Was Jesus Really Black?

In a recent post, I examined the historical evidence concerning the skin complexion of the ancient Jews in order to determine the likely complexion of Jesus Christ.¹⁾See Heath Henning, “What Skin Color was Jesus Christ,” August 3, 2020; https://truthwatchers.com/what-skin-color-was-jesus-christ/ Because of the substantial response to that article—particularly from those asserting that Christ was black—it has become necessary to revisit the subject. In private correspondence I have received numerous sources claiming that Jesus was black. My original post was straightforward: I identified ancient historical texts that explicitly described the skin color of people from Mesopotamia as well as of the Jews. After examining the sources now being cited in defense of a black Jesus, it became apparent that many of these arguments rest on faulty assumptions and ideologically driven conclusions.

Only two primary sources have been presented that directly address the alleged skin color of Jesus. The first is Revelation 1:14–15, frequently cited in emails and on websites promoting this view: “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.” This is the central biblical text appealed to by proponents of a black Christ. Yet this argument consistently overlooks the opening statement describing His head and hair as “white like wool, as white as snow.” Advocates instead isolate the reference to His feet being “like unto fine brass,” often rendered “bronze,” as supposed evidence that Jesus was black. Strikingly, the complete clause—“as if they burned in a furnace”—is routinely omitted. The imagery does not depict Christ as bronze or brownish; rather, it conveys a glowing, incandescent radiance consistent with the fiery description of His eyes and with verse 16, which concludes the vision: “his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.” This description also alludes to Old Testament eschatological imagery, such as the Lord’s appearance when “burning coals went forth at his feet” (Habakkuk 3:5).

Commentators confirm this interpretation. Cohen and Kirban remark: “His feet seem to be clad in brass boots, still glistening white hot from the furnace.”²⁾Gary G. Cohen, Salem Kirban, Revelation Visulized, Moody Press (Chicago, IL: 1972), p.62 The Pulpit Commentary describes “his feet like burnished brass”³⁾A Plummer, “Revelation,” The Pulpit Commentary (Edited by H. D. M. Spence and Joseph S. Exell), WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (Grand Rapids, MI: 1962, p. 16 and “his countenance luminous[.]”⁴⁾C. Clemance, Revelation,” The Pulpit Commentary (Edited by H. D. M. Spence and Joseph S. Exell), WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (Grand Rapids, MI: 1962, p. 52 Matthew Henry likewise portrays Christ as “too bright and dazzling for mortal eyes to behold.”⁵⁾Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, Fleming H. Revell Company (Old Tappan, NJ) Vol 6, p. 1122 Why, then, is the plain meaning of the text disregarded in favor of reading into it a racial claim?

Some bloggers appeal additionally to Daniel 10:5–6 and Ezekiel 1:7.⁶⁾“The Armageddon Scenario: Revelation of The Black Messiah,” Feburary 7, 2018; https://www.blackhistoryinthebible.com/the-shemites/the-christ-armageddon-and-the-black-messiah-part-1/ These passages also employ luminous, fiery imagery and provide no support for a black or bronze-skinned Messiah.

The second alleged source concerning Christ’s complexion is the Old Slavonic version of Josephus. One website asserts: “In 1931 the Biblical Scholar was able to translate the texts of the ancient roman historian Josephus. The text describes the appearance of Jesus as witnessed by the ancient roman historian Josephus.”⁷⁾Addison Sarter https://medium.com/@addisonsarter93/historians-on-the-ancient-israelites-d396bb63ec38 BThis claim immediately raises concerns. The writer repeatedly refers to Josephus as an “ancient roman historian,” unaware that Josephus was a Jewish historian. Such basic errors cast considerable doubt upon the writer’s familiarity with Josephus. An email I received referred to this Slavonic text as “the unaltered… version.” However, textual scholars do not regard it as reliable. F. F. Bruce, Rylands Professor of Textual Criticism and Exegesis at the University of Manchester, observes that “the Slavonic (Old Russian) version of Josephus (11^th-12^th cent.)… is too full of historical errors… to receive serious consideration.”⁸⁾F. F. Bruce, New Testament History, Anchor Books (Garden City, NY: 1972), p. 153, fn. 4 He later adds that the specific passage referring to Jesus “no substantial claim to authenticity.”⁹⁾ F. F. Bruce, New Testament History, Anchor Books (Garden City, NY: 1972), p. 166

