Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Yohanan,

The Bible does not say that "Mizraim" is what we call "Egypt" or that "Aram" 
is what we call "Syria". But they are. We know this both from tradition, and 
by looking at the context in which they appear. The same is true of "Kush".
As far as Nimrod, there have been lots of theories about why a "Kushite" king 
is said to be ruler of Mesopotamia. My theory, which you can read in my 
"Nimrod the Mighty, King of Kish, King of Sumer and Akkad", Vetus Testementum 
52 (2002), 350-366, is that "Nimrod" is a reflection of the empire of Sargon 
of Akkad and his grandson Naram-sin, which would make "Kush" father of 
"Nimrod" to actually be the city of Kish, where Sargon began his career. This 
was later misunderstood by the editor of Gen. 10 to be a reference to "Kush", 
son of Ham.

Yigal Levin
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Yohanan bin-Dawidh 
  To: Yigal Levin 
  Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 3:52 AM
  Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Kush


  Dear Yigal,

  This is true, it does not say from whence Nimrod came, save for that he is 
of Kush. And it by no means makes it plain that the latter Babylonians were 
his descendents. But the Miq'ra also never states that Kush and Ethiopia are 
one, and the same, whereas tradition does. I am not much on tradition that 
cannot be verified in the Miq'ra, and this is why I brought up actual name 
slinked with Kush. 

  Yohanan bin-Dawidh

   
  On 3/20/07, Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il> wrote: 
    Dear Yohanan,

    First of all, welcome to the list. Second, please remember to sign your
    posts - it's much more pleasant to carry on discussions with people who 
have 
    names that with unsigned posts.

    As far as Kush is concerned: Most traditions identify biblical Kush with
    what the Greeks called Ethiopia, or what the Egyptians called Nubia, which
    is actually modern Sudan. But, as you wrote, Gen. 10 also considers some 
    Arabian tribes to be descendants of Kush, son of Ham. In other places,
    Midian is seen as "Kush" (remember Moses' Kushite wife). However, Gen. 10
    does NOT say that Babel, Ereck etc. were Kushite. All is says is that 
    Nimrod, "son of" Kush, "built" these places. And it does not say where
    Nimrod came frum,'


    Yigal Levin



    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "Yohanan bin-Dawidh" < yohanan.bin.dawidh AT gmail.com>
    To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
    Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 7:04 AM
    Subject: [b-hebrew] Kush 


    > *How is that people always attempt to connect Kush with Ethiopia, when 
in
    > truth, while the descendents of Kush may have included the Ethiopians, 
we
    > know from the Tanakh that it did include the towns of Bavel, Urik, 
Akkad, 
    > Kalneh, Nin'evah, Resen, Rehoboth-Ur and Kalah, all of which fall in the
    > Mesopotamia area near Bavel. We also know that it included the 
descendents
    > of Seva', Hawilah, Sav'ttah, Ra'mah, and Sav'tteka. And from Ra'mah we 
    > know
    > it included Sheva, and Dedan. And one idea is that Ra'mah is also an 
area
    > of
    > the Persian gulf area, and Sheva is the land of the Sabeans, i.e. Yemen,
    > and
    > not Ethiopia. We know for a fact that Bavel was a city of the Kushim, 
but 
    > so
    > many people attempt to link Ethiopia and Kush together ignoring all 
other
    > people linked to Kush, and this bothers me greatly for it gives a false
    > impression of what the Tanakh does, and does not state.* 
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