Were the Ancient Israelites Black?

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Were the ancient Israelites black? It's time for the Line of Fire with your host, biblical scholar and cultural commentator, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity.

Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on the Line of Fire. And now, here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Hey friends, welcome to our thoroughly Jewish Thursday broadcast. I'm going to get in depth on a very interesting subject today, namely, were the ancient Israelites black?

And then a little later in the broadcast, we'll take your calls at 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. Were the ancient Israelites black? Would they look more like folks in Africa today than they would look like folks, say, in Iraq or Saudi Arabia, or more like folks in Africa than they would look like folks in Europe or America?

Well, I mean, multi-diversity, but say, mainly a white country. So, we're going to talk about that, and I'm going to explain why it's an important and interesting question. But first, for those who wonder, well, have you looked at arguments that they were black? Yeah, so books I have gone through. For example, Undeniable by Dante Fortson, who I think is widely respected in certain Hebrew-Israelite circles. Or Stephen Jacobs and Moses Farrar, The Hebrew Heritage of Black America. Or, let's see here, the original African Heritage Study Bible edited by Cain Hope Felder, so an edition based on King James.

These books I have here, a wide-arranging book by Joseph Williams, The Heberisms of West Africa. So, I'm familiar with a lot of the arguments, the scriptural arguments, the linguistic arguments, etc. But we're going to focus on scriptural issues primarily today.

And what I want to do is also explain why this is of interest, why this is important. Now, if you want a real in-depth study, an academic study, and you really want to dig deep into what the Hebrew words mean and what the ancient texts actually tell us, it's a serious academic study, I would recommend this book, The Curse of Ham, Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. So, it's wide-ranging, but I think you'll find it super eye-opening as well. First, I want to read to you from the article I just posted saying Jesus was not black or white. And I want to read to you from a book by evangelist Tom Skinner, African-American, in 1970, How Black is the Gospel?

A decisive and truthful message for today's revolution. So, listen to what evangelist Skinner said, many black Americans bitterly denounce Christianity and the Bible, because in their view, those who practice religious piety are among the leading exponents of hate, bigotry, and prejudice. They feel that these Bible-toting saints perpetuate the most segregated hour of the week, 11 o'clock Sunday morning.

Remember, he wrote this in 1970. He said, today's young blacks, having learned more history than their forebears, are quick to resent acts of so-called Christianity and the use of those random biblical verses that are so blatantly detrimental to the dignity of the black man in America. He continued, there must have been thousands of slaves who vowed when they learned to read that they would never look at or allow their children to see those passages of Saint Paul, which encouraged servants to be obedient to their masters. In many instances, these were the only portions of the Bible that all massa would allow the preacher to read to illiterate black men, in the hope that obedience to the scriptures would further secure the system of white supremacy.

This spirit still lives. And he said this, black America is not about to follow a white Christ. The image of a Christ pattern after Warner Solomon's portraits, his famous portrait of a white Jesus, is more than suspect. It has become a contemptuous symbol to the black man of all the fakery and chicanery endorsed by so many white Christians. And he said, if Christ takes on the image of an Anglo-Saxon Protestant suburbanite, he's obviously not for black men. It is inconceivable that this kind of Christ would die for black people.

And he said this, the question, of course, is whether this view of Jesus Christ is true. Has Christianity become the worship of white, used as a tool of oppression to increase the black man's burden? If this be true, it is understandable that the black man must find salvation through worshiping black.

And then evangelist Skinner began to open that up. In other words, how the black reaction against a white Anglo-Saxon suburbanite Christ and the white reaction of using this white Christ to foster white supremacy, that now it turns to a worship of black and blackness and the black Jesus. And he says that's also wrong. And that's what we see happen with the radical Hebrew Israelites, the black Hebrew Israelites.

That's what we see happening in front of our eyes. That there's the reaction against white supremacy, there's reaction against the past, there's the reaction against a white Jesus, and there's hatred for Jewish Americans. And then that ties in with now the worship of blackness and salvation is ethnic and so on.

So, both errors are dealt with by Skinner. And he said one thing is certain. Whatever contemporary man decides about the color of religion, Christ stands outside that debate.