Robert E. Van Voorst, in discussing the Slavonic Testimonium,¹⁰⁾Robert E. Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament, WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (Grand Rapids, MI: 2000), p. 85-88 identified only two scholars who have attempted to argue for its authenticity,¹¹⁾ Robert E. Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament, WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (Grand Rapids, MI: 2000), p. 87 concluding: “Scholars have almost unanimously rejected the authenticity of the Slavonic Testimonium, and most believe with Paul Winter that it is even later than the present form of the main Testimonium.”¹²⁾Robert E. Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament, WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (Grand Rapids, MI: 2000), p. 88 I have elsewhere argued that the received Greek text of Josephus’ reference to Christ is the original and authentic form.¹³⁾Heath Henning, “Josephus’ Testimony of Christ: Evidence of Authenticity,” August 10, 2018; https://truthwatchers.com/josephus-testimony-of-christ-is-it-reliable/ The Slavonic version is widely acknowledged as the most corrupt recension of Josephus.

The quotation circulated by advocates of a black Jesus reads as follows:

At that time also there appeared a certain man of magic power … if it be meet to call him a man, [whose name is Jesus], whom [certain] Greeks call a son of [a] God, but his disciples [call] the true prophet who is supposed to have raised dead persons and to have cured all diseases. Both his nature and his form were human, for he was a man of simple appearance, mature age, black-skinned (melagchrous), short growth, three cubits tall, hunchbacked, prognathous (lit. ‘with a long face [macroprosopos]), a long nose, eyebrows meeting above the nose, that the spectators could take fright, with scanty [curly] hair, but having a line in the middle of the head after the fashion of the Nazaraeans, with an undeveloped beard. (Halōsis, ii.174).¹⁴⁾Addison Sarter https://medium.com/@addisonsarter93/historians-on-the-ancient-israelites-d396bb63ec38

Multiple problems appear immediately.
First, the reference “Halōsis, ii.174” is inaccurate; halōsis is simply a Greek word meaning “capture.”¹⁵⁾ A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (ed. Walter Bauer and trans. Wm. Arndt, F. W. Gingrich, and F. Danker), University of Chicago Press  (Chicago, IL: 1979), p. 42 The Slavonic Josephus is not written in Greek.

Second, the actual Slavonic reference to Jesus appears in Jewish Wars 2.9.2 §169.

Third, when this quotation is searched online, it appears only on websites asserting that Jesus was black—an immediate indication of its dubious origin.

Fourth, the brackets inserted around “Jesus” reveal that the name is not in the alleged source but supplied by the modern writer.

Fifth, this quotation is not found anywhere in the Old Slavonic text of Josephus.
AI-assisted verification indicates that the quote originates from Robert Eisler’s 1931 work The Messiah Jesus and John the Baptist. Eisler did not translate the Slavonic text; rather, he produced a speculative reconstruction. Beginning from the assumption that Josephus must have written negatively about Jesus, Eisler translated the Slavonic into Greek, then into Aramaic, to produce a conjectural text that exists nowhere except in his reconstruction.

The actual Slavonic reference to Jesus reads as follows:

