Goldfoot Genealogy

Created in the image of God

Any serious biblical study 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 first human being is created he is simply called Adam, which is Hebrew for “humankind.” Adam and Eve are not 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 father of all peoples of all ethnicities. Adam and Eve are presented as non-ethnic and non-national because they represent all people of all ethnicities. (J. Danny Hays)

My comment from  Jewish commentators:  In Genesis 1:26 is:

Animals were created before Man, the being whose performance for good or ill would determine the destiny of the universe.  This implies that G-d was telling Adam:  The complete world is now placed in your hands;  make it function properly.   G-d was speaking to the ministering angels who had been created by G-d on the 2nd day of Creation of the world, "Let us make Man."  Moses wrote the Torah and questioned G-d about this  implication that there is more than one Creator saying "Sovereign of the Universe!  Why do You thus furnish a pretext for heretics to maintain that there is a plurality of divinities?  ...the answer was that Let them learn from their Creator who created all, yet when He came to create Man He took counsel with the ministering angels." (from Midrash).  Man alone is endowed---like his creator----with morality, reason and free will.  He can know and love G-d and can hold spiritual communion with Him;  and Man alone can guide his actions through reason.  It is in this sense that the Torah describes Man as having been created in G-d's image and likeness (from Rambam).  God formed; Adam outside the garden of Eden so he would see the world of thorns and thistles;  only then did G-d lead him into the garden;  so that he would see the alternatives before he was given his first commandment.  (from Chizkuni).  

And G-d said, "Let us make man in our image after our likeness.  They shall rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and over the animal, the whole earth, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.  So G-d created man in His image, in the image of G-d he created him;  male and female He created them.  He told them to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it;  and rule over the fish of the sea, the bird of the sky, and every living thing that moves on the earth.  ...And G-d formed the man of dust from the ground, and He blew into his nostrils the soul of life;  and man became a living being.    The plural (us-angels) indicates that G-d deliberated with this Celestial Court (by Rashi).  G-d does not need the advice of the angels, of course, but He consulted with them;  as it were, to set an example so that people should show courtesy to others by involving them in discussions.  

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

 Ham produced Canaanites (Syria and Palestine), Cush (Nubia and Ethiopia, Put (Libya and Morocco, Mizraim (Egypt)  Ham is a name of Hebrew origin, meaning “hot” or “warm.” While you may know Ham as one of the biblical sons of Noah, this short but sweet boy's name has many other beautiful meanings for baby.  

Shem produced Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad (father of Eber and ancestor of Abraham) , Aram (Semitic people akin to Hebrew) 

While at the same time, our Torah says something about Black people:  The so-called “Curse of Ham” (Genesis 9:18-27)  And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his youngest son had done unto him. And he said,

Tanakh version: Cursed is Canaan; a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers

And he said, "Blessed is Hashem, the G-d of Shem;  and let Canaan be a slave to them.  

May G-d extend Japheth, but he will dwell in the tents of Shem;  may Canaan be a slave to them."

Hays: Cursed be Canaan;

A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

And he said,

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem;

And let Canaan be his servant.

God enlarge Japheth,

And let him dwell in the tents of Shem;

And let Canaan be his servant.

—Revised Version

Ham (in Hebrew: חָם), according to the Table of Nations in the Book of Genesis, was the second son of Noah and the father of Cush, Mizraim, Phut and Canaan. Ham's descendants are interpreted by Flavius Josephus (captured Jewish general by Romans, alive only by writing for Roman audience the history of Jews, not a Rabbinical biblical commentator and others as having populated Africa and adjoining parts of Asia.The Bible refers to Egypt as "the land of Ham" in Psalm 78:51; 105:23, 27; 106:22; 1 Chronicles 4:40.Goldenberg "argues persuasively that the biblical name Ham bears no relationship at all to the notion of blackness and as of now is of unknown etymology."

Hays: What is commonly known as "The Curse of Ham" was not bestowed upon Ham himself; rather, Noah indirectly cursed him via his son Canaan.