Even a superficial reading of the gospel reveals that Christ showed only one special interest, allegiance to his father in the kingdom of God. He was owned by no man. He belonged to no particular groups. Even though he was king of the Jews, he died for everyone. And he refused to sanction one part of your system over another. He was God in the form of man, neither black nor white.

I fully agree with that. Regardless of the color of his skin, blackness or whiteness, whatever color of his skin, that does not, did not define him. Okay, now, I want to go back to some ancient documents here, some ancient pictures here. And I want to play a clip for you. This was from the debate I had with Guerrilla Hebrew about who are the legit children of Israel. And he's about to quote from Professor Henry Abramson. But I want you to hear what he says about Professor Henry Abramson. And then I'm going to let you hear what Professor Henry Abramson says about the original color of the ancient Israelites. But first, listen to who Guerrilla Hebrew says this man actually is. This is from our debate, which you can watch on our YouTube channel.

But check this out. So I want to take you guys to a man by the name of Dr. Henry Abramson, right? And he's notable for his teachings on Jewish history and Judaism as a religion. He was assistant and later associate professor of history and Jewish studies at Florida Atlantic University from 96 to 06. And during that time, he held appointments at a number of prestigious universities such as Oxford, Cornell, Harvard, and Hebrew University.

He received his PhD in history from the University of Toronto. Dr. Michael Brown has even recently referenced his work on his line of fire show to assist a caller in understanding Jews in the diaspora, right? So he's a very qualified man and somebody who Dr. Michael Brown recognizes as credible. All right, so he speaks highly of him, right? And recognizes that I speak highly of him. But notice how he set this up. All right, let's listen to Professor Henry Abramson. Let's listen to what he has to say now about the skin color of the ancient Egyptians and the ancient Israelites.

And this is a PowerPoint presentation, so he's got pictures on. And you see two different people. You see light brown-skinned people who are coming in. These are Semites who are coming into Egypt. And then you see Egyptians as darker-skinned. And then you have a mix of slaves, some lighter skin, some darker skin, so lighter brown skin, and then darker skin.

So let's listen to what he has to say. The wealthier classes in Egypt would decorate their tombs with all kinds of amazing artwork. And because of the way in which it was preserved in the dark, we still have them.

And they can be reconstructed with some, you know, clearer colors, as you see in the bottom image here. This is from 1900 before the Common Era, which would be, although we don't have a really clear date of when Abraham would have made his way down to the land of Egypt, but it's definitely in this neighborhood. And here you see the Amu, who are Western Asiatic, led by a Hyksos figure, which some scholars even identify with Hebrews, and they are coming into Egypt led by some Egyptian figures. The Egyptian figures on the right, the two of them, you can see seem to be somewhat darker in skin tone. But the Hyksos and the Amu, Western Asiatics, which would come from the land of Canaan, the land of Israel today, they seem to look pretty similar to what we saw of the Syrians and the Iraqi today.

Looking at another example a little bit later, and this would have been more or less in a time that Exodus is understood to be set. This is the tomb of Rekhmire 1450 before the Common Era, and this is a depiction of slaves in various stages of the brick making process. And as you can see, there's clearly two different complexion families represented here. Looks like African slaves and once again these Western Asiatics, these Hyksos or Canaanites, they're not specifically identified as Jews, but we get an impression of a mixed population coming together to build the storehouses of Pitom and Ramses. Those could very easily have been Jews, and they seem to look a little... All right, so what he's saying is that the ancient iconography from within Egypt, from around the time when the children of Israel would have been coming into Egypt or would have been enslaved there, that you have Semites, you have people coming from the land of Canaan, and they are lighter brown-skinned like you see the people in Iraq or Syria today that have lived there for millennia.

They've been there for thousands and thousands of years. That's what the ancient Israelites look like, like many people in the Middle East today. And that others in Egypt were darker-skinned. So, it's telling you a couple things. One, Dr. Henry Abramson, based on this ancient Egyptian evidence, we actually see the pictures.

Those watching see the pictures. You can see that you have diversity of skin colors within Egypt. In fact, if you look at many, many different portrayals in Egypt, you see there are different skin colors. So, the idea that the Egyptians were all black and that if you weren't black, you wouldn't fit in, that's a myth.

That's a myth. There were diversities of colors. Even in Egypt today, you'll find darker skin looking more African and others looking more Middle Eastern. You'll see those distinctions there. They still exist.

