Genesis 13:1 [KJV]: “And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the South.”
The stated verse is pretty comprehensible but yet, it stands out as being one of the most overlooked passages within Scripture, this to the detriment of many of us who only got to understand African history through the colonial lens. I mean, in all honesty, the only tangible history we know about ourselves is elementary; tracing our original identity back to the onset of our enslavement; most significantly the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade and the subsequent invasion of our land by foreigners. These dark times of our otherwise rich history now serve as the tools that brought Africans into the “limelight” within this “modern world”. On the other hand, when one takes some time to actually search everything out by reading in between the blurry lines which crisscross what might easily be understood as an intricate conspiracy against a certain group of people, he or she will be awed all to a good end depending on how they view the matter. In this case, the Bible stands out as the most important history book which actually records everything from a neutral perspective without any hint of human-derived bias. It is indeed God’s letter to humanity.
Getting back to our initial passage in Genesis, we can be able to pick out a few key words just like an approved scholar would. In this case, I’ve been able to pick out the following:
“Went up out of Egypt” and “Into the South”
This is in keeping with the widely used King James Version [KJV] of the Bible. Other versions like the New International Version [NIV] state that Abraham “Went up from Egypt“ to the “Negev” which is Hebrew for “South”. On the other hand, taking note of the fact that Abraham [previously Abram] is the central figure in this passage is critical.
Before unpacking the meaning behind the stated key words which is pretty straight forward anyway; it would be good for us to understand the Geographical landscape of Africa with reference to a key natural resource; the Nile River. Being the longest river in the world, the Nile plays a significant role in determining the overall terrain of Africa seeing just how much land it covers. In this case, it is a river which uniquely flows from North [Uganda and Ethiopia] to South [the Mediterranean sea] and this indicated that the North isn’t necessarily attributable to a higher altitude. Indeed, when it comes to Africa, the Southern part of the landmass has a significantly higher altitude which makes it possible for such a long river as the Nile to flow all the way from Eastern Africa to the Mediterranean Sea.
Back to our text, we can now be able to understand why Scripture reveals that Abraham moved up from Egypt. On the other hand, just to confirm the intended meaning of the words used in Scripture, we are told in another instance that the same Abraham journeyed down into Egypt from Canaan [Genesis 12:10]. In this case, the Southern part of Egypt can clearly be understood as being a region of a much higher altitude than the Northern part. Where, then, does the Southern part of Egypt point us towards? It does point us towards sub-Saharan Africa without any shadow of a doubt and this serves as a major contention point for our discussion today.
Canaan has never changed from past times; it has always been the same place. It’s only the people who lived there that had to move about the place across different generations on account of different major events in history. Of these people, the Israelites [descendants of Abraham through Jacob] take center-stage as they has this land allocated to them for eternity [Genesis 17:8]. This timely truth should then help you understand that the “Middle East” is will always remain a mere label: the Middle East. There’s nothing too special about that place; at least according to what Scripture reveals to us. In fact, the place we currently understand as being “Israel” was only made to be so in 1948 following the relocation of the then-sojourning Jews [the Ashkenazi Jews, who only coverted to Judaism for convenience purposes around the 17th Century; long after the original Jews had been scattered across the face of the earth] with the help of the British and one of the elite families [the Rothschild family]. Surprisingly, these Jews had actually considered settling somewhere around modern-day Kenya and Uganda [partly] which was by then a British protectorate [my eyebrows were also raised when I first discovered this]. I mean, these Jewish converts actually had the luxury of choosing where they would situate their “holy land!”.
Certainly, Canaan is and has always been the land of abundance; a land flowing with milk and honey [metaphorically]. It is indeed a land whose rivers never run dry and whose people are able to farm all-year round without much care for extreme seasons [winter and summer]. It is a land located in the Middle of the earth – not the center, as middle is attributable to distance [midway between North and South] while center is attributable to a point on earth which can be understood as being the “core” or “innermost”. In this case, we can try to better-understand the middle-