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Bible Dictionaries
Cush
Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary
or the eldest son of Ham, and father of Nimrod, Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtecha; and the grandfather of Sheba and Dedan. The posterity of Cush, spread over great part of Asia and Africa, were called Cushim, or Cushites; and by the Greeks and Romans, and in our Bible, Ethiopians.
CUSH, CUTHA, CUTHEA, CUSHAN, ETHIOPIA, Land of Cush, the country or countries peopled by the descendants of Cush; whose first plantations were on the gulf of Persia, in that part which still bears the name of Chuzestan, and from whence they spread over India and great part of Arabia; particularly its western part, on the coast of the Red Sea; invaded Egypt, under the name of Hyc-Sos, or shepherd-kings; and thence passed, as well probably as by the straits of Babelmandel, into Central Africa, and first peopled the countries to the south of Egypt, Nubia, Abyssinia, and parts farther to the south and west. The indiscriminate use of the term Ethiopia in our Bible, for all the countries peopled by the posterity of Cush, and the almost exclusive application of the same term by the Greek and Roman writers to the before mentioned countries of Africa, have involved some portions of both sacred and profane history in almost inextricable confusion. The first country which bore this name, and which was doubtless the original settlement, was that which is described by Moses as encompassed by the river Gihon, or Gyndes; which encircles a great part of the province of Chuzestan in Persia. In process of time, the increasing family spread over the vast territory of India and Arabia: the whole of which tract, from the Ganges to the borders of Egypt, then became the land of Cush, or Asiatic Ethiopia, the Cusha Dweepa within, of Hindoo geography. Until dispossessed of this country, or a great part of it, by the posterity of Abraham, the Ishmaelites and Midianites, they, by a farther dispersion, passed over into Africa; which, in its turn, became the land of Cush, or Ethiopia, the Cusha Dweepa without, of the Hindoos: the only country so understood after the commencement of the Christian aera. Even from this last refuge, they were compelled, by the influx of fresh settlers from Arabia, Egypt, and Canaan, to extend their migrations still farther westward, into the heart of the African continent; where only in the woolly-headed negro, the genuine Cushite is to be found.
Herodotus relates that Xerxes had, in the army prepared for his Grecian expedition, both Oriental and African Ethiopians: and adds, that they resembled each other in every outward circumstance except their hair; that of the Asiatic Ethiopians being long and straight, while the hair of those of Africa was curled. This is a very remarkable fact; and leads to the question, How came this singular distinction between people of the same stock? Did it arise from change of climate and of habits? or from some original difference in a particular branch of the great family of Cush? The former appears by far the more probable. It is not likely that a people descended from a common parent should naturally be distinguished by such a peculiar difference; but that it might be acquired by change of soil and condition, we have every reason to believe. We have something exactly analogous to it, in the change which the hair of animals undergoes when removed from their native state. But a modern writer has furnished us with a fact which will go farther than either theory or analogy. Dr. Prichard, in his researches into the Physical History of Man, relates, on the authority of Dr. S. S. Smith, of the negroes settled in the southern districts of the United States of America, that the field-slaves, who live on the plantations, and retain pretty nearly the rude manners of their African progenitors, preserve in the third generation much of their original structure, though their features are not so strongly marked as those of imported slaves. But the domestic servants of the same race, who are treated with lenity, and whose condition is little different from that of the lower class of white people, in the third generation have the nose raised, the mouth and lips of moderate size, the eyes lively and sparkling, and often the whole composition of the features extremely agreeable. "The hair grows sensibly longer in each succeeding race, and extends to three, four, and sometimes to six or eight inches."
About four hundred years before Christ, Herodotus, in his second book which treats of Egypt, makes frequent mention of Ethiopia; meaning exclusively the Ethiopia above Egypt. In the time of our Saviour, (and indeed from that time forward,) by Ethiopia, was meant, in a general sense, the countries south of Egypt, then but imperfectly known: of one of which, that Candace was queen whose eunuch was baptized by Philip. From a review of the history of this remarkable people, we may see that those writers must necessarily be wrong who would confine the Ethiopians to either Arabia or Africa. Many parts of Scripture history cannot possibly be understood, without supposing them to have settlements in both; which Herodotus expressly asserts was the case. In fine, we may conclude, that in the times of the prophets and during the transactions recorded in the second books of Kings and Chronicles, the Cushites, still retaining a part of their ancient territories in Arabia, had crossed the Red Sea in great numbers, and obtained extensive possessions in Africa; where, being, in a farther course of time, altogether expelled from the east by the Ishmaelites, &c, their remains are now concentrated. It is to be observed, however, that the Cushites probably at the time of their expulsion from Egypt, migrated, or sent colonies into several other parts, particularly to Phenicia, Colchis, and Greece; where, in process of time, they became blended with the other inhabitants of those countries, the families of Javan, Meshek, and Tubal, and their distinctive character totally lost.
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Watson, Richard. Entry for 'Cush'. Richard Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/wtd/c/cush.html. 1831-2.