So, that's the first thing. So, the Israelites could have been there, and among the people you say, well, Moses was identical. They couldn't tell she wasn't Pharaoh's son or the Pharaoh's daughter's son. You couldn't tell that people thought that it was actually Egyptian. Right, but the Egyptians themselves were different colors.

And it could be that this was the time when the Hyksos dynasty was reigning. Because in Exodus 2, when the baby's taken, Moses is taken from the water, they named him Moses, Moshe, kimishitihu, may not mind, because I've taken it from the water. That's Hebrew. That's Semitic. That's not Egyptian. So, some actually argue, some just say it's a play on words as the Hebrew text does. But others say, no, that's the way it was spoken because they were Hyksos. They were Semites. They were lighter brown skinned people who were leading Egypt then, hence Moses fit in because he was a Semite also, in contrast with the other Egyptians, some of whom were darker skinned.

The same way Paul, a couple thousand years later, was mistaken for an Egyptian because the Egyptians were multicolored, especially by New Testament times. All right, we're going to look at biblical texts when we come back. Chronic inflammation is the greatest health threat to humanity. Infections, injuries, toxins, poor diet, and chronic stress can attack your immune system and lead to chronic inflammation.

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Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34 TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. We're asking the question, were the ancient Israelites black? My understanding, based on history, based on textural evidence that we have, iconographic evidence that we have, other types of evidence, grave sites, bone structure, skulls, different things like that, that the ancient Israelites look very similar to peoples you'll see in the Middle East today, say people that have lived in Iraq or Syria for millennia, look similar to that.

So, darker skin than me as a Caucasian, lighter skin than, say, an African from Nigeria, different facial structure, a little bit from both, but certainly not white, certainly not black, best as I can understand. You say, what about Scripture? Okay, we're gonna look at that in a moment. But there was a forensic anthropologist a few years back who did lots of studies on population Galilee and Jesus' day and excavation, you know, graves, whatever they could find, bones, different information, and came up with an idea of what he thought Jesus looked like. All right? So, I'm holding up a picture here on the screen.

You can just search for your forensic anthropologist, Richard Neves, his name was. So, he came up with this, but we've got a great revelation now based on this. Yeah, this is just fresh. This just happened, this revelation right before the show started. So, this is one of our two faithful producers. This is Chris, all right? Chris is Hispanic. And Kai and Chris, our other producer, noticed a striking similarity between this depiction of Jesus and Chris. So, we think that Jesus may have been Hispanic. All right, just have a little fun.

But it was a striking likeness. Okay. So, let's look at Scripture now. These are commonly used by Hebrew Israelites. Some of the texts that I just mentioned referred to would use these verses to argue. So, many Hebrew Israelites use the King James. So, I'm going to cite it first in King James, and then we're going to look at the Hebrew. And we're going to go through a bunch of verses, all right? Job 30, 30. Now, Job himself was not an Israelite, but, fine, this text is quoted. Job 30, 30 says this, my skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. Okay, I'm just going to run through the verses quickly in the King James, and then we're going to look at the Hebrew. So, I'm just first just going to run through them quickly.

Chris, don't even bother about putting them up right now, because I'm going to go through them quickly. Job 30, 30, my skin is black upon me, and my bones burned with heat. Song of Solomon 1, 5, I am black, but come, this is a woman speaking, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me.

My mother's children were angry with me, etc. So, I am black, but come, and don't look down on me, because I'm black, and the sun has looked upon me. Jeremiah 8, 21, for the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt, I am black, astonishment hath taken hold of me. Jeremiah 14, 2, Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish, they are black unto the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. Lamentations 5, 10, our skin was black like an oven, because of the terrible famine. Okay, first thing, let's assume you can't read Hebrew at all, and let's assume that the King James translation is perfect, and it can be strongly debated. But let's just say the King James is perfect, you can't read Hebrew at all, what would you come to the conclusion?

Something's wrong, something's wrong here. In other words, these are not good descriptions. This is not a positive description of someone's well-being, even with Song of Solomon, I'm black, but come, don't look negatively, because I'm black, because the sun's been shining on me.

