Were the original Israelites dark skinned or light skinned?
By EvanHunter
@EvanHunter (4026)
United States
August 22, 2010 3:45pm CST
In a topic that is sure to get some people up in arms lets refer back to the bible and see what it has to say about God's chosen people. It is not my intention to cause division but I am hoping that by pointing out a few quotes people who say they love God might be a bit more open minded and less bigoted towards others by the color of there skin.
New testament:
revelations 1:15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.- burnt brass=bronze color or dark reddish brown
Acts 21:37-38 And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee? Who said, Canst thou speak Greek? Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers?- he assumed Paul was Egyptian by the color of his skin.
Old testament:
Lamentations 4:8 Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.
Lamentations 5:10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.
Job 30:30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
Song of Solomon 1:5 I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
Exodus 4:6 And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. -obviously his hand wasn't already light skinned.
Link to a Jewish news paper that cites facial reconstruction: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/how-white-were-the-israelites-facial-reconstruction-may-be-surprising-1.257245
These aren't the only scriptures that elude to them being dark skinned. So why is it Hollywood shows us light skin people in religious movies all the time and do you think people would have been offended in today's age if it were James Earl Jones rather than Charleton Heston as Moses? More over how would people feel if Jesus or Abraham were dark skinned?
1 person likes this
7 responses
@owlwings (43903)
• Cambridge, England
22 Aug 10
It's certain that the pictures of Jesus that many Western people are familiar with are just a fantasy of mainly 19th Century evangelism, Jesus was, we are told, a native of Nazareth and his mother and father were Jews. It is almost certain, therefore, that his skin colour was what is described as 'olive' and that his hair was dark, as is common in the Jewish race today and is general in the Semitic people of that area, in fact.
Dark or light skin is relative. Westerners tend to consider anyone as 'black' if their skin is darker than the Western 'norm'. In fact, there are an infinite number of variations of the amount of melanin in the skin from practically none to what we call pure 'black' (in fact a very dark brown with a bluish tinge due to the loose skin cells on the surface).
Hollywood is very much controlled by the traditions of the past and simply provides its audience with what that audience finds acceptable. Since that audience is mainly Western and used to the (mainly) 19th Century representations of Jesus and his contemporaries (and possibly because most actors are Caucasian), that is what they show. Hollywood is not, and never has been, concerned with ethnic accuracy!
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
22 Aug 10
When I hear the word Black, I tend to think of Negro, but when I read books from the 19th century, black then meant their hair was black. I think the Israelites looked like the people of Arabia and the Middle East Today and certainly did not look like James Earl Jones.
You did clear it up quite a bit. I think it would have been better if he had dark olive or even brown and would have cleared up the assumptions that the Israelites looked like Negroes which was wrong. (Not counting those who were Ethiopians and Nubian who were converted to the Hebrew faith, of course)
@Adoniah (7512)
• United States
23 Aug 10
My, My, My, Lets look for racism everywhere we can. Aren't we bizarre. Of course the Israelites were dark skinned. So was the christ figure. They were Semites. The Jews were Semites and many still are. They were from the Mideast. Get a grip. They are not however Negroid, we know that by genetic testing. The darker skin comes from centuries of adapting to the harsh climate of that area. Both Arabs and Jews are white. Believe it. Iranians are Persians, but they are white also.
Shalom~Adoniah
@TheMetallion (1834)
• United States
23 Aug 10
New definition of irony: clucking at the OP for "looking for racism" and then hastening to be Perfectly Clear that Arabs and Jews are white. (It's also worth noting that whether or not Syrians were white was a topic of no fewer than three supreme court battles in the US, and they were declared white in only two of them.)
@Adoniah (7512)
• United States
24 Aug 10
I answered the question at hand...I have never looked into the Syrian question. Why didn't they do DNA testing? Could it be a factor that they are a different race altogether and have intermarried so much that the markers are camouflaged? The have finally admitted that the Basque people are a race unto their own. There was a time when they admitted that some Jews were also a race unto their own because they had so many separate genetic makers. I do not know if that still holds true. The world waxes and wanes on these things.
I wrote my answer because so many people call Arabs and Iranians Black when they are not. They just call Jews Monkeys and pigs.
Shalom~Adoniah
@TheMetallion (1834)
• United States
24 Aug 10
DNA won't tell you if someone's white or not -- white is arbitrary legal category with no actual basis in biology. There is no such thing as a "marker of whiteness."
As to the Basques and Jews, you are confusing race with ethnicity.
@Lindalinda (4111)
• Canada
23 Aug 10
I understand that the painters of the middle ages and before that time did not have a real understanding what semitic people looked like so they painted Mary, Joseph and all the biblical figures as white people. Furthermore a written bible was not available for most people until Gutenberg invented the printing press and until translation of the bible into the vernacular were available. Also the majority of ordinary folks were illiterate. However, I think today it would be more realistic to choose actors with Middle Eastern complexion and hair to portray Moses, Jesus and other biblical figures in movies and TV shows.
@Netsbridge (3253)
• United States
26 Aug 10
I am sure what color the original Israelites were: All I know is that the Israelites, the descendants of Israel aka Jacob, were always nomads.
EvanHunter, are you aware that even if one were to believe that the God of creation made the promise in Genesis 15:18-21 to Abraham and also promised to bless Abraham's seed, then the "chosen" will not be limited to the Israelites/Israelis, seeing Abraham even thru Isaac also had other children?
I read your disclaimer and I think that you, too, are just beginning to silently question Biblical records that are out-of-character with God's nature - Love. Check-out:
Palestine, Israel and God - http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2797028/palestine_israel_and_god.html
@TheMetallion (1834)
• United States
23 Aug 10
Much like the middle easterners today, the original Israelites were dark skinned.
As were all of our ancestors. All life began in Africa, and humanity began dark skinned.
@puccagirl (7294)
• Israel
23 Aug 10
I think people just look at how most Israelis look today maybe, and a lot of them have very light skin, so that might confuse some, I guess. But not everyone in Israel today has light skin either, even though most people do.
Interesting discussion, by the way, I have no idea what the correct answer is but will keep reading to see if I can find it out!
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
22 Aug 10
You did not mention being brown skinned.
All you alluded to was were they white like Northern Europeans,or dark skinned like the Negroes in Africa. But apparently you did not real that part of the article that said that the man looked like anyone in the Southern Mediterranean area (sort of like that Egyptian that caused a ruckus), but mirrored in on the woman who was possibly part Nubian or Ethiopian (since many of the latter converted to the Jewish religion).
Oh and it says "skin black because of the terrible famine," that does not mean that they were black normally. It was possibly that they were brown skinned, and when they got a tan, they turned dark. It does not mean that they looked like Negroes, only those who were part Ethiopian.
But they should have shown a photograph after the reconstruction and compared it to two similar people with the same characteristics. But no, did not do that.
I always thought Jesus had brown skin and looked much like the Jewish people who had had no contact with Europeans. I would be offended if it were James Earl Jones. Now if it were someone who came from Arabia, I would not be because I would have assumed that was what Jesus looked like. And I suppose Moses and Abraham were about the same.
So no the original Israelites were not Negroes, they were more like the people of the Southern Mediterranean and they were not that tall either. So wrong on both counts.
