Representing Cush in the Hebrew Bible

Biblical Archaeology Review ^ | November 01, 2020 | Kevin Burrell

[SunkenCiv]

In 701 B.C.E., an African king marched into Syria-Palestine to defend Judah against the invasion of Sennacherib, king of Assyria. Second Kings 19:9 mentions "Tirhakah, king of Cush," coming to the help of Hezekiah, who was up against the Assyrian superpower. Though the Cushites are mentioned only briefly in the biblical text, a number of scholars have argued that their involvement in the conflict against Assyria was decisive in the survival of Jerusalem at this critical historical juncture...

The 25th Dynasty of Egypt, which lasted for about a hundred years, from the mid-eighth century to the mid-seventh century B.C.E., was Cushite in origin. Comprising seven kings, of which Taharqo (biblical Tirhakah) was the sixth and most prominent, the Cushite Dynasty ruled the largest territory to exist in the Nile Valley in antiquity. Under Taharqo, the dominion of Cush stretched from the heart of the Sudanto the Mediterranean.

In the eighth and seventh centuries, Cushite Egypt competed with Assyria for control of Syria-Palestine, but after a prolonged struggle Assyria gained the upper hand, eventually conquering Egypt and expelling the Cushites from the land of the pharaohs. Under its new political capital of Meroë, the kingdom of Cush would last for yet another thousand years until its final dissolution in the fourth century C.E. The rule of the 25th Dynasty coincided with the age of the classical Hebrew prophets. Thus, the Egypt of much of the prophetic literature (e.g., Isaiah 1-40) was a territory under the dominion of the pharaohs of Cush.

[SunkenCiv]

Statues of various rulers of the late 25th Dynasty to the early Napatan period. From left to right, these statues represent – Tantamani, Taharqa (rear), Senkamanisken, Tantamani again (rear), Aspelta, Anlamani, and Senkamanisken again. Taharqa is mentioned in 2 Kings 19:9 as "Tirhakah, King of Cush," a ruler who came to the aid of Hezekiah against the invasion of Assyria.

Credit: Matthias Gehricke, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

[SunkenCiv]

One of *those* topics.

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[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

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[Red Badger]

Syria-Palestine?

No such place......................

[SunkenCiv]

Clearly there was/is. There was also Palestine (grew out of Philistia), Coele-Syria, The Levant, the Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia...

[Red Badger]

But it wasn’t called ‘Palestine’ until the Romans renamed Judah....

[SunkenCiv]

The Romans didn’t make up the name, they often used names that had no remaining political relevance, thus, they picked that one.

[maro]

What about calling it “Canaan”?

[Red Badger]

I’ve read that Hadrian(?) renamed it as an insult to the Jews who had rebelled against Roman rule by calling it ‘Palestine’ in reference to the ancient Philistines who were ancient Israel’s enemy...................

[Red Badger]

At least that was a real place................

[Craftmore]

dey wuz kangs

[aimhigh]

Moses married a Cushite. (Etheopia)

[SunkenCiv]

As I said, the Romans often picked old names for places.

Pedophile Emperor Hadrian didn't like circumcision, which he regarded as body mutiliation.

[fidelis]

Good article. Thanks for sharing.

[gleeaikin]

Thanks for another list of interesting articles.

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure!

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure, and sorry it took almost three years for me to see it. :^)