Jesus' skin color

[paulespino]

My friend ask me if it is possible that Jesus is black or a
"black Jew"?

[steve]

I don't think this is likely. Although some of those of the ten northern tribes may have intermarried with African people in the diaspora (e.g., in Alexandria), Jesus was descended through a fairly pure Jewish line, and the Judeans, I think, tended to keep themselves pretty separated from the Gentiles. It is not impossible, of course, since Moses himself married an Ethiopian woman (Num.12:1). He was of the tribe of Levi—not Judah—but that fact is probably irrelevant to the probabilities of negro blood in later Judeans.

[Suzana]

My friend ask me if it is possible that Jesus is black or a
"black Jew"?

(Steve beat me to it, while I was composing, but these are my observations...)

Well, firstly, since the scriptures don’t mention the colour of Jesus’ skin anywhere, it seems obvious it isn’t something particularly important.

I would think that Jesus looked typically Jewish – olive skinned middle-eastern appearance. It seems Jesus was able to blend into the crowd & slip away from the Jews who wanted to stone Him (John ch.10). Also, He needed to be specifically identified by Judas when being arrested, which means there was nothing remarkable to make Him stand out.

I also wonder, thinking back to how Aaron & Miriam reacted unfavourably to Moses marrying a black woman - if Jesus had been black-skinned, this might have been seized upon by the Jewish religious authorities as another mark against Him, if racial prejudice was also prevalent at that time. In which case there may have been something mentioned about it, but this is just speculation of course.

[paulespino]

Thanks for the replies.

I actually mentioned to him about Moses marrying an Ethiopian woman.

Also some Ethiopian legend says that Solomon might have an intimate relationship with Queen Sheba.

I asked this question because the same person keeps on debating with me regarding Christianity.
He is black and when he found out that I went to see Steve he just won't stop arguing and debating with me. For 3 days he won't stop arguing with me
My co-worker ( friend) is having difficulty accepting the fact that white colored people are the reason for their slavery. He even thinks that if one day science will prove that Jesus is black,he believes that %90 of white Christians will flip or have a change of heart towards Jesus. I told him that he might be right but the people from this forum will never reject Jesus. For some reason he develop a respect with the people from this forum. He knows that I always read the threads in this forum.

[paulespino]

I wrote:

My co-worker ( friend) is having difficulty accepting the fact that white colored people are the reason for their slavery.

English is my second language so please excuse me for the statement I wrote above.

I would like to make a correction to the statement I made.

What I meant is that my friend is blaming the white people for their slavery.

[Michelle]

paulespino,

I think you expressed yourself just fine and have no need to apologize. I'm sorry that your friend has this block when it comes to having faith in Christ, and that he sees Christianity as a white religion. I have prayed that his eyes will be opened so that he can see the truth and come to follow the one who is the Truth.

Michelle

[Paidion]

Another point that might be made to the man, is that whites aren't the only ones responsible for the fact that slaves were brought over from Africa to America. Many of them had been captured by other black Africans and sold to the white slavers.

[steve]

It might also be pointed out that, while certain evil white people introduced African slavery to Europe and America, it is also true that benevolent white people (without any compulsion from the blacks) later abolished slavery in those same regions. In the American Civil War, thousands of white people gave their lives to see black slavery abolished in the United States. That blacks are a very small minority of the North American population, and yet have been given equal status (including access to the formerly-very-white White House) by the white majority, reveals the attitude of most modern whites in North America. I believe that North American whites actually are the least racist of all demographic groups on the planet.

White-on-black slavery has not existed for over a century in this part of the world, but black-on-black slavery is still practiced in Africa (e.g., Liberia). Tragically, some black Africans became slaves of white oppressors, while others became slaves of black oppressors. This may seem like a white rationalization, but the fact remains that those who were enslaved by whites, after being transported to the wealthiest and most-free nation in the world, were eventually voluntarily released into this land of opportunity by their white masters. Those who were enslaved by their fellow blacks have not yet been released, and still live in Third World poverty. This is why many American blacks have said that they thank God that their ancestors were brought here. If I were them, I would do the same.

[paulespino]

Wow, thanks guys this is an eye opener for me. Somehow I never thought of the fact that blacks are enslaving their fellow black people.

When the Holy Spirit opens an opportunity for me to tell him this then I will definitely mentioned this to him.

I'm sure it won't be long and he will engage me again to debate him.

[TK]

this is probably a good place to re-recommend the movie "Amazing Grace" in case some of you have not seen it.

TK