At that time also a man came forward,—if even it is fitting to call him a man [simply]. His nature as well as his form were a man’s; but his showing forth was more than [that] of a man. His works, that is to say, were godly, and he wrought wonder-deeds amazing and full of power. Therefore it is not possible for me to call him a man [simply]. But again, looking at the existence he shared with all, I would also not call him an angel. And all that he wrought through some kind of invisible power, he wrought by word and command. Some said of him, that our first Lawgiver has risen from the dead and shows forth many cures and arts. But others supposed [less definitely] that he is sent by God. Now he opposed himself in much to the Law and did not observe the Sabbath according to ancestral custom. Yet, on the other hand, he did nothing reprehensible nor any crime; but by word solely he effected everything. And many from the folk followed him and received his teachings. And many souls became wavering, supposing that thereby the Jewish tribes would set themselves free from the Roman hands. Now it was his custom often to stop on the Mount of Olives facing the city. And there also he avouched his cures to the people. And there gathered themselves to him of servants (Knechten) a hundred and fifty, but of the folk a multitude. But when they saw his power, that he accomplished everything that he would by word, they urged him that he should enter the city and cut down the Roman soldiers and Pilate and rule over us. But that one scorned it. And thereafter, when knowledge of it came to the Jewish leaders, they gathered together with the High-priest and spake: “We are powerless and weak to withstand the Romans. But as withal the bow is bent, we will go and tell Pilate what we have heard, and we will be without distress, lest if he hear it from others, we be robbed of our substance and ourselves be put to the sword and our children ruined.” And they went and told it to Pilate. And he sent and had many of the people cut down. And he had that wonder-doer brought up. And when he had instituted a trial concerning him, he perceived that he is a doer of good, but not an evildoer, nor a revolutionary, nor one who aimed at power, and set him free. He had, you should know, healed his dying wife. And he went to his accustomed place and wrought his accustomed works. And as again more folk gathered themselves together round him, then did he win glory through his works more than all. The teachers of the Law were [therefore] envenomed with envy and gave thirty talents to Pilate, in order that he should put him to death. And he, after he had taken [the money], gave them consent that they should themselves carry out their purpose. And they took him and crucified him according to the ancestral law.¹⁶⁾as quoted by F. F. Bruce, Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament, WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (Grand Rapids, MI: 1974), p. 43-53; also in Robert E. Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament, WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (Grand Rapids, MI: 2000), p. 85-86; also available at https://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/gno/gjb/gjb-3.htm

In several email exchanges, it was suggested that evolutionary theory demonstrates humanity’s earliest stage as black, and, consequently, that the migration “out of Africa” proves Mesopotamia was originally populated by black Africans. This argument effectively attempts to employ evolutionary anthropology to support a “black Adam and Eve.” I have addressed the racist implications inherent within evolutionary theory elsewhere.¹⁷⁾Heath Henning, Racist Implications of Evolution, August 4, 2016; https://truthwatchers.com/racists-implications-evolution/ A related claim referenced an alleged quotation from Henry Field, curator of the Field Museum of Natural History (1926–1934), to prove that Mesopotamians originated from Africans. However, the intellectual climate of Field’s era—both within the museum and within the broader academic community—was deeply shaped by racist assumptions portraying black Africans as evolutionarily “nearer to apes,” while advancing antisemitic claims that Jews were closely related to Africans.¹⁸⁾For a discussion of the racist opinion of the Field Museum specifically, and Henry Field, see Jedediah Purdy, “Environmentalism’s Racist History,” August 13, 2015; https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/environmentalisms-racist-history Such ideas later fed directly into the propaganda of Nazi Germany, which portrayed Jews as evolutionary inferiors and contributed to their mass extermination. It is therefore ironic that proponents of a black Jesus now rely on the very evolutionary constructs historically developed to demean both blacks and Jews.

Another argument circulated within these discussions appeals to the Book of Enoch, asserting that “white people are Nephilim.” This claim collapses under even a cursory reading of the text. The Ethiopian recension places this narrative in 1 Enoch 105:1–3, while the standard critical text lists it as 106:1–3. The account describes how Lamech feared that his newborn son—Noah—was a Nephilim because he appeared “white” and radiant. Lamech summoned Enoch, who clarified that the child was indeed his own and that this son, Noah, would preserve humanity through the coming judgment upon the Nephilim. (Ethiopian 1 Enoch 105:1–3, 12–16;¹⁹⁾The Book of Enoch the Prophet (trans Richard Laurence) Adventures Unlimited Press (Kempton, IL: 2000, First Published 1883), pp. 174-177 critical text version of 1 Enoch 106:1-3, 12-18).²⁰⁾ E. Isaac, trans., in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (Ed. James H. Charlesworth) Doubleday (New York, NY: 1983), Vol. 1, p. 86-87 If whiteness is interpreted as a sign of Nephilim descent, then the entire human race—descending from Noah—would necessarily be Nephilim. Such conclusions exemplify the imaginative misreadings characteristic of modern “black Jesus” polemicists.

