Africa in the Bible: The Myth of a Cursed Race (Part 1) | A Day of Discovery Legacy Series

For centuries, an ancient curse was used
to support the terrible evil of slavery,

a curse that appears in one
isolated verse in the Bible.

Even today, this misunderstood curse still
lingers with us as a legacy of shame.

But fortunately, there are some who,
through scholarship and honest

examination, have exposed
the lie of a cursed race.

And in their pursuit of truth,
they have rediscovered a long lost

heritage and identity
in Africa and in the Bible.

The myth of a curse race,
next on Day of Discovery.

Hello, my name is Wendley Phipps.

Wendley Phipps,
a name that identifies who I am.

But who am I?

I'm a husband, I'm a father,
but I'm also a descendant of slaves.

Unless you've lived your life with darker

skin, you may not appreciate what
that question means to people like me.

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.

A long way from home.

A long way from home. Sometimes

I feel like a motherless child.

The music and words of the old spirituals

reflected both the heartache
and the hope of many slaves.

Just imagine being captured and treated

like animals, being shipped away
forever from your family and your home.

Imagine being sold like cattle.

Imagine losing your language
and yes, even your name.

Many of African enslaved descent have

wondered at some point in their lives
about their heritage and their identity.

They have wondered about
who they really are.

But for those of us who take the Bible
seriously, we know that no matter

the race, the color, or ethnicity,
we are all God's children.

We know that in the eyes of God,

we are all equal and that no one is
cursed because of color or race.

But through the centuries,

the Bible has been used, let's just say
in some ways that God never intended.

Tragically, some found in its pages
a curse, a curse

by the Prophet Noah that they have said
created the black race of Africans,

a curse that they claim sentenced
an entire race to servitude and slavery.

According to Professor of History, Dr.

Edwin Yamaouchi,
no other verse in the Bible has been so

distorted and so disasterously used down
through the centuries for the exploitation

of Africans and African Americans
as that one obscure verse found

in the opening chapters of the
Bible in the Book of Genesis.

If there is one verse in the Bible
which has adversely affected Africans,

it's the so called curse of Ham
found in Genesis 9, verse 25.

There we read, Cursed be Canan, the laws
of slaves will be heavy to his brothers.

This is a curse uttered by Noah.

For those of you who are not familiar
with the story, Noah became drunk.

And then his three sons, Ham, Shem,
and Japheth, were there at the time.

But it was Ham who dared
to look at Noah's naked body.

And then he
tried to encourage his brothers to do so.

And they would not.
They went backwards,

so as not to look at the sight
of their naked father in his disgrace.

Now, as the text adds,

the curse is not upon Ham himself,
but upon his son Canoene,

who's the eponymous ancestor
of the Canoeneites.

That is the Canineites are named
after this particular son.

According to Dr.

Yamaouchi,

the prophetic curse of Noah was most
likely fulfilled on the Canineites,

the pagan descendants of Ham's son named
Canoene, who according to the Bible,

settled in the region of what came
to be called the promised land.

The same descendants who continued

in the disrespect and disobedience
of their ancestor named Ham.

As punishment, God commanded the Hebrews

to conquer the Caninites
in order to protect his people from their

destructive ways, including the idolatrous
worship and child sacrifice.

According to the records of history,

the Canoites and their curse
have long been extinct.

According to the Bible, none of Ham's
other three sons were cursed, only Canan.

The descendants of Ham's son,
Mitsraim, settled in Egypt.

Ham's son named Put, settled near Libya.

And his fourth son, Kush,
settled in a region south of Egypt,

which came to be called by the same name,
Kush, as recorded in the Hebrew Bible.

Most scholars identify Kush
as the area of modern Sudan.

The way that name Kush has been translated

in English Bibles has
created some confusion.

German author and scholar Dr.

Roland Warner has researched
Christian history in Africa.

In the Bible, we find a reference
to the country of Kush.

We find this in various
places in the Old Testament.

Genesis 10 in the table of nations as one

of the neighbors of Mitsrayim,
and Mitsrayim, of course, is Egypt.

So Cush must be a neighbor of Egypt.

We find the same word Kush mentioned again

in Isaiah 18 and Psalm 68
in various other places.

And people have wondered
what that actually meant.

As author and New Testament professor Dr.

Allen Callaghan observes,

the Greeks referred to the people
from the region of Cush as Ethiopia.

These are the guys to whom the Greek
writers referred to as Ethiopia,

and the derivation of that word
is in some dispute.

Most people translated that as
the people with the burnt faces.

But these are at least as
Herodotikos and people like that.

The Greek writers knew of these people.

They knew of them as skilled warriors.

You wouldn't want to fight them.

They tended to be tall, dark.

They're beautiful people
and the quintessence of civilization.

There was a little bit of a confusion
because the Sceptra Gind translation,

which was the Greek translation
of the Hebrew Bible,

used the word Ethiopia, wherever
Kush occurred in the Old Testament.

So people naturally thought that this

referred to the country
that we now call Ethiopia.

Of course, that is not entirely true.

Kush is the neighbor of Egypt,
which must be Sudan.