The Talmud deduces two possible explanations, one attributed to Rabbi Abba Arikha and one to Rabbi Samuel, for what Ham did to Noah to warrant the curse.

Other religious commentators have read too much into the verses.  I've found "Some are unsatisfied. There is a perennial suggestion that sex of some sort was involved. The justification for this is the use of “uncover nakedness” language in Leviticus 18 & 20 to denote sexual relations; including in one place “see nakedness” (Lev. 20:17) with the same sexual connotation. Since Ham saw his father’s nakedness, this means he sodomized his father, and then bragged about it. Or, since uncovering a man’s nakedness can refer to having sex with a man’s wife, then this means that Ham had sex with his own mother while his father slept.

It is certainly true that when a son assaults his father’s bed, generally having sex with a wife other than his own mother, that is a way of saying that the old man is weak and it’s time for the son to be put in charge. Reuben did this to Jacob, and Absalom to David. In both of those stories, however, the text is quite clear about what happened. To read the sin of Ham sexually it is necessary to import the sexual aspect without any direct evidence, and, perhaps importantly, to read back into this literary record language that is not introduced until much later in history, in the Biblical deposit of revelation.

According to Abba Arika, Ham castrated Noah on the basis that, since Noah cursed Ham by his fourth son Canaan, Ham must have injured Noah with respect to a fourth son. Emasculating him thus deprived Noah of the possibility of a fourth son.

According to Samuel, Ham sodomized Noah, a judgment that he based on analogy with another biblical incident in which the phrase "and he saw" is used. In Genesis 34:2 it reads, "And when Shechem the son of Hamor saw her (Dinah), he took her and lay with her and defiled her." With regard to Ham and Noah, Genesis 9 reads, "22] And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. [23] And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness."

According to this argument, similar abuse must have happened each time that the Bible uses the same language. The Talmud concludes that, in fact, "both indignities were perpetrated."

Although the story can be taken literally, in more recent times, some scholars have suggested that Ham may have had intercourse with his father's wife. Under this interpretation, Canaan is cursed as the "product of Ham's illicit union."

Hays:  In regard to the history of racial prejudice in America no other passage in Scripture has been as abused, distorted and twisted as has Genesis 9:18-27. Thus it is important that we clarify what this passage actually says (and doesn’t say).

In Genesis 9:20-21, after the flood is over and his family has settled down, 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 then carefully cover up their father. When Noah wakes up and finds out what happened he pronounces a curse on Canaan, the son of Ham, stating, “Cursed be 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).

Tanakh:(20) Noah, the man of the earth, debased himself and planted a vineyard.(21) he drank of the wine and became drunk, and he uncovered himself within his tent.(22) Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside.(23)And Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it upon both their shoulders, and they walked backwards, and covered their father's nakedness;  their faces were turned away, and they saw not their father's nakedness.(24) Noah awoke from his wine and realized what his small son had done to him.(25) And he said, "Cursed is Canaan, a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers."

(9:18-27) The intoxication and shame of Noah.  The Torah records a shameful event through which Noah was humiliated and which resulted in the blessings and curse that influence the trend of history to this very day.  This experience demonstrates that even the greatest people can become degraded if they lose control of themselves.  (9:25-27) Noah foretells the destiny of his sons.  Rabbi Hirsch calls these verses the most far-reaching prophecy ever uttered, for in it Noah encapsulated the entire course of human history.  

Hays:In the 19th century, both before and after the Civil War, this text was frequently cited by Whites to argue 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 1) the word “Ham” really means “black” or “burnt,” and thus refers to the Black race; and 2) God commanded that the descendants of Ham (Black people) become slaves to Japheth, who, they argued, represents the White races.[3]

It should be stated clearly and unambiguously that every reputable evangelical Old Testament scholar that I know of views this understanding of Genesis 9:18-27 as ridiculous, even ludicrous. It is completely indefensible on biblical grounds.