These are all negative conditions. I don't mean being black is negative, I mean these descriptions of skin color, something is wrong in these descriptions, all right? My skin is black upon me, my bones are burnt with heat, so Job's saying, look it, something's wrong, my skin color is bad, I'm burnt, I'm like, gross, I'm burned, I'm not normal. Don't look at me, Song of Solomon, I'm still beautiful even though I'm black, because I'm blackened by the sun, so don't look negatively on me, all right? Jeremiah 8 21, because I'm in so much pain, I'm black. Why are these things being said? So, I'm not saying black is negative, I'm saying that all these descriptions of skin color are all negative descriptions.

Why? Because they're not about race and skin color, they're about a condition that someone finds themselves in. Jeremiah 14 2, Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish, they are blackened to the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem is gone. Again, a negative description, something's wrong, they're mourning and languishing, and by the way, let's read this, Judah languishes and the gates thereof languish, they are blackened to the ground. What are black?

The gates, the gates are black. Limitations 5 10, our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. These are not descriptions of how the children of Israel normally looked, these are descriptions of people in mourning, who are ashen, who are darkened, who are burnt in the sun, that's what these are descriptions of. So, in no way does it tell you normal skin color, it has literally nothing to do with that. And then, some of the Hebrew words used can also be translated, I mourn, languish, they have nothing to do with skin color, but even if they did, it's not a racial description of the people, it's a description of people in great suffering and pain. Ashen, you've lost all your color, or you look dark, what's the matter?

I'm really depressed, I'm really sick, something's wrong. That's all these verses are saying, and Jeremiah 14 2, in context, the they refers to the gates. You say, well, but hang on, hang on, I've got a few more verses. Amos 9 7, God's speaking to Israel, are you not as the children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel, saith the Lord? Have I not brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Koftor, and the Syrians from Kir? All he's saying, he's not saying you have the skin color of Ethiopians, in fact, race, skin color was not an issue in the Bible, that's not the big thing. Even the original African Heritage Bible says that very thing, and Evangelist Skinner said the same thing, race as we know it, that wasn't the construct, the issue was religious separation and ethnic separation, different colors of skin, that was not the issue. All God's saying here is, you're like anybody else to me, I brought up this, the Philistines from here, and I brought up this, and the Syrians from here, and the Ethiopians from here, he's not saying you have the skin color of the Ethiopians, or the skin color of the Philistines, or the skin color of the Syrians.

Zephaniah 1 1, the word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah, the son of Cushi. Well, that could be Ethiopian, this is saying that Zephaniah was black, could be, could be, it's possible, we don't know, but Cushi just could be a name, or it could be saying his father was Ethiopian, could be. Yeah, so, we know there's black presence in the Bible, no one's arguing that Moses marries a Cushite woman, so we know there's black color through the Old Testament, that's not the issue, but the people as a whole, no, that's just we understand that wasn't the skin color. And how about this then, you want to talk about Ethiopians, Zephaniah 2 12, ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword. Does that mean God's especially going to kill black people?

No! Or Jeremiah 13 23, can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? If the Israelites looked like Ethiopians, why God is asking that question? Why doesn't He just say, can you change your skin color? No, because the Ethiopians, Africans, black, He's just making an illustration, could they change their skin color? No, can a leopard change his spots?

No. Well, you can't change your wicked heart either, right? So, He's not, if the Israelites looked like the Ethiopians, He just would have said, can you change your skin color? No, instead, it's saying that they're a separate different people.

We come back, I just want to show you something really quickly. I could make Jesus white based on Scripture. I could make the Israelites white based on Scripture. I could make black evil based on Scripture, and white good based on Scripture.

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I'm going to the phones shortly. But we've been answering the question, according to the Bible, the ancient Israelites black. So, we looked at iconographic evidence, in other words, ancient paintings that would indicate that most likely, coming from the land of Canaan, they were Semites, they would have been brown-skinned versus black-skinned using our general terminology, and they would not have had some of the African features. So, they could fit in in Egypt, though, because Egypt itself was mixed. You had Nubian, I mean, there are times it's absolutely black-skinned, African rulership over the country, and much of the time a very, very strong presence. And then you also have lighter-skinned, brown-skinned Semites, and you had these various peoples in Egypt. So, Israel would fit in well there, and there is a famous passage from the Mishnah, Nigaim 2.1, so it's second century, so like a century after the time of Jesus, or so, within two centuries of the time of Jesus. And it's distinguishing the Jews, the Israelites, distinguishing them from the Germans, Germans who are white, and from the Ethiopians who are black, and seeing where a box would, so that would be brownish.