But how and when did ancient Rush become

mislabelled and misinterpreted
as a cursed black slave race?

According to Dr.

Yamaouchi, author of Africa and the Bible,
the answer is elusive.

However, he describes the misuse
and misapplication of the curse among all

three Middle East religions, the Muslims,
the Jewish faith, and Christians.

Among the Muslims, one contributing factor
seems to be linked to the expansion

of Islam after Muhammad's death in 632,
which brought Arabs into contact

with black Africansmany centuries
after Noah spoke his prophetic words.

Muslims then used this curse,
evidently in the Garble tradition,

to say that black Africans
were double curse.

They were black because of the curse,

and they were destined to be
slaves because of the curse.

Now, there are also some Jewish passages

in the talmouth that have been argued as
being the basis of this curse.

However, the talmouth is a vast,
incomprehensible work for most non Jews.

And it is hardly likely that this would

have become the basis
of this famous curse of Ham.

Unfortunately, Christians were no better
than those of other religious traditions.

Carrying the flag and cross of Christ, the
crusaders used war in the name of God.

After the crusades,
using the same myth of the curse of Ham,

Christian Europeans practiced
slavery in the name of God.

The curse of Ham also appears among
European writers and was strongly used by

pro slave advocates in the United States
before the Civil War.

African slaves were first offered for sale
to the British colony in Virginia in 1619.

Then, between 1680 and 1700,
more than 300,000 African slaves were

imported into the British
colonies of North America.

The earliest use of the curse of Ham
to justify slavery in America dates back

to the 1670s, but the effect
of that teaching is still felt today.

The myth of a cursed black slave race came

from the misinterpreted and misapplied
curse of the Prophet Noah.

That isolated ancient verse in the Book

of Genesis became a convenient lie,
a rationalization for greed.

The truth was,
using slaves meant cheap labor.

Christians who believed in this curse

often ignored the central teaching of the
Bible, God's love for the whole world.

The Apostle John wrote about
God's all inclusive love.

For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son,

that whoever believes in him should
not perish, but have eternal life.

Unfortunately,
the effect of that so called black curse

teaching still lingers
in the hearts and minds of many.

Some have taken a pilgrimage,
a journey back before the days of slavery,

a journey back to Africa and back
into the pages of the Bible.

These travelers are part of a study tour.

Some look to see themselves in the ancient

past, and others search for the truth,
the truth about who they really are.

Well, I wanted to come because the title

of the course was
The Great Africans of the Bible.

And being an African American and just

having a strong interest
in the development of identity and what

that has meant for my people, really,
and also as a Christian and knowing

that Christianity in the past has been
used for an evil purpose and enslavement

and really in the history
of slavery in America.

What we want to do is
appreciate all of God's creation.

It's hard to appreciate God's creation if

you yourself feel that you are
inferior part of God's creation.

When one would feel that they are very

much a part and equal with all other
humans that God has created,

now we could come together
in a sense of unity a lot easier.

Because if you feel inferior,
you'll be trying to work against,

mitigate the whole idea
of the inferiority complex.

And that would be the driving force

of your union as opposed to trying
to come together to do something for God.

Well, my journey actually began almost

a couple of years ago
when a staff person of mine announced

in a group meeting that Blacks
were descendants of a curse.

So that got me searching,
and that's how I started this journey.

Then I met Dr.

Kreger, took a class with her,
and she literally opened my eyes to what

the Word of God has to say about all
people, especially people of color.

The study tour leader is
an enthusiastic professor in her 80s.

At first appearance,
she's an unlikely source of information

about African history, but she's
earned the respect of her students.

So after all, he's going to make
the God's little boy himself.

That's called anthropomorphism.

While others her age might be inclined
to limit their activities to enjoying

their grandchildren
and great grandchildren, Dr.

Catherine Crager also
pursues another passion.

I hoped that if we could bring people face
to face with their tradition,

if they could actually see representations
of ancient people, highly civilized,

brilliant people, and how strong
their African features were.

If they could look face to face at objects

of material civilization created by early
Africans, that they would understand

the importance that the Bible gives
to Africans and the importance that is

there in a history that has
so often been stolen.

Many places of historical importance
can be discovered along the Nile River.

And along the Nile,

evidence of the advanced culture of black
Africans can be seen in the middle of one

of the most important archeological
sites in Egypt, in the city of Thebes.

Here at Thebes stand monumental temples,

including Egypt's largest temple,
the temple of Karnak.

Nearby rises the imposing temple of Luxor.

They display the grand legacy
of the Egyptian pharos.

But located in the temple complex
of Karnak, rises one giant papyrus shaped

column,
one of the last remaining columns erected

by a black Pharaoh of Egypt,
one of the black Pharaohs from Cush,

who also ruled Egypt, a Pharaoh
whose name is even recorded in the Bible.

His name, Terhaka, Terhaka
from the ancient kingdom of Cush.

Over 1,000 small statutes or figurines
of Terhaka were found in his tomb.

Yes, it is a husband offering his hand. e

are now at the back colonnade of the four
great colonnades that Terhaka built.

And we're at the base of the columns made
distinctively in his style of building.

Here is the pharaoh himself.

He has a flail in his hand and he
is all Pharaoh and all power.

The Pharaoh here has a strong chin.

It's a little hard to see
because of the false spirit.

But look at the full lips and look at the
molded nose and the angle of the nose.

Please notice that some of the other
columns lost their tops.

Remember, though,

that this much nice stone is a big
temptation for somebody else to swipe.

And they did.

The Prophet Isaiah described
the powerful nation of cush.

Go, swift messengers to a nation tall
and smooth, to a people feared far

and wide, a powerful and oppressive
nation whose land the rivers divide.

Ancient historical accounts describe how
the bow was a formidable weapon

in the hands of these
Kushite or Nubian warriors.

According to the Bible,
the Assyrians under their King Sennacherib

had overrun the region and captured
Judah's southern fortress, Lakish.

Terhaka and his warriors came
to the aid of King Hezekiah of Judah.

In 2 Kings 19,

there is an incidental reference to a King
of Egypt, who's actually from Nubia.

Now, S enacherib received a report

that Terhaka, the Kushite King of Egypt,
was marching out to fight against him.

Biblical theorhaka is called Paharka in

the Egyptian sources,
and he belongs to the 25th dynasty.

I knew that Kush was associated with black
people, with the Africans,

but I did not know that it was
mentioned 52 times in the entire Bible.

And she was saying that that's like

the more than any other ethnic group,
any other nation besides Israel.

And I love the fact that we're looking
into proof and facts,

not the stuff that we're making up
and saying, This is probably African.

We're looking at facts,
we're looking at facial characteristics,

we're looking at everything here in Africa
saying, We're not making anything up.

We're just showing you Church biblical
history with African figures.

Those who are not African Americans or not
Blacks will tend to gloss over those

legitimate passages where
Africans are indeed mentioned.

For example, in my opinion, Moses' Kushite
wife was a black woman from Cush.

She should not be equated with Zepora,
who was Moses' wife from Midian.

Midian is an area of Northwestern Arabia.

Also, there are some remarkable Cushites

mentioned in Jeremiah,
one of whom saved Jeremiah's life.

And also, of course,

the eunuch from Ethiopia
in Acts 8, who was no doubt black.

On the other hand, there are some who are

not black because not all people
who lived in Africa were black.

I think a basic principle is that it is

not necessary for one to find one's
ethnic group mention in the Bible in order

to accept the biblical
message for oneself.

For example, there are no
Asians mentioned in the Bible.

I've sometimes gotten a call

from Chinese Christians who wonder
if the Magi were Chinese.

No, they're not.

Nor are any Native Americans mentioned.

It matters not if the Pharaoh was black.

That matters not to me.

What matters to me is
that the truth just be brought forth.

I think, especially we as Blacks

in America, with our history of slavery
and our Church traditions being grown

and the Lord's providential hand upon us
in the context of history of slavery

and segregation and oppression and just
being raised with images of Jesus as

blonde hair and blue eyed and not only
Jesus, but Church fathers and biblical

heroes in the movies we
see in the paintings.

You really get raised feeling like your

people didn't have
anything to do with this.

It's just amazing to see that we did

and that God's providential hand has been
on black people and on people of African

descent, not only in our history
in America, but all the way back here.

It is something that everyone
needs to understand.

Everyone needs to know that even
in the Bible, that there is equality.

There is no question in my mind
that God loves the people of Africa.

And as a matter of fact,

that he had us in mind from the very
beginning, from creation.

And he has us in mind all the way through

to the vision that I believe John
saw in the island of Patmos.

While exiled on the island of Patmos,

the aging Apostle John received
a vision of the future.

In that vision recorded in the Book
of revelation,

the last living apostle saw not
a cursed people, but a blessed people.

For there before the throne of God

and the Lamb of Christ
were people from every tribe and tongue.

John wrote,
And they sang a new song saying,

worthy are you,
for you were slain and purchased for God

with your blood, men from every tribe
and tongue and people and nation.

You have made them to be a kingdom

and priest to our God,
and they will reign upon the Earth.

And centuries before the Apostle John,
the Prophet Isaiah looked down the rivers

of time to that time
of the future Kingdom of God.

And there in the Kingdom,

he saw a blessed people,
the people of Cush,

ancient Nubia coming to Jerusalem,
coming to Mount Zion with gifts.

At that time, gifts will be brought
to the Lord Almighty from a people tall

and smooth skin whose land
is divided by rivers.

The gifts will be brought to Mount Zion,

the place of the name
of the Lord Almighty.

So all people everywhere are invited to be
a part of God's family and God's Kingdom.

No one is excluded.

No one is left out.

No one is cursed
because of some shade of color

or one's appearance
or because they're a man or a woman.

For God sees nothing but our hearts.

And when our hearts are his,
we are all one in Christ.

The great apostle to the gentile

nations wrote,
There is neither Jew nor Greek.

There is neither slave nor free man.

There is neither male nor female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

I'm Wendley Phipps.

Remember, no matter your color,
Jesus loved you all the way to the cross.

He's coming back again for men and women

from every race, nation, kindred, tongue,
and people. you..