Was Jesus Really White?

EuroWeekly News ^ | 22 Dec 2023 | Jennifer Popplewell

[nickcarraway]

IT’s nearly here! The birthday of the selfless one himself. The man, the myth, the legend, saviour of all humanity, Jesus Christ.

However, it is actually widely debated that, if he did exist in flesh and blood, his birthday was actually on December 25. One theory suggests that the ‘Star of Bethlehem’ may have been Venus and Jupiter coming together to form a bright light in the sky, a rare event that occurred in June of 2 B.C. Another possibility is that it could have been a similar conjunction between Saturn and Jupiter, which was in October of 7 B.C. So nobody really knows.

Anyway, whenever that famous night was when there was ‘no room at the inn’, the birth is agreed to have taken place in Bethlehem, which was just south of Jerusalem, in the Middle East. If this is something that is not debated by scholars, then isn’t it a little strange that most modern depictions of Jesus Christ in the western world show him to have fair skin and light hair? Whilst not impossible, if we take a look at people native to the Middle East, typically they have dark hair, and olive to dark brown skin. So why would we assume that Jesus looks any different to the average person of that area? The Bible does not mention anything about the appearance of Jesus, apart from stating that he did not stand out in any particular way. Even more reason to assume that he was not a pale, white man roaming around!

In their book, ‘Legacies of likeness’, Scholar Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey argue that in ‘the centuries after European colonisation of the Americas, the image of a white Christ associated him with the logic of empire and could be used to justify the oppression of Native and African Americans’. Another theory of this possibly inaccurate image is that it is mostly white people who have painted these depictions.

Whatever he looked like, he is a symbol of selflessness, forgiveness, and an inspiration to how man can embody his goodness and true human nature. However, representation matters, and viewers of his image should ponder and understand the complicated history of these portraits of Christ that they consume.

[Tell It Right]

For starters, we should probably throw out the article for stating "if he did exist in flesh and blood".

But if we want to go with a discussion I was part of decades ago, here's how my part went. As always I go to the Bible first. I just don't see much there there for tagging the Jews or Jesus with a skin color.

Jacob (Israel) had a twin brother named Esau (which means hairy) because he was covered in red hair (Genesis 25:25). Jacob's descendants are the Jews and Esau's the Edomites. I'm not sure if that means the Jews and Edomites looked like ginger haired Irishmen. There are a few traces of blacks with red hair. Just throwing that out there.

Then Jeremiah 13:22-24 has God, through Jeremiah, pointing out that the Jews can't help but keep on sinning, like a leopard can't change his spots, or an Ethiopian can't change his skin. That doesn't explicitly say that the Jews were a different color from the black Ethiopians, but it's at least suggestive that they were.

And Song of Songs 1:5-6 has the Shulamite woman (a Jew) say that she's deeply tanned, which could be a reference that she's a darker race than her lover. But I don't think so since the next verse alludes to her working out in the sun a lot (like a poor woman, who is grateful to be in love with a rich man who doesn't have to be out in the sun a lot). IMHO that could work for Jews being dark or light skinned, but with the darkest of Jews being dark from working out in the sun a lot unlike the wealthy class Jews regardless of what the normal color is.

Finally there's Revelation 1:15 in which a vision of Jesus to John has Jesus with bronze feet -- suggesting that Jesus ain't lily white like Jews in the Charlton Heston movies. But the verses surround it say that Jesus' eyes were fire and a sword coming out of His mouth. So clearly the bronze feet aren't meant to identify His skin color but be symbolic of something entirely different (Jesus is mightily standing steadily like something with a bronze foundation).