A further recurring claim derives from a corrupted version of Josephus and from misinterpretations of Revelation 1:14–15. One blogger, “Blaksimba,” cites vague scholarly references claiming that some Africans possessed “Jewish features,” which is then mistakenly assumed to imply black skin.²¹⁾(Blaksimba, Mini Study: Jewish Features,” May 30, 2020; http://blaksimba.com/jewish-features/ Most websites avoid primary historical sources altogether, relying instead on the premise that because Egypt is in Africa and is descended from Ham, the Egyptians—and therefore the Jews—must have been black. The supplementary argument is that Israelites could hide easily among Egyptians (1 Kings 11:40; Matthew 2:13) or were mistaken for Egyptians (Genesis 42:7–8; 50:8–11; Acts 21:37–38).²²⁾ Blaksimba, Mini Study: Jewish Features,” May 30, 2020; http://blaksimba.com/jewish-features/ ; also Donte Fortson, “Egypt (Mizraim)” August 31;  https://www.blackhistoryinthebible.com/africa-and-arabia/egypt/ Yet Egypt functioned as an ethnic and cultural crossroads from its earliest history. For instance, the Suppiluliumas Annals record the widowed Queen of Egypt requesting a Hittite prince for marriage, as she refused to elevate a mere servant to the throne.²³⁾ Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, Third Edition (ed. James B. Pritchard) Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ: 1969), p. 319 Herodotus similarly recounts Psammetichus establishing Greek “camps” to educate Egyptian children in the Greek language and King Amasis settling Greeks in Memphis.²⁴⁾Herodotus, Histories 2.154, (Trans. George Rawlinson), Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY: 1997), p. 206

A representative example of misquotation appears on one website:

In 70 AD the Romans invaded Israel causing millions of Israelites to escape to Africa. ‘In his book, The Great Roman-Jewish War: 66–70, the Roman historian, Flavius Josephus, stated over thousands of years ago, that the Israelites migrated into Africa. He writes:

“General Vaspasian and his son Caesar Titus fought against the Jews. Millions of Jews fled into Africa, among other places, fleeing from Roman persecution and starvation during the siege.”²⁵⁾The Miseducation of the Black Church, undated; accessible at: https://www.nbcm.church/the-good-news/mised

This entire statement reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of Josephus. He was a Jewish, not Roman, historian. His work is not titled The Great Roman-Jewish War but simply The Jewish War, consisting of seven books. The conflict did not end in A.D. 70 but continued until A.D. 73 with the fall of Masada. Most significantly, the quoted passage is not from Josephus; he never uses the term “Africa” in any of his extant writings. The quotation instead originates from Alicia Fenton Greenaway’s Will a Nation be Born in One Day?—a modern secondary text.²⁶⁾ Alicia Fenton Greenaway, Will a Nation be Born in One Day? From Slaves to a Nation of Spiritual Warriors, Writers Tablet Agency, LLC (2019) [no page number listed]; accessible at https://books.google.com/books?id=A2TXDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP27&lpg=PP27&dq=General+Vaspasian+and+his+son+Caesar+Titus+fought+against+the+Jews.+Millions+of+Jews+fled+into+Africa,+among+other+places,+fleeing+from+Roman+persecution+and+starvation+during+the+siege&source=bl&ots=q0zq9Y0AWv&sig=ACfU3U37mGaBIcZSeMcr5b5osA_m-hSXhg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj88N6rotvrAhWWHc0KHa6RC9wQ6AEwBnoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=General%20Vaspasian%20and%20his%20son%20Caesar%20Titus%20fought%20against%20the%20Jews.%20Millions%20of%20Jews%20fled%20into%20Africa%2C%20among%20other%20places%2C%20fleeing%20from%20Roman%20persecution%20and%20starvation%20during%20the%20siege&f=false The absence of a verifiable Josephus reference is telling, as these authors are plainly unfamiliar with the ancient sources they fraudulently cite—and evidently prefer that readers remain unable to verify their claims.

Other proponents advance similar arguments:

Israel always defaulted to Africa during times of famine and war. If the Bible was a Eurocentric book, it would be reasonable to assume that they’d run to Europe to escape persecution at least once, but they don’t. Even though African locations are named over and over again, Eurocentric Christianity will not acknowledge or accept that these were black people… IN AFRICA!!!”²⁷⁾ The Armageddon Scenario: Revelation of The Black Messiah,” Feburary 7, 2018; https://www.blackhistoryinthebible.com/the-shemites/the-christ-armageddon-and-the-black-messiah-part-1/

