Cush (Ethiopia)

Cush — called Ethiopia by the Greeks — was the land south of Egypt along the upper reaches of the Nile, the region of ancient Nubia corresponding to modern Sudan and the far south of Egypt. It took its name from Cush, the eldest son of Ham (Genesis 10:6), whose son Nimrod founded the first kingdoms of the earth (Genesis 10:8). Scripture knows it as a remote and wealthy nation of dark-skinned peoples (Jeremiah 13:23), rich in gold and precious stones, lying "beyond the rivers of Cush" at the very edge of the known world (Isaiah 18:1).

Cush touches Israel's story at many points. Moses married a Cushite woman, which provoked the jealous complaint of Miriam and Aaron (Numbers 12:1). Zerah the Cushite led an immense army against King Asa and was routed when Asa cried to the LORD (2 Chronicles 14:9). In Hezekiah's day the Cushite Pharaoh Tirhakah marched out against Assyria (2 Kings 19:9). The prophets pictured Cush as a distant power with swift messengers and abundant merchandise, yet also as one of the far nations that God would gather: "Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God" (Psalm 68:31), and "from beyond the rivers of Cush my worshipers shall bring my offering" (Zephaniah 3:10).

Among the Cushites Scripture singles out a man of remarkable faith. When Judah's own princes left Jeremiah to die in a muddy cistern, it was Ebed-melech the Cushite who interceded with the king and drew the prophet up with ropes and rags (Jeremiah 38:7); for his trust in the LORD he was promised his life in the day of the city's fall (Jeremiah 39:16). The foreigner shamed the covenant people by his compassion and faith.

The gospel reached Cush early and directly. On the desert road south of Jerusalem Philip met an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace queen of the Ethiopians, returning from worship and puzzling over the scroll of Isaiah; beginning from that very passage Philip "told him the good news about Jesus" (Acts 8:35), and the eunuch was baptized and went on his way rejoicing (Acts 8:38; Acts 8:39). So the ancient promise that Cush would stretch out her hands to God began to be fulfilled — a sign that in Christ the gospel runs to the ends of the earth and gathers every distant people into his praise.