So much for getting an answer about Jesus' skin color from the Bible. The Ashkenazi Jews today are pretty white, but I'd guess that generations of living (and probably some intermarrying) with Europeans might have lightened the herd up a bit and, therefore, shouldn't be indicative of what Jews looked like thousands of years ago. For that matter, Acts 2 describes Jews as being at Jerusalem for the Pentecost celebration (at the end of the Feast of Weeks) and they spoke other languages (marveling at the disciples being able to speak the languages they recognized from the nations Jews had been living in for generations). No one would be surprised if by Jesus' day the Jews were a bit multi-colored by then. In fact, Joseph and Mary had been living in Galilee before Augustus' decree forced them to go to Bethlehem to be counted for taxes (even Jesus' family experienced the wrath of taxes). History outside the Bible suggests that Galilee had a lot of Itureans living there by then and intermarrying with the Jews for generations. What color were they? Where they an offshoot of Arabs? Or Arameans? Only God knows, and whatever their color only God knows if they contributed to Mary's gene pool.

[Wuli]

He was born to Semitic parents and his body had at least his mother’s Semitic DNA. (Semites include Jews, Arabs, Akadians and Phoenecians - often called Canaanites in the bible). They are neither Africans nor Europeans nor Asians and therefore are often included as among Caucasions.

Does that make the historical Jesus “white”.

No not particularly. He was a Middle Eastern Jew, period but regardless his “race” should not be debated. His “race” was human.

[Secret Agent Man]

Can people (not you Nick) ask more stupid questions about Jesus?

He was Jewish. Take that as you will.

[No name given]

Amen 🙏🏻!

[Flaming Conservative]

Don’t know, and I don’t care. Jesus IS.

[No name given]

That’s right.

[No name given]

That’s right, He is Lord and Savior!

[Fiji Hill]

When he was a missionary in China, Walter Judd curried favor with his Chinese listeners by telling them that Jesus was a fellow Oriental. Judd would later become a prominent conservative Republican Congressman.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

Oh, yeah. I watched a TV program the other day about Norway that included Laplanders.

[McGavin999]

Spirit has neither color nor race. However you choose to see him is exactly what he looks like….to you.

[Glad2bnuts]

Yeshua was his name, and he was of the tribe of Judah. His skin pallor would have more in common with Italians or Egyptions.

[Glad2bnuts]

Yeshua was born on or about September 22, not December 25th in the dead of Winter. It is cold in the middle east, and Shepherds were living in the fields with their flocks at night. Sheep are kept in enclosures in the dead of Winter. Since a great many of the Hebrew people moved into Spain, Greece and Italy during the dispersion, that is why I surmise that they would be the closest example of Jews we can see.

[Blood of Tyrants]

The bible says that there was nothing about his looks that would set him apart as odd or particularly handsome. The best guess is that he was a very average looking Jew, which is why he was able to seemingly disappear in a crowd, and why that Judas had to his him on the cheek as proof to the Romans who he was.

[lurk]

His parables were largely paternalistic, capitalistic, authoritarian, meritorious.

IOW, the way things ought to be.

[Ezekiel]

Brighter than the Sun..................

Psalm 72.17. May his name endure for ever; may his name be continued as long as the sun; may men be blessed in him; may all nations call him happy:

Which would explain why he lives on the sunny side.

He owns the place!

The birthday of the Atomic Age:

"The lighting effects beggared description. The whole country was lighted by a searing light with the intensity many times that of the midday sun. It was golden, purple, violet, gray, and blue. It lighted every peak, crevasse and ridge of the nearby mountain range with a clarity and beauty that cannot be described but must be seen to be imagined ..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_(nuclear_test)#Detonation

[central_va]

If Jesus returns what kind of car would he drive?

[Fuzz]

Honda. Because the apostles were in one Accord.

[central_va]

God drives an old Plymouth.

[roving]

I do know he didn’t have long hair. Jewish law at the time called for short neatly kept hair

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

There was a skit the kids did one Easter where the Judas was talking to the temple guard about how they would know which one is Jesus. He suggested describing Him, pointing Him out, shaking His hand, all which were rejected. Finally in exasperation Judas said, “What do you want me to do? Kiss Him?” To which the guards replied, “That'll work.”