The Physical Appearance of Ancient Israel  

The Hebrews & The Sons Of Ham

The Sons of Ham--Cush (Ethiopians) & Mizraim (Egyptians) & Phut (ancient Libyans or Somalian) & Canaan - "Genesis 10:6" 

For years scholars, theologians, and archaeologists have debated the answer to the question, "How did the Israelites look physically?" Although the Bible and other historical documents have left much proof of the physical appearance of the biblical Israelites, much of this information is still unknown to the masses.

The popular belief today among Christians, scholars and theologians, is that the people known as "Ashkenazi Jews" are the direct descendants of the biblical Israelites.  Can this be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt? The answer to that is NO. The Bible, which will be used here as the main source, supported by history and archaeology proves that the Ashkenazi Jews are not the physical descendants of the biblical Hebrews. In addition, it reveals who the true descendants are. The answer may leave you in shock.  

Israel is mentioned in the bible over 2,500 times. The scriptures contain the Hebrews' entire history. In fact, no other people on the face of the Earth have such an extensive recorded history, not even the ancient Egyptians. Every thing we need to know about the ancient Hebrews is contained in Scripture. So, let's examine these facts, information that to this day remains unknown or hidden to many bible readers.

The history of the Israelite nation began in Egypt, the Land of Ham. They entered Egypt 66 in number, (not including Joseph, his wife and two sons who were already in Egypt), and left numbering over two million people. Ancient Israel spent 430 years in Egypt. For half that time they enjoyed good favor with the Egyptians, but for the remainder of those years they were enslaved and horribly mistreated by them.  

One of the first facts the Bible gives us about Israel (Ysrayl in the Hebrew tongue) is in regard to their physical appearance. Throughout scripture Israel is described as looking like the sons of Ham (Khawm in the Hebrew tongue).

Ham was one of Noah's three sons; Shem and Japheth were the other two. Noah's descendants repopulated the Earth after the Great Flood. Ham's descendants are traced to the families of Africa. Ham (Khawm) in Hebrew means BLACK, HOT AND BURNT.

Ham had four sons,
CUSH (Ethiopians / Cushites),
MIZRAIM (Egyptians / Khemet),
PHUT (Ancient Libyans or Somalian),
and CANAAN (Canaanite, the original inhabitants of the Land of Israel) Genesis 10:6-19.

All four of Ham's sons and their descendants settled in and around the Continent of Africa. This includes the so-called "Middle East" that is also a part of the Continent of Africa. Let us begin with the story of Jacob's second youngest son Joseph, and his time in Egypt. Joseph was one of the twelve sons of Jacob (Yaaqob in Hebrew). Jacob sired Joseph in his old age, and he was clearly his favorite son. This caused Joseph's brothers to become jealous of him. Ultimately, their jealousy resulted in Joseph being sold by Arab merchants as a slave to Egyptians.

Over the course of time Joseph became Viceroy of Egypt and was second in command to Pharaoh in authority. There was a famine in Canaan, where Jacob and his sons lived. (Pharaoh had a dream, which Joseph interpreted. His dream told of the forthcoming famine and gave Egypt an opportunity to prepare by storing food.) So, Jacob sent his ten sons to Egypt to buy bread. When Joseph's ten brothers came into Egypt they were brought before him. Joseph recognized his brothers, but they didn't recognize him (Genesis 42:1-8).

Since the biblical Egyptians were a black-skinned people, Joseph had to be black-skinned also. If he were white skinned, as over half the world's Jews are today, his brothers would have recognized him easily among the black- skinned Egyptians, or they would have been very curious as to why this white-skinned Hebrew was ruling in Egypt. But his brothers just thought Joseph was another Egyptian.

The ancient Egyptians of Joseph time were indeed what we know today as black skinned. This is a fact attested to by many.  

Gerald Massey, English writer and author of the book, Egypt the Light of the World wrote, "The dignity is so ancient that the insignia of the Pharaoh evidently belonged to the time when Egyptians wore nothing but the girdle of the Negro." (p 251)

Sir Richard Francis Burton, a 19th century English explorer, writer and linguist in 1883 wrote to Gerald Massey, "You are quite right about the "AFRICAN" origin of the Egyptians. I have 100 human skulls to prove it."  

Scientist, R. T. Prittchett, states in his book The Natural History of Man, "In their complex and many of the complexions and in physical peculiarities the Egyptians were an "AFRICAN" race (p 124-125).  

The Ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who visited Egypt in the 5th century B.C.E., saw the Egyptians face-to-face and described them as black-skinned with woolly hair.  

Anthropologist, Count Constatin de Volney (1727-1820), spoke about the race of the Egyptians that produced the Pharaohs. He later paid tribute to Herodotus' discovery when he said:

"The ancient Egyptians were true Negroes of the same type as all native born Africans. That being so, we can see how their blood mixed for several centuries with that of the Romans and Greeks, must have lost the intensity of it's original color, while retaining none the less the imprint of its original mold. We can even state as a general principle that the face (referring to The Sphinx) is a kind of monument able, in many cases, to attest to or shed light on historical evidence on the origins of the people."

The fact that the ancient Egyptians were black-skinned prompted Volney to make the following statement:
"What a subject for meditation, just think that the race of black men today our slaves and the object of our scorn, is the very race to which we owe our arts, science and even the use of our speech."

The testimony of the ancients, the Bible, many Egyptologists, along with archaeology confirms that the Egyptians during biblical times were a BLACK-SKINNED PEOPLE. This is important to know, as we continue, we will see that the bible on multiple occasions describes the ancient Hebrews as looking like the Egyptians.

Next, in Genesis chapter 50 verses 7-11, scripture will describes ALL the Hebrews as looking like the ancient Egyptians.

After Jacob (who's name was changed to Ysrayl - Israel) died in the Land of Egypt, all the Hebrews and Egyptians went down to the Land of Canaan to bury him (He asked his son to bury him in the Land of Canaan with his forefathers Genesis 49:29-30).

Verses 7-8 state that all the elders of Pharaoh's house and all the elders of the Land of Egypt along with all the Hebrews (except for their small children) went down.  

VERSE 9 says, "It was a very great company."  

VERSE 11 says, that the Canaanite saw the funeral procession and said "THIS IS A GRIEVOUS MOURNING TO THE EGYPTIANS".

But remember this was a mixed multitude of Hebrews and Egyptians going to bury a HEBREW, and the Canaanite identified them both as Egyptians. WHY? Because the Canaanites saw a great company of black-skinned people who were all probably dressed according to the customs and fashions of Egypt, and they all looked liked native (black) Egyptians.

If the Hebrews were a white-skinned people, as we have been led to believe, the Canaanite who were familiar with both the Hebrews and Egyptians would have acknowledged them both by saying, "THIS IS A GRIEVOUS MOURNING TO THE EGYPTIANS AND HEBREWS." The scripture goes on to say that the Canaanite named the place where they saw this great mourning for a HEBREW Abel Mizraim, which means the meadow of Egypt/Mizraim or Mourning of the Egyptians.