Yet fleeing to Egypt during famine is readily explained by geography—Egypt depended on the Nile’s annual flooding rather than rainfall. During regional droughts, Egypt alone still produced food. Flight during wartime depended entirely on the direction of the invading force. Moreover, in the third century B.C., “many Greeks and Jews migrated as a result of Alexander’s conquest of Egypt.”²⁸⁾ Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin, Why the Jews? The Reason for Antisemitism, Simon & Schuster, Inc. (New York, NY: 1983), p. 84 Josephus far more frequently records Jews fleeing into the mountains (War of the Jews 1.36;²⁹⁾ in The New Complete Works of Josephus (Revised and Expanded) (Trans. William Whiston, Introduction and Commentary by Paul L. Maier), Kregel Publications (Grand Rapids, MI: 1999), p. 670 1.95;³⁰⁾ in The New Complete Works of Josephus (Revised and Expanded) (Trans. William Whiston, Introduction and Commentary by Paul L. Maier), Kregel Publications (Grand Rapids, MI: 1999), p.  675 2.504;³¹⁾ in The New Complete Works of Josephus (Revised and Expanded) (Trans. William Whiston, Introduction and Commentary by Paul L. Maier), Kregel Publications (Grand Rapids, MI: 1999), p.  764 4.45),³²⁾ in The New Complete Works of Josephus (Revised and Expanded) (Trans. William Whiston, Introduction and Commentary by Paul L. Maier), Kregel Publications (Grand Rapids, MI: 1999), p.  830 as well as into Idumea (Wars 3.20),³³⁾ in The New Complete Works of Josephus (Revised and Expanded) (Trans. William Whiston, Introduction and Commentary by Paul L. Maier), Kregel Publications (Grand Rapids, MI: 1999), p.  777 Tiberias (Wars 3.131),³⁴⁾ in The New Complete Works of Josephus (Revised and Expanded) (Trans. William Whiston, Introduction and Commentary by Paul L. Maier), Kregel Publications (Grand Rapids, MI: 1999), p.  783 or more generally into “foreign provinces” (Wars 2.279).³⁵⁾ in The New Complete Works of Josephus (Revised and Expanded) (Trans. William Whiston, Introduction and Commentary by Paul L. Maier), Kregel Publications (Grand Rapids, MI: 1999), p.  748

Furthermore, if the Bible is not a “Eurocentric book,” how many New Testament letters were addressed to Egypt compared to so-called “Eurocentric” locations? Why do Paul’s missionary journeys in Acts encounter Jewish synagogues throughout Asia Minor and Europe if Jews allegedly “always and only” sought refuge in Africa? The historical reality is that Jews were widely dispersed throughout the Roman Empire. “By the middle of the first century, between 7 and 10 percent of the people living in the Roman Empire, as many as seven million out of seventy million, were Jews, many of them converts.”³⁶⁾Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin, Why the Jews? The Reason for Antisemitism, Simon & Schuster, Inc. (New York, NY: 1983), p. 87

The Jews did not seek refuge in Egypt because they were black and could therefore blend unnoticed among allegedly “black” Egyptians. Egypt already possessed a substantial Jewish population. Numerous Aramaic letters discovered at ancient Elephantine, Egypt—including a correspondence dated to 419 B.C. concerning the celebration of Passover—demonstrate an established Jewish community in the fifth century B.C.³⁷⁾The Passover Papyrus, Ancient Near East: A New Anthology of Texts and Pictures (Ed. James B. Pritchard), Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ: 1975), Vol. 1, p. 278 Additional Jewish marriage contracts from as early as 459 B.C. confirm this presence.³⁸⁾ Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, Third Edition (ed. James B. Pritchard) Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ: 1969), p. 222 By the time of Christ, the Jewish population in Egypt was said to number around one million. Philo, a first-century Jew of Alexandria, writes: “Knowing that the city [of Alexandria, Egypt] had two classes of inhabitants, our own nation [i.e. the Jews] and the people of the country, and that the whole of Jews who inhabited Alexandria and the rest of the country from the Catabathmos on the side of Libya to the boundaries of Ethiopia were not less than a million of men[.]”³⁹⁾Philo, Flaccus 43; The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged New Updated Version (Trans. C. D. Yonge), (Peabody, MA: 1997), p. 728 Philo further affirms that Jews predominated in two districts of Alexandria. “There are five districts in the city, named after the first five letters of the written alphabet, of these two are called the quarters of the Jews, because the chief portion of the Jew lives in them. There are also a few scattered Jews, but only a very few, living in some of the other districts.”⁴⁰⁾Philo, Fallcus 55; The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged New Updated Version (Trans. C. D. Yonge), (Peabody, MA: 1997), p. 729 JJosephus likewise notes that Jews occupied distinct quarters within Egypt, including a “large part” of Alexandria. “Accordingly, the Jews have places assigned them in Egypt, wherein they inhabit, besides what is peculiarly allotted to this nation in Alexandria, which is a large part of that city.”⁴¹⁾Josephus, Antiquity of the Jews, 14. 117; in The New Complete Works of Josephus (Revised and Expanded) (Trans. William Whiston, Introduction and Commentary by Paul L. Maier), Kregel Publications (Grand Rapids, MI: 1999), p. 463