So, again, very similar to what you see in the Middle East today. It is not of consequence because, because ultimately, Israel had other people that were part of the community, the mixed multitude that came out of Egypt, definitely black presence in different figures. And we know in the New Testament, there's a black presence as well, most likely in Acts 13, Simon called Niger, so Niger, as we say in English. So, it doesn't have to mean, because it's called black, that he himself was black, but it likely means that, which would also mean that most others weren't, otherwise you wouldn't single him out as black. Simon of Cyrene, who carries the crossbeam for Jesus, black. The Ethiopian eunuch that hears the Gospel in Acts 8, black.

So, we know that presence is there, right? And then we know that Jews come from around the world, and we know that as Jews live in different parts of the world, we know this historically, it can be demonstrated by DNA, as Jews live over periods of time in different parts of the world, that people convert to Judaism and marry in, especially women, marrying in, and then through intermarriage over centuries, they take on these various characteristics. I mean, it's kind of amusing, the completely bogus 12 tribes chart that some radical Hebrew Israelites use, which does not have any scriptural support, any historical support, any linguistic support, any archaeological support, any DNA support.

To the contrary, every single one of those areas is against the bogus 12 tribes chart. Are there black Jews? Of course. Are there Hispanic Jews?

Of course. But they are not Mexicans and the people of Colombia and so on and Native Americans. No, we know that for a fact. There may be remnants of the Israelites among different peoples. But even the 12 tribes chart, the completely bogus chart, yeah, and it is bogus. And to this day, no one has provided a stitch, a stitch of academically sound evidence that supports the 12 tribes chart. Zero.

It does not exist and it never will because it's bogus. So, you may be offended with me saying that. I'm just being truthful because I love truth.

And I hate to see people bound up with things that feed into hatred and anger and that don't save and don't help and don't deliver and don't heal. But having said all that, even the 12 tribes bogus chart has to explain how Israelites who were originally, allegedly, according to radical Hebrew Israelites, all black, how they end up looking like Native Americans or they end up looking like lighter-skinned Hispanics. There's got to be intermarriage, right? In the same way, that's why so many of us are white. And those who are all brown, you're an Ashkenazi Jew, they were never. I'm part of the people of Israel through history. And if you're a black Jew, there may be a couple hundred thousand black Jews in America. We're part of the same history.

We all go back to the same slaves in Egypt because we are all part of that people. And there's been intermarriage everywhere through our history, like people like Ruth. That's the reality.

That's just a fact. Anyway, let me show you how I can misuse the Bible and make the Israelites into white people and Jesus into a white man, which he was not. But I'm going to misuse the Bible the same way the radical Hebrew Israelites misuse the Bible.

How about this? Song of Songs, Song of Solomon, 5, 10. This is the woman speaking about Solomon. My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among 10,000. So, according to the same King James Bible that says I am black but comely for the woman, she describes Solomon as my beloved is white and ruddy. So, based on this, we can say Solomon was white.

Lamentations 4, 7. Her Nazarites were purer than snow. They were whiter than milk. They were more ruddy in body than rubies.

Their polishing was of sapphire. So, they were purer than snow, but they were white, whiter than milk. So, they're obviously very, very white. And then Revelation 1, 14 about Jesus, his head and his hairs, not just his hairs, but his head and his hairs were white like wool as white as snow and his eyes was a flame of fire. So, obviously he was a white man because his head was white, not just his hair, but his head. Now, I don't believe that he was a white man and I don't believe the ancient Israelites were white, all right, nor were they black.

But the point is I could misuse the Bible just the same way. Here, I'm going to misuse the Bible to show you how white is good and black is bad. And I'm doing this to try to help those who are caught up in a racist cult, growing racist cult, Hebrew Israelites and others. I just rebuke the vile dangerous anti-Semitism of Nick Fuentes, white supremacist, and I'm getting all these white supremacists that we're blocking now on YouTube cheering him on. He's saying Jews need to die cheering him on. And it's fascinating that a white supremacist anti-Semite like Nick Fuentes shares the exact same ideology as the radical Hebrew Israelite anti-Semite. They both hate the same people, the same Jews. Fascinating, isn't it?

