2023 Freedom''s Eve - Historic Stockton African Kwanzaa connection to our Cushite Empire

Freedom''s Eve - remembering the distant past, early Stockton Gold Rush Era History and today's new opportunities in the spirit of Kuumba.

Rev. Jeremiah King opened a blessed way forward that still is positive today

The ancient nations of Sheba and Cush, both located several hundred miles south of Israel, were often regarded by the people of Israel as the ends of the earth.

The nation of Sheba was located on the southwest coast of the Arabian peninsula and traded frankincense, myrrh, gold, and precious stones throughout the Ancient Near East.

During Solomon’s reign, news of his great wealth and wisdom traveled as far as Sheba (perhaps carried by Solomon’s fleet of trading ships), and the queen of Sheba came to visit him and ask him many questions (1 Kings 10; 2 Chronicles 9).

Before about 900 B.C., the term Cush in the Bible referred primarily to the descendants of Cush, who inhabited much of the western coast of Arabia as well as the land immediately south of Egypt in Africa (Genesis 10:6-7).

After about 900 B.C., the term Cush typically referred to the kingdom of Cush, which included only the land south of Egypt. So it is likely that Moses’ Cushite wife (Numbers 12:1) was from Arabia, as was Zerah’s vast army of soldiers who attacked King Asa (2 Chronicles 14:8-14).

King Tirhakah, on the other hand, who set out to fight against Assyria as they were attacking King Hezekiah, was almost certainly from Africa (2 Kings 19:9; Isaiah 37:9).

The same is also likely true for the Ebed-melech, who rescued Jeremiah from imprisonment in a cistern (Jeremiah 38:1-13). Later, the kingdom of Cush is cited as one of the borders the Persian Empire (Esther 1:1).

Over time many people of the kingdom of Cush (later called Ethiopia) became followers of the Lord, which is why during the New Testament Philip the Evangelist met an Ethiopian royal official traveling home by way of Gaza after worshiping at the Temple of the Lord (Acts 8:26-27).