Ptolemy II liberated Jewish slaves and sponsored the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek in the third century B.C..⁴²⁾Letter of Aristeas 14-16; The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (Ed. James H. Charlesworth) Doubleday (New York, NY: 1985), Vol. 2, p. 13 In the second century B.C., Ptolemy VI permitted Onias to construct a Jewish temple in Leontopolis modeled after the Jerusalem temple.(Josephus, War of the Jews 7.423-432;⁴³⁾ The New Complete Works of Josephus (Revised and Expanded) (Trans. William Whiston, Introduction and Commentary by Paul L. Maier), Kregel Publications (Grand Rapids, MI: 1999), p. 934-935 Antiquity of the Jews 13.62-73).⁴⁴⁾ The New Complete Works of Josephus (Revised and Expanded) (Trans. William Whiston, Introduction and Commentary by Paul L. Maier), Kregel Publications (Grand Rapids, MI: 1999), p. 421-422 This temple functioned for approximately 230 years before being destroyed by Vespasian. The Mishna refers to it dismissively as “the house of Onias,” indicating its schismatic status.(Mishna, Menahoth 13.10).⁴⁵⁾ The Mishna (Trans. Herbert Danby), Hendrickson Pub. (Peabody, MA: 1933, 2016), p. 512-513 Thus, claims that Jews hid in Egypt to blend among black Africans ignore the historical reality that Egypt had long-standing, highly visible Jewish communities.

Jewish intermingling with Egyptians reaches back to the captivity. During the Exodus, the tribe of Benjamin appears reduced to five sons (Numbers 26:38–39), while Genesis 46:21 lists ten, indicating that a portion of Benjamin’s descendants assimilated into Egyptian society and did not depart with Israel. A “mixt multitude” accompanied the Israelites out of Egypt (Numbers 11:4), further confirming cultural intermingling. Moses is described as having an “Ethiopian” (Cushite) wife (Numbers 12:1), but “Cush” in Scripture is not always equivalent to modern Ethiopia. Genesis 10:6–7 lists Cush among the sons of Ham, whose descendants settled both in Africa and Arabia, including Dedan (modern Saudi Arabia). Moses’ wife was Midianite (Exodus 2:15–21), and Habakkuk parallels Cushan with Midian (Habakkuk 3:7). The Book of Jubilees also places Cush’s descendants east of Egypt, consistent with Arabia (Jubilees 9:1).⁴⁶⁾ The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (Ed. James H. Charlesworth) Doubleday (New York, NY: 1985), Vol. 2, p. 74 It is therefore illegitimate to assume all descendants of Ham were African or black.

Donte Fortson asserts:

• • • Egyptians depicted themselves as black people.
    • There’s no evidence of white Egyptians ever existing.
    • Egypt was always recognized as a black nation until white people realized that Hebrews were described as looking like Egyptians.

White teachers that deny the factual history of black Egypt do so to avoid admitting that Hebrews lived in Africa, married African people, and therefore looked like African people… with black skin.⁴⁷⁾Donte Fortson, “Egypt (Mizraim)” August 31;  https://www.blackhistoryinthebible.com/africa-and-arabia/egypt/

Yet nearly every assertion in this quotation is demonstrably false. Egyptians did not depict themselves as black in the sense Fortson suggests; abundant evidence exists of Egyptians of lighter complexions; and it is not “white revisionism” but selective modern Afrocentric revisionism that distorts the record. Fortson insists, “We know what Egyptians looked like without an ounce of speculation because Egyptians painted themselves as black people. Those that deny this are simply denying the truth.”⁴⁸⁾ Donte Fortson, “Egypt (Mizraim)” August 31; https://www.blackhistoryinthebible.com/africa-and-arabia/egypt/ The Images Donte Fortson offers to prove the Egyptians were black are presented below.

