremiah from the pit, was also a Cushite.
• Prophetic books: Cush appears in Isaiah 18 and 20, Jeremiah 13:23, Amos 9:7, Zephaniah 3:10, and elsewhere.

Background

The Hebrew Kush refers chiefly to the region of the upper Nile south of Egypt, spanning what is today southern Egypt and northern Sudan (the area commonly called Nubia). A powerful kingdom existed in this region in antiquity, and kings from this area are known to have ruled Egypt from the late eighth century to the early seventh century BC. The Tirhakah of 2 Kings is generally identified as a king of this period. The Septuagint usually rendered Cush as "Ethiopia," and some Korean translations follow this practice. In ancient literature, however, "Ethiopia" referred broadly to the lands lying south along the Nile and does not correspond exactly to the modern nation of Ethiopia.

Esther 1:1 records that King Ahasuerus reigned "from India even unto Ethiopia"; here Cush denotes the southwestern extremity of the Persian Empire.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

In the prophetic books, Cush represents a land in the far south, very distant from Israel. Jeremiah 13:23 asks, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?" to show that the people cannot reform themselves from their evil. Amos 9:7 warns against presumption in Israel's sense of election by declaring that Israel is no different to God than the Cushites. Psalm 68:31 and Zephaniah 3:10 proclaim that even the distant people of Cush will come to bring offerings to God.

In the New Testament, many interpreters see the Ethiopian eunuch of Acts 8:26–39 as continuing this theme. The account of an official in charge of the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who hears the gospel from Philip and is baptized, is read within the broader movement of Acts, in which the gospel spreads to the Gentiles at the ends of the earth.

Interpretations and Issues

• Moses' Cushite wife: Some interpreters identify this woman with Zipporah the Midianite, while others regard her as a second wife distinct from Zipporah. Some also note that Habakkuk 3:7 sets "Cushan" in parallel with "Midian," suggesting that the Midianite region could be called Cush. The text does not give the woman's name.
• Cush in Genesis 2 and 10: Because the rivers of Eden and the setting of Nimrod's activity point toward Mesopotamia, some hold that Cush in these two passages refers not to the Cush of the Nile but to another region or people in Mesopotamia. Scholars are divided on the question.
• Misuse of the "curse of Ham": In the modern period, some defenders of slavery applied the curse of Genesis 9 to the descendants of Ham, especially Africans. In Genesis 9:25, however, the one cursed is Canaan, not Cush, and scholars from many denominations today regard this interpretation as a misreading of the text.

In the Korean Church

The words of Jeremiah 13:23, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin…," are frequently cited in sermons on the inability of human beings to change their sinful nature by their own power. The account of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 is commonly used in sermons on missions and evangelism.