First of all, note that the curse is placed on Canaan and not on Ham (Gen. 9:25). To project the curse to all of Ham’s descendants is to misread the passage. It is Canaan (and the Canaanites) who are the focus of this curse. This text is a prophetic curse on Israel’s future enemy and nemesis, the Canaanites. The Canaanites are included here in this prophetic curse because they are characterized by similar sexual-related sins elsewhere in the Pentateuch (see Lev. 18:2-23 for example). The curse on Canaan is not pronounced because Canaan is going to be punished for Ham’s sin, but because the descendants of Canaan (the Canaanites) will be like Ham in their sin and sexual misconduct.

Furthermore, it is wildly speculative to assume that the name Ham actually means “black” and thus refers to the people in Black Africa. There is an ancient Egyptian word keme that means “the black land,” a reference to the land of Egypt and to the dark fertile soil associated with Egypt.  Yet to assume that the Hebrew name Ham is even connected at all to this Egyptian word is questionable. Then even if it 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 not defensible. Likewise, as 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 later in Israel’s history during the conquest of the Promised Land when the Israelites defeat and subjugate the Canaanites. It has absolutely nothing to do with Black Africa or the subjugation of Black peoples. Such an interpretation seriously distorts and twists the meaning of this passage.

Tanakh: The ethnic composition of biblical Israel

Using cultural and geographical “boundary markers” such as language, territory, religion, dress, appearance, and ancestor origins, the ancient peoples in the regions in and around ancient Israel can be split up into four major ethnic groups: 

1) the Asiatics or Semites (including the Israelites, Canaanites, Amorites, Arameans, etc.);

2) the Cushites (Black Africans living along the Nile River south of Egypt; also referred to as 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 within the Asiatic/Semitic group of peoples, although several of the other groups have significant input. Note that Israel is not mentioned in Genesis 10 as 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 most closely associated with the Arameans (Gen. 24:4; 28:5; Deut. 26:5). While both Abraham’s son Isaac and grandson Jacob marry Aramean women, the next generation also marries Canaanites (Judah, Gen. 38:2; Simeon, Gen. 46:10) and Egyptians (Joseph, Gen. 41:50).

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 Middle East today, such as modern Arabs and Israelis.

It is during the 400 plus year sojourn in Egypt that the family of Abraham develops linguistically and culturally into an identifiable Israelite people. Yet even then, in terms of ethnicity they are hardly monolithic. In addition to the various ethnic streams that influence the formation of the Israelite nation during the patriarchal period, numerous other ethnic influences continued to shape the formation of Israel. For example, when God delivers 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 but many of them are not. It was the 12 tribes and the others who left Egypt to go with Moses.

At this particular time in Egypt’s history, there are numerous Cushites (Black Africans) living in Egypt, at all levels of society. In all likelihood some of these Africans are part of the “ethnically diverse crowd” that comes out of Egypt and joins Israel. During the exodus Moses will marry one of these Cushites (see below). Likewise, the name of Moses’ great nephew Phinehas, a very prominent priest, suggests a connection with the Cushites. Phinehas’ name is an Egyptian name. The Egyptians referred to the Black African inhabitants of Cush by 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 Black Africans living in Cush.

Cush was the son of Ham;  brother of Mizraim (Egypt), Put (Libya and Morocco and Canaan.  The list of his sons seems to refer to tribes in Africa and S. Arabia.  He is also the father of Nimrod, and scholars identify this Cush either with the cosseans or with the city of Cush, which in Babylonian tradition, was one of the first cities built after the Flood.  Cush is also a region south of Egypt (Nubia, Ethiopia) in Hebrew and other ancient languages.  It extended south from Elephantine and Syene (modern Assouan)l.  

Hays: The Book of Proverbs presents several practical implications from this connection between God and the people he created. For example, Proverbs 14:31a states, “The one 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 take a superior attitude toward others due to their socio-economic 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 same principle applies to racial prejudice. The unjustified self-establishment 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 directly 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 not just a suggestion or “good manners,” it is one of the mandates emerging out of Genesis 1 and Proverbs.

