Jesus, born in Africa, was Black

Douglas Belchior (historum.com, 1/27/18; Sheldon S., Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

White Russian Eastern Orthodox Christianity has always known Jesus was Black (1stDibs).

Born in Africa, I got lighter and lighter in Europe.

The text I reply to here was shared in 2012 by my friend Jonathan Marcelino. The original author is Hernani Francisco da Silva, originally published by Afrokut. When I read it, I immediately remembered a passage from the movie "Ali," about the life of Mohammad Ali. In a discussion with his father, he says he would not make a living painting a "blue-eyed Jesus."

Jesus is of African origin, hiding among Egyptian Blacks and confused with them. There are biblical sources that attest to this. Jesus was born in Africa. The Gospels explicitly state that Jesus was born in "Bethlehem of Judah in the time of King Herod" (Mt 2,1 cf. 2: 5, 6, 8, 16), (Lk 2, 4:15), (Jn 7: 40-43).

In ancient times, that include the time of Jesus, Bethlehem of Judah was considered part of Africa. Until the construction of the Suez Canal [an artificial river], Israel was part of Africa. This view was to last until 1859, when the French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps set out to build the canal.

Map of Israel in Africa (Africa, Britannica)

From then on it was Africa separated not only geographically but historically, culturally, and anthropologically from what we now call the geopolitical "Middle East." That millenary extension of Africa (map) happens to appear on the maps as if it were Asia.

Jesus -- a man with burnished bronze feet, jasper and sardine-colored skin, and hair like lamb's wool [an afro] -- had a Black presence in the family line. The genealogy of Jesus was mixed with the line of Cam [Cain, Canaan?] from the time passed in captivity in Egypt and Babylon.

Genealogy: Jesus' Family Tree (conforming...)

The ancestors of Jesus Christ through Cam, the feminine side of this mix, are five women mentioned in his genealogy: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathebah, and Mary (Matthew 1: 1-16).

The first ladies mentioned were of Cam's descent. Thus, Jesus can be ethnically claimed by Semitic people and descendants of Cam. Jesus was from the Tribe of Judah, one of the African tribes of Israel.

Male ancestors of Jesus come from the line of Shem (mixed). However, the genealogy of Jesus was mixed with the line of Ham since the days of captivity in Egypt and Babylon.

Jesus' ancestor through Cam is narrated in Genesis 38: Then Tamar the Canaanite (Black) woman becomes pregnant with Judah and gives birth to the twins Zerah and Perez, forming the Tribe of Judah, ancestors of King David and Joseph and Mary, the earthly parents of Jesus.

African Jesus Black? That would make sense.

If Jesus were a white, blue-eyed blond, it would have been difficult for him and his family to hide among the Black Egyptians unnoticed. Jesus hid himself among the Blacks. It was not by chance that the Hebrew God sent Mary and Joseph to Egypt for the purpose of hiding Jesus' child from King Herod (Matthew 2:13).

He could not have been hiding in North Africa if he were white. This was not for military protection since at that time Egypt was a Roman province under Roman control. It was because Egypt was still a country inhabited by Black people.

Joseph, Mary, and Jesus would have been another Black family among Blacks who had fled to Egypt to hide Jesus from Herod, who was trying to kill the boy. If Jesus were a white, blue-eyed blond, it would have been difficult for him and his family to hide among the Black Egyptians unnoticed.

African Jesus is Black Russian icon (Eastern Orthodox  "Christ the Teacher," 19th century).

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The Hebrew people were very similar to the Egyptian people. It would have been difficult to recognize a Hebrew family among Black Egyptians. It was in Egypt that the people of Israel had their pinnacle of blackness.

Seventy Israelites entered Egypt and stayed for 430 years. Thirty years the Israelites were guests, and 400 years they were captives in Egypt. They and their descendants married non-Israelites, reaching more than 600,000 men, women, and children. A mixed multitude came out of Egypt.

Russian icon of Jesus (123rf.com)

Ethnically, their ancestors were a combination of Afro-Asians[?].

[It's interesting that the icons of the Eastern-Orthodox Christian Church of Caucasian Russia show Jesus and his immediate disciples as distinctly Black and African, when it seems likely they would have preferred the Aryan Jesus popularized by Europe and the Roman Catholic tradition.] More