However, Egyptian art consistently distinguishes between Egyptians (typically shown with reddish-brown skin), Nubians (black), and Semitic peoples (lighter, often bearded). The images Fortson presents ignore the broader corpus of Egyptian artwork, which clearly demonstrates variation and the consistent portrayal of Egyptians as distinct from the Nubians to their south. 

Moreover, material evidence—including statuary and painted reliefs—shows Egyptians with lighter skin tones, contradicting Fortson’s categorical claim that “no evidence of white Egyptians ever existing” can be found.

Ancient Egyptian art uses a range of hues to depict ethnic differences, demonstrating that Egyptians perceived themselves in contrast both to darker Nubians and to lighter Semites. The selectivity of modern “black Jesus” proponents reveals a methodological bias rather than historical accuracy.

Ancient terminology must also be interpreted cautiously. Philo notes, “in point of the fact everything which is not white is black[.]”⁴⁹⁾Philo,On Abraham 10; in The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged New Updated Version (Trans. C. D. Yonge), (Peabody, MA: 1997), p. 412 indicating that “black” and “white” were often used as broad relative categories rather than precise ethnic descriptors. This relative language appears in Song of Solomon 1:6, where the Shulamite describes herself as “black” because the sun has darkened her. Craig Keener observes, “Ancient Mediterranean literature uses Africa south of Egypt as the standard of blackness for skin.”⁵⁰⁾ Craig S. Keener, Acts An Exegetical Commentary: Introduction and 3:1-14:28, Baker Academic (Grand Rapids, MI: 2013), Vol. 2, p. 1563 This demonstrates that Egyptians were not the paradigm of blackness in antiquity—Nubians were.

Keener further notes that Egyptians typically appear darker than Semites (such as Syrians), indicating that Israelites would have been lighter in comparison. “In all periods, Egyptians appear darker than typical western Asiatics (Semites), such as Syrians[.]”⁵¹⁾Craig S. Keener, Acts An Exegetical Commentary: Introduction and 3:1-14:28, Baker Academic (Grand Rapids, MI: 2013), Vol. 2, p. 1562 He also explains that Egyptian beauty ideals varied: Nubians valued very dark skin, Persians lighter skin, and Egyptian art often portrayed women with lighter complexions than men. “Yet many ancients understood that ideals of beauty varied from one culture to the next. This it was thought that Nubians preferred women as dark as possible and Persians preferred them as light as possible. Scholars often suggest that in ancient Egypt women lightened their skin whereas men darkened theirs. (From my very limited acquaintance with Egyptian artwork, I would guess that this practice was particularly characteristic of Old Kingdom Egypt; where lighter women appear with darker men later, this must be balance with darker women alongside lighter men. The realism of Amarna period artwork may have been short lived, but it suggests that the average complexions for both genders in daily life were reddish brown.)”⁵²⁾ Craig S. Keener, Acts An Exegetical Commentary: Introduction and 3:1-14:28, Baker Academic (Grand Rapids, MI: 2013), Vol. 2, p. 1561 The Amarna period’s more naturalistic artwork suggests the average Egyptian complexion was reddish-brown. Egypt’s long-standing status as an ethnically diverse “melting pot” therefore undermines the argument that Jews could hide there only by being black.

Ancient Mesopotamian literature provides the proper cultural backdrop for early Israel. As argued previously,⁵³⁾ See Heath Henning, “What Skin Color was Jesus Christ,” August 3, 2020; https://truthwatchers.com/what-skin-color-was-jesus-christ/ the trajectory of Jewish complexion is better grounded in Mesopotamian sources than Egyptian ones. Even the Dead Sea Scrolls preserve a tradition that Egyptians admired Sarah’s beauty because she was “white,”⁵⁴⁾ The Genesis Apocryphon, 20.4; The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls In English (Trans. Geza Vermes), Penguin Classics (London, England: 1962, 2004, p. 486 reinforcing the broader ancient Near Eastern preference for lighter skin among women, consistent with Persian standards.