Moses and inter-ethnic marriage

In the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy the central character, apart from God, is Moses (1391-1271 BCE) from age 80 to 120 constantly writing starting in 1291BCE. That was 3,314 years ago. We say that Moses wrote all 5 books that are first in the Bible.   

 (Genesis, the 1st book is history of the beginning of the world.)Appointed by God as Israel’s leader and mediator between God and the people, Moses dominates the human side of the story. His story was written  Interestingly, the biblical story includes quite a bit of personal information about Moses, even specifically mentioning his two inter-ethnic marriages. Keep in mind that at this time in Israel’s history the norm of monogamous marriage had not yet been established. Recall that even later in history King David will have seven wives, apparently with God’s approval. Remember also that this was written by the only man who was educated-Moses who was traveling with freed slaves and had no education

   

      Moses with Jethro, father of Zipporah, a Midian priest

A grateful Jethro gives Moses his daughter Zipporah in marriage, despite their religious differences. They marry and have two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. A few years later, after God speaks to Moses through a burning bush, Moses sets out with his family to return to Egypt to free his people from slavery.

Early in Moses’ life he had fled from Egypt to Midian, where he met and married Zipporah, a Midian woman (Exodus 2).  The Midianites are a Semitic-speaking people, ethnic cousins to the Israelites. What is surprising about this marriage is that the Midianites worship Baal. In fact, Reuel, Zipporah’s father, is a priest of Midian (Exod. 2:15-22; Num. 25). At this stage of his life Moses is not serving God yet, 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 Israel who threaten to undermine the theological and ethical faithfulness of Israel to God.

According to Demetrius, the Chronographer and Ezekiel, the Tragedian, the Cushite wife of Moses in Numbers 12:1-16 is Zipporah (Winslow 2004:61-73).                                       

Later in his life, however, while Moses is faithfully leading Israel and serving God, he marries a Cushite woman (Num. 12:1).(Did Moses repeat himself?)  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 nothing ambiguous about their identity or their ethnicity. Moses marries a Black African woman; there is no doubt about this.(Hays).  

In the Torah/Old Testament, Zipporah was one of the seven daughters of Jethro, a Kenite shepherd who was a priest of Midian. In Exodus 2:18, Jethro is also referred to as Reuel, and in the Book of Judges (Judges 4:11) as Hobab.  Kenites were a tribe living in the Negev and the Sinai desert, bordering on the territory of the Amalekites (I Sam.15:6)  The Israelites had a treaty with them from the time of Moses and Reuel.  Reuel's son, Hobab, guided the Israelites in the desert and after the conquest, settled with part of his tribe on the borders of the city of Arad.  The Israelites probably absorbed the Kenites.

Numbers 12:1 Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman.  Moses' uniqueness is challenged and affirmed:  Following this vein, Cushites are characterized largely as a militaristic people in the Hebrew Bible. Most references to Cush occur in the context of military engagement (i.e., 2 Chron 14:9-15; Isaiah 20:3–4; Jeremiah 46:9; Ezekiel 30:4–5; 38:5; Nahum 3:9).Isaiah 18:2, for instance, characterizes the Cushites as a people “feared near and far,” and a “nation mighty and conquering.” This is consistent with Cushite military reputation in ancient Egypt and the ancient Near East in general.  In terms of physical representation, Egyptian iconographic evidence consistently depict Cushites with dark skin pigmentation, and the Greeks refer to the southerners as Aithiops, or Ethiopians, meaning “burnt of face.” But far from exhibiting the kind of antipathy toward blackness we find in the modern context, the physical characteristics of the Cushite evoked no negative responses: ancient peoples like Egyptians, Assyrians, and Greeks did not develop a racialized view of identity.

