The Ethiopian Prophecy in Black American Letters

1. Early Jewish and Christian Figures of Ethiopia

1 Early Jewish and Christian Figures of Ethiopia Psalm 68:31 is one of nearly four dozen references to Ethiopia or Ethiopians in the Bible. To be precise, in the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible)—where the vast majority of references to Ethiopia and Ethiopians are found—the place is called Kush and the people are referred to as Kushites. “Ethiopia” and “Ethiopians” are English words transliterated from Greek that signify , respectively, a place at the southernmost end of the known world and a people who are phenotypically dark.1 Ethiopia and Ethiopians are the standard translations of Kush and Kushites employed in the Septuagint , the New Testament, the Vulgate, and a number of European vernacular translations of the Bible. The terms are also used in non-Christian translations such as the Soncino Press editions of the Babylonian Talmud (1938), the Midrash Rabbah (1983), and the Jewish Publication Society of America’s 1955 translation of the Tanakh. Nevertheless, Ethiopia and Ethiopians are not merely descriptive words for a place and people; they are figures that come into English with histories, and they are products of centuries of refiguration. The refiguring of Ethiopia and Ethiopians owes a significant debt to their hermeneutical importance for both ancient Jewish and Christian interpreters. The flowering of rabbinic Judaism after 70 C.E. and the rise and success of Christianity among non-Jews brought a new attention to God’s Word. Rabbinic Judaism developed the notion of the dual Torah (the written and oral Torahs) and rabbinic interpretation focused on two dominant concerns: proper action, and the Messiah and the messianic age. Rabbinic writings and interpretations of Torah, in its multifaceted sense, continually asked the questions: what does God require of His 22 / The Ethiopian Prophecy in Black American Letters people of Israel? How does He want us to fulfill the Torah? For example, one merely has to read the Talmud, Tractate Pesa˙im (Paschal Lambs), to see these two questions in discussion among the rabbis. This Tractate addresses the laws of Passover and concerns what actions must take place, whentheymusttake place,andhowtheymusttake place.Concerningthe Messiah and the messianic age, rabbinic literature is filled with thousands of references, descriptions, speculations, and hopes about this person, this period, and their importance for both Israel and the world (Neusner 1984). The Messiah and the messianic age are central figures in Jewish prayer. Jews are obligated to pray three times a day and in one of these prayers, the Amidah, the gathering of exiles, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, redemption and deliverance through a Davidic King, and the return of God’s Presence (the Shekhinah) to Zion are foregrounded. Parallel to rabbinic interpretations of God’s Word are Christian interpretations of the Bible. The writings of Christian exegetes on God’s Word are as diverse and voluminous as those of the rabbis, and dominant themes can be found in Christian writings in the same way they are found in rabbinic writings. It behooves us to remember that Christianity began as a Jewish movement that had to differentiate, justify, and explain itself in relationship to other Jewish groups. Through both allegorical and figural interpretations, Christian interpreters of God’s Word demonstrated how and why Jesus is the Christ; why Gentiles, for the time being, have displaced Israel in God’s plan; and the anticipation of Christ’s imminent return.Paul’swritingsare anexcellentplace to findthese characteristically Christian exegetical themes. In Romans, Paul argues that the law and the prophets are fulfilled in Christ. He cites the relationship between Adam and Christ to prove his point. Adam, the first man, sinned and brought death into the world that “pervade[s] the whole human race”; but he “foreshadows the Man [Jesus] who was to come.” Christ negates Adam’s sin and its consequence through his redemptive death and resurrection (Romans 5, 6). God has not abandoned Israel, but due to Israel’s deafness to the Gospel and blindness to the truth, “salvation has come to the Gentiles ” (Romans 11:11). According to Paul, God’s salvation is universal. To prove this, Paul cites Isaiah 59:20–21 and the story of Abraham. Abraham, the father of nations, is someone justified by his faith who prefigures the spiritual orientation of the messianic age (Romans 4, 11). Furthermore, Christians live in the shadow of the end of time, or what Paul calls “the Day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:8). These three themes of Christ [3.138.204.208] Project MUSE (2024-04-26...