The proposed origins of the Jewish nation among various anti-Semitic ancient historians are diverse and frequently speculative. The Roman historian Tacitus surveys several theories he encountered—namely, that the Jews were fugitives from Crete, an excess population expelled from Egypt, Ethiopians, or Assyrians (Tacitus, History 5.2).⁵⁵⁾Complete Works of Tacitus (ed. Moses Hadas), Random House (New York, NY: 1942), p. 658 Egyptian hostility toward Jewish customs likewise produced polemical narratives, such as Manetho’s claim that the Jews were lepers expelled from Egypt.⁵⁶⁾Josephus, Against Apion, 1.267-277; The New Complete Works of Josephus (Revised and Expanded) (Trans. William Whiston, Introduction and Commentary by Paul L. Maier), Kregel Publications (Grand Rapids, MI: 1999), p. 953-954 Tacitus ultimately adopts this account as the most plausible (History 5.3).⁵⁷⁾ Complete Works of Tacitus (ed. Moses Hadas), Random House (New York, NY: 1942), p. 658-659 Yet even Manetho concedes that the Jews were not ethnically derived from the Egyptians, nor did they intermingle with them.⁵⁸⁾Josephus, Against Apion, 1.278; The New Complete Works of Josephus (Revised and Expanded) (Trans. William Whiston, Introduction and Commentary by Paul L. Maier), Kregel Publications (Grand Rapids, MI: 1999), p. 954 Consequently, for “black Jesus” proponents to assert that the Jews originated from Egypt aligns their argument with demonstrably anti-Semitic revisionism.

Some advocates further appeal to Herodotus, Histories 2.104, to argue that the Egyptians were black. This claim reflects several misunderstandings. Even if these writers were intent on removing Herodotus from context, 2.57 would have served them better, since it states that the Dodonaeans called foreign women “doves” and also “black,” thereby “indicat[ing] that the woman was an Egyptian.”⁵⁹⁾Herodotus, Histories (trans. George Rawlinson), Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY: 1997), p. 152 Yet the term “black” here does not denote skin color. As the standard scholarly footnote explains, “Egypt was called ‘Chemi,’ ‘black,’ from the colour of the rich soil, not from that of the people.”⁶⁰⁾footnote 2 in Herodotus, Histories (trans. George Rawlinson), Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY: 1997), p. 174 In Histories 2.104 Herodotus claims that the Colchians were believed to descend from Egyptians, describing the Colchians as “black-skinned and [having] woolly hair; which certainly amounts to but little, since several other nations are so too[.]”⁶¹⁾Herodotus, Histories (trans. George Rawlinson), Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY: 1997), p. 174 Had Herodotus intended to classify the Jews as black, he could easily have done so in the same context, for he mentions them in the immediately following discussion—yet only in connection with the practice of circumcision. Moreover, Herodotus’s usage of “black” is clearly relative. He later notes that certain Indian tribes possess “the same tint of skin, which approaches that of the Ethiopians.”⁶²⁾Herodotus, Histories 3.101; (trans. George Rawlinson), Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY: 1997), p. 274 Thus, “black” denotes a spectrum of darker shades, not a single ethnic phenotype, and even these descriptions place Egyptians lighter in complexion than Ethiopians and many Indian groups, consistent with Egyptian art and mummified remains.

In summation, the claim that Jesus was black rests upon a framework of historically unreliable, selectively cited, or intentionally altered sources. The authorities appealed to are rarely provided with verifiable citations—an omission that, combined with demonstrably altered references, strongly suggests an intent to mislead. Evidence is routinely cherry-picked to support a predetermined thesis. Secondary historical sources relied upon by such writers often stem from periods marked by intense racial bias, rendering their use counterproductive. The primary argument typically hinges on the assertion that ancient Egyptians were black, a claim refuted both by biblical testimony and the archaeological data. Scripture affirms the Hebrew origin in Mesopotamia, not Egypt (cf. Genesis 11:31; Acts 7:2–4), and if biblical history is rejected, no coherent reason remains for asserting any skin-color claim about Jesus, whose identity is inseparable from the biblical record. The supplementary argument—that Jews could hide in Egypt because they visually blended with a black population—fails to account for Egypt’s long-standing status as an ethnic and cultural crossroads. As demonstrated in earlier sections, ancient Mesopotamian and Jewish sources consistently describe the complexion of the Hebrews and their ancestors in terms that do not correspond to the claims advanced by proponents of a black Jesus. The evidence from antiquity, therefore, remains decisively contrary to such revisionist assertions.