So, here, here's this. So, this is how you want to misuse the Bible, okay? Just like the radical Hebrew Israelites do, just like the white anti-Semites do, the white supremacists. Isaiah 118, come now, let us reason together, says the Lord, though he sends me a scarlet, they'll be as white as snow. Though they be like red like crimson, they'll be as wool. So, white is good, right? White is good.

Psalm 51, 7, purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. So, being white is good. Ecclesiastes 9, 8, let thy garments be always white, and let thy head lack now on you. So, white garments are good garments. Revelation 7, 9, after this behold, in a great multitude, which no one could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, stood before the throne, before the Lamb, clothed with white robes. So, why don't they have black robes? Because black is bad, white is good. I'm saying this to show how to misuse the Bible, all right? Same with Revelation 15, 6, that the angels are clothed in pure and white linen.

Why? Because white is good. Revelation 19, 8, and to her, was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. So, the people of God, the bride of Christ, are clothed in clean and white linen, because white is good. And the armies in heaven, Revelation 19, 14, followed Jesus upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. So, they're on white horses, white and clean. In Revelation 20, 11, God sits on a great white throne.

Why? Because white is good and black is bad. That's a misuse of scripture. Just like the radical Hebrew Israelites misused scripture, it is just as wrong and just as blatant and just as misguided. The ancient Israelites were always a mixed race.

The Jewish people have continued to be a mixed race through the centuries. It is a terrible, is a terrible thing that Jesus has been whitewashed in history in a way that others cannot relate to him. And when it was done to foster white supremacy, it was a great and gross evil. And it is an ugly and wrong thing now, when blacks who have been hurt through history by whites, and who have been put down by a white Jesus, now create a black Jesus who is racist, and who's going to judge based on ethnicity. And one group worship whiteness, now the other group worships blackness. Both are wrong and deceived.

Both are wrong and deceived. Now, it's perfectly understandable that we all created Jesus we can relate to. It's perfectly understandable that artists created a Jesus that looked white because they were white. Look at Chinese iconography, Chinese Christians, they have Jesus and Mary, Mary and the mother of Jesus and the apostles, they all look Chinese.

And you have black leaders and African Christianity and Jesus is black and the apostles are black. That's not an issue, because we're all finding someone we can relate to. So none of that is an issue. The issue is when it becomes a dogma that we actually think it's true, we have to defend it, fight for it, or it colors our theology or our practice.

That's the danger. So don't misuse the Bible. The Bible does not make definitive statements about the color of the ancient Israelites, nor was that an issue in the ancient world. And I could just as strongly argue using the same scriptures that the blackness, the darkness, that is all because something is wrong and it's not the normal skin color and condition. Alright, and in fact those verses say it plainly.

So don't point to this. Don't ever use those verses again to prove that the Israelites are called black because none of them actually say that. They're speaking about defective conditions, something wrong, so either blackened by the sun, burned by the sun, or darkened in terms of mourning action. I've seen white people full of grief and their faces are dark. They actually look darker.

There's like a dark tone going through them, a black tone, not in terms of normal skin color like an African, but I mean like a dismal, lifeless, but because they're in mourning. That's what's being described there in scripture. So don't misuse the Bible. If you do it, you're doing it now despite the evidence, despite the truth. And even the Hebrew root kadar, it doesn't mean blackened.

It can mean darkened because of mourning, because of grief, and sometimes the better way to translate it is just languishing mourning. Alright, I wanted to get this out for you. You can take or leave the witness of scripture. You can take or leave the witness of history, archaeology.

I didn't bring up in a major way DNA. You can take or leave those things, but they're there. If you leave them, you leave the truth.

If you leave them, you walk in willful deception. And you can post all the hateful comments you want. I'm not here for me. I'm here for you. I didn't need to go through this exercise to convince me. I'm simply trying to help some who are caught up in deception. And thankfully, on a regular basis, folks are thanking us for presenting the truth because it's helping them see clearly. Let's unite around Jesus Yeshua beyond color, beyond race, beyond ethnicity. We all need Him.

