Cush - A Nation and a People of Mystery

Reflections of Felicitas Samtleben-Spleiss, a Lay Marianist Affiliate of the Society of Mary

During my recent stay in Darfur in the Sudan this past Janurary and part of February, I offered my service as a nurse for the poor and sick people of the camp. I had volunteered for a program from Germany called Humideca. I soon realized from reading the Bible there that we were in a land called Cush in the Scriptures. I asked myself about whether I was in the exact location of this ancient mysterious people. Today in this war torn land where people are killed, where they are starving and tortured by invading hordes and even by soldiers. They lose everything and a group of us ministered to them from our camp of over 200 tents. Upon returning home to Germany (Augsburg-Stadtbergen in Bavaria), I decided to investigate this people called the Cushites from the land of Cush.

Archaeological investigations proved that Cush was part of upper Egypt, approximately from the middle of the Nile Valley near Aswan and its desert to as far as modern Khartoum and even farther. Formerly, it had been called Nubia, or Ethiopia by the Greeks, but this had nothing to do with the country within its present political borders. After constructing the Aswan dam, archaeologists discovered farther south in the serpentine bends of the river Nile the center of a mysterious kingdom which the Egyptians called Cush. Althought these former peoples showed a remarkable difference in culture, religion, etnic groupings, and language there was nevertheless an exchange in economies with the Egyptians. This happened in the very early period from 1970 B.C.E. to 1520 B.C.E. (that is, between the time of Abraham and Moses). The Pharaos ruled Nubia at this time.

After recovering independence around 1000 B.C.E. (the time of David, King of Israel), a new Nubian Kingdom was created with parallels to the Egyptian model. In the eigth century B.C.E. the Cushite kings gained power over Egypt for about 50 years until they were conquered by the Assyrians (present day Iraq). Due to this crisis the Cushite capital was transferred farther south causing isolation and innovation in culture and art, as well as in administration and government. The king ruled with a traditional code of laws interpreted by the priests. As in Egypt, descent depended on the maternal line and, in contrast to many great civilizations, queens were also found on the throne of Cush. These dynasties of the new Nubian kingdom were strong enough to rule for more than 1000 years.

What does the Bible tell us about the Cushites? We find them first mentioned in Genesis 2:13 (the Creation account of the Yahwist), then in Genesis 10:6-8 and in I Chronicles 8-10 where the geneaology of a man called Cush (a Benjamite) with his sons. In 2 Kings 19:9 we learn the name of a Cushite king who fought against the Assyrians. In Job we discover an important trade made for the topaz precious stone identified with Cush (Job28:19). The Prophet Isaiah warns the Cushites in his prophecies about a terrible defeat by the Assyrians (Isaiah 11:11; 18:1; 20:1.3.4; 37:9; 43:3. Both Jeremiah (Jerermiah 46:9) and Ezechiel (Ezechiel 29:10;30:4.5.9) list Cush with Egypt in the bloody losing battle against the Assyrians. For further citations see Nehemiah 3:9; Zephaniah 3:10; and Judith 1:9.

These biblical references prove that Cush was a powerful and influential kingdom. Last century archaeologists have found the proof for this in their discoveries. We can ask with dismay what happened to this country or nation and culture during the course of its restless modern history, due to the borders set up by the colonialists and the occupational and protectoral powers? Today the province of Western Darfur is riddled with terrorism, life threating oppression and persecution, health problems for hundreds of thousands of people. This genocide is hardly known or recognized or is ignored by the Western world. During my recent stay with a humanitarian team, I saw the white UNO-tents for more than 200,000 refugees most of whom were farmers. No one can predict when this horror will end as long as those in power are unwilling to stop it. The twenty-first century Cush has little in common with the powerful rich Cush we are told about in the Bible.