   Cushites, military people, women were strong:  This is an acutual picture of a young Israeli actress who plays Wonder Woman, Gal Gadot.  (born April 30, 1985, Petaḥ Tikva, Israel), Israeli actress, producer, and model. After having roles in several television shows and films in the 2000s and 2010s, she catapulted to fame with her portrayal of the DC universe superhero Wonder Woman.

  The siblings said, "Was it only to Moses that Hashem spoke?  Did he not speak to us, as well?  And Hashem heard.  Now the man Moses was exceedingly humble, more than any person on the face of the earth!  Hashem said suddenly to Moses, to Aaron, and to Miriam, "you three go out to the Tent of Meeting."...Moses had to refrain from marital relations with his wife Zipporah, in order to be ritually pure at all times, since G-d could speak to him at any moment.  Miriam disparagingly reported this to Aaron, who was critical as well.  Because she instigated the slander, she was punished with tzaraas.  Thus her mistake became an eternal teaching to the Jewish people of the gravity of the sin of slander. Moses had had 2 boys by Zipporah who died from the Ark of the Covenant because they failed in following directions and warnings.   

   Baal worship went against their creed of one G-d and teachings of Moses; Paganism

Yet what of the biblical injunctions against inter-ethnic marriage? Is Moses violating these commandments? Not at all. In the Pentateuch the prohibition against inter-marrying with other groups always specifically refers to the pagan inhabitants of Canaan (Deut. 7:1-4). The reason for this prohibition is theological. If they intermarry with these pagan peoples, God warns, “they will 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 marry foreign women, a practice that was allowed if the women are from cities that are outside that land; that is, not Canaanite. Later in Israel’s history, Ezra and Nehemiah will reissue the prohibition against intermarriage (Ezra 9:1; Neh. 13:23-27), but 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’s apostasy and idolatry.

The implications of Moses’ marriage to a Cushite woman are significant.  Moses is one of the leading figures in the OT. As the story unfolds in Numbers 12:1-16 it is clear that God approves of this marriage, for he rebukes Miriam and Aaron for opposing it, and he then strongly reaffirms Moses as his chosen leader. Thus early in Israel’s story we find one of Israel’s most faithful leaders intermarrying with a Black African woman while serving God faithfully. (He's assuming she's Black.  We don't know what Cushites looked like over 3 thousand years ago.)  Is she a 2nd wife?  Zippora had a name.  This is simply a Cushite woman.  Evidently they haven't been introduced.                

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

Ancient peoples like Egyptians, Assyrians, and Greeks did not develop a racialized view of identity.  Moses didn't either.  We were all created in G-d's image.  One was not above the other.  

Me: Race today is viewed within cultures.  Cultures include: religion, race, music, food, ethics, expectations for males, females.  People have more problems with culture of different people than the color of their skin, though color makes it easy for identification purposes.  Today's American culture is a mix of all cultures represented at different times of the year, usually identified with their individual festivals.  People belong to their own little cultural groups.  Even gangs separate themselves with colored scarves for identification.  

One can understand that Moses' culture was quite different from those in Canaan when he arrived there and pitched his tent. He was the adopted son of an Egyptian princess raised as a Prince of Egypt.   Their ethics differed the most as he had had that ah ha moment of understanding a new concept-through the one G-d.  In moving, Moses went from a culture of homes and wealth to that of tents and sand.  I'd say that by living to 120 showed he agreed with the change.  He died before entering Canaan  at the end of the Exodus.  .  

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://obu.edu/stories/blog/2020/06/what-does-the-bible-say-about-race.php

Tanakh: The Stone Edition

https://biblicalhorizons.wordpress.com/2010/05/15/the-sin-of-ham-revisited/

Book: The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

https://www.israel-a-history-of.com/abraham-and-lot-in-canaan.html

https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2020/12/cushites-hebrew-bible/#:~:text=Following%20this%20vein%2C%20Cushites%20are,%3B%20Nahum%203%3A9).

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/are-neanderthals-same-species-as-us.html#:~:text=neanderthalensis%20and%20H.,Africa%20about%2055%2C000%20years%20ago.