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Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Oh yeah, welcome back to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. Yeah, it's a real shame once we released a short video from a couple weeks back where I denounced the vile dangerous anti-semitism of Nick Fuentes. We've had to block a whole lot of folks posting on YouTube since backing him, supporting him, Jews are going to die, you know, supporting those vile comments. Yeah, so just like we have to block black Hebrew Israelites all the time, not for differing with me, not for saying, well, you're really Hebrew, won the debates. Post that all you want.

That's fine. You can disagree with me. You tell me I'm wrong. But when you post things repeating anti-Semitic comments and tropes, you're going to get blocked. If you did it attacking other groups, you'd be blocked.

Our platforms with the millions of people ultimately that go through them, they're not for that. So, differ with me all you like. Tell me I'm wrong on Scripture, misinterpreted this, got the Hebrew wrong, someone crushed me in a debate, etc. Do it all you want. You're welcome to post that day and night.

Never get blocked, never get taken down. But just like the folks supporting Nick Fuentes and posting vile things and attacks on Jews, etc., white supremacists, black supremacists are joined together in their hatred of Jews. That's another way to understand who the Jews are.

Just look at the ones that they both hate together. All right, with that, we go to the phones. We start with James in Phoenix, Arizona. Thanks for listening to The Line of Fire.

What's up? Hi, Dr. Brown. Thanks for taking my call. Just as a disclaimer before I ask my question, I do not believe that the ancient Israelites were black. I don't believe that. But just as this stuff is moving and spreading like fire and me doing my own studies, I have come across those passages that you spoke about in your show today about how the ancient Israelites looked like Egyptians, or they were being confused with the Egyptians like Paul, Moses, Joseph, and even in the passage in the Bible where they were mourning Jacob's death and there were Egyptians and Israelites there and they were called the weeping, crying Egyptians. So my question is, as I looked at your show today, what do you think was it that was indistinguishable about it? Because I don't think it was just skin color. It has to have been more like features as well, right?

So do you think the Egyptians looked more Semitic or did the ancient Israelites look more emitted back in those times? Yeah, a wonderful question. And thank you for the disclaimer first, but wonderful question. And again, I am addressing this because so many are getting caught up with it and it's just one of these things that I didn't come looking for came my way.

So we're trying to help people in addressing it. We're not trying to stir up controversy. But in short, there were various peoples in Egypt. In other words, like if you go to Israel today, it's a melting pot of different cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds. So Egypt wouldn't have been as widespread. In other words, you didn't have like a European presence in ancient Egypt. But you definitely had, you know, North Africa, you had a presence from Africa. Look, even within Africa, if I meet someone, I can tell immediately they're from Ethiopia or Eritrea and not safe, or maybe from Sudan and not from Nigeria, right? So even within Africa, you have different facial features. And if you went to Egypt today, you'd find it, you find many, many different types of features and skin color. So let's just say that I'm in a group of folks, they are Latino, they are black Latino, they are black, and they are Middle Eastern. There's going to be, if you were any one of those, you could kind of fit in there and blend.

So that's the thing. It wasn't just they all looked one way. They all looked like white Europeans and how did black Africans fit? Or they all looked like black Africans and how did white Europeans fit?

Rather, you had different features. You had some look more hemitic, some look more Semitic, some look more in keeping with what would ultimately be Caucasus characteristics and others more Negroid characteristics. So it was more of a diverse people in the ancient Egyptian world. Definitely blacker than some would imagine it. Some have even argued that the sphinx with the noses missing was removed because it looked too black. So I'm all for saying, yeah, it was darker skinned. The whole portrayals that the Israelites were white and the Egyptians were white and the way we made the movies, that's just completely wrong projection. But that's the short answer is there could have been four, five, six, seven different characteristics that were common enough that if you fit in anywhere there within the skin color, within the facial characteristics, you're part of the society. And a lot of that you see reflected in the ancient iconography, the paintings and things like that.

You see the different colors and the different features. So that said, it was more wide ranging. And then by the time you get to the New Testament, even more wide ranging in terms of the different peoples that lived in Egypt. So yeah, you didn't have to be an African to be mistaken for an Egyptian for sure. Okay, thank you.

Can I squeeze in just one more question? That's more of just how do you feel about, but when I hear the Black Hebrew Israelites, I can, outside from the ones of spewing hatred, I can kind of feel for how it kind of feels like they're, like if a white person today, if they would say that they're Jewish, nobody bats a high. It's like, he says he's Jewish, yep, he's Jewish and we accept it. But if any other race says they're Jewish, then it's a lot of backlash. It's like, you got to prove that you're Jewish. You got to kind of, so how do you just feel about that kind of thing where it seems like white people can seem like they can claim to be Jewish easily where other races can't? Right.

So you're definitely hitting on a key issue. So one thing is we have suffered for centuries and centuries and centuries as people of different color, persecuted as Jews, kicked out of countries, slaughtered by the Nazis, slaughtered by the Crusaders, singled out by the Inquisition. So Sephardic Jews, Ashkenazi Jews, and then the common lineages we have back to Mizrahi Jews, we've suffered around the world to this day as Jews. So no one except for the cults and the anti-Semites denies our Jewishness. We've suffered as Jews.

No one was asking. In other words, people would have hidden their Jewish identity like in Nazi Germany, tried to hide their Jewish identity and they couldn't because they were Jews and it was traceable. So no one aside from the cults and the anti-Semites denies that I'm a Jew or that a Jew that lived in Iraq for 2,000 years is a Jew or a Jew that lived in the Iberian Peninsula in Spain is a Jew. No one's denying that except the anti-Semites and these radical cults who are anti-Semitic.

But you raise a great point. Those that are legitimately black Jews, why aren't they widely recognized? Those who are legitimately Jews from other countries, why aren't they widely recognized? In some cases, it's racism. It's that simple. In some cases, it goes both ways.

You know what I'm saying? That there's anti-white racism, there's anti-black racism. In some cases, for example, Ashkenazi Jews became so dominant that they may have racist views towards blacks and that may be part of it. Now some of it is you just want to be sure. Like are the Igbo people really of Israelite descent or the Lemba people really of Israelite descent or the Falashas in Ethiopia really of Israelite descent or the Cochin Indians in India? Are they really, those that claim to be Jews, really Jews? So that's why there's been DNA testing.

That's why there's been verification. But bear in mind, there are rabbis and Jewish leaders who go around the world trying to identify, oh, in Ethiopia, okay, you really are Jews. We want to bring you back to Israel.

We want to make a way for you to come. Hence, you know, the Operation Solomon, Operation Moses as Jews were brought out of Ethiopia by the tens of thousands years ago. Or those who've worked with the Lemba tribe to see, okay, let's look at your background DNA.

Do you have the priestly DNA as you claim? Now by the way, they claim to be descendants of white Jews, interestingly enough, the Lemba in Africa and Zimbabwe. But there are those and that's their mission to try to find these, to go to India to see, okay, are you legitimate?

And if so, we want to invite you to come back to the land. So there are many who are working towards this and Israel aggressively did this. But then, you know, often just those with outsider status, Ethiopian Jews have often not been treated well by the larger population. I mean, many stand with them and they're citizens and good standing with the country, but many have not been treated well. They are more impoverished. They have lesser job opportunities.

And some of it is either you're the outsider. Some of us just do the racism. And it could well be that as some of these early Jews, so Jews from Africa who maintained their heritage, Israelites, came over to the States and wanted to be accepted by the largely white Jewish leadership or even white, you know, specific incidents.

Hey, we want to get a Torah scroll for a synagogue. They were rejected. So if you go back far enough, you can even find that some of the roots of the black Hebrew Israelites go back to the rejection of Jewishness to those who were legitimately Jews among them, right? Came over from Africa. They may have been mistaken for, as some of my historian friends would argue, that they were mistaken for Muslims from Africa, but they're actually Jews. They're practicing some Jewish rights, came over from Africa, preserving them. So descendants from the ancient Israelites, just like I'd be a descendant from the ancient Israelites. And then both with intermarriage, et cetera.

They came over, and now one of them, you know, knows Hebrew, and wanted to get a Torah scroll for a synagogue. They're rejected as illegitimate. So that rejection now fosters and festers over the years until it creates these radical cults. I mean, I'm oversimplifying, but painting a picture here. And then whatever these black Hebrew Israelites suffered from white Jews, that their landlords didn't treat them right or whatever, then that becomes a whole ideology, which becomes blatantly anti-Semitic and anti-white, and then feeds into this worship of blackness. So we all have to do better. There's consent on all sides. All sides. Another program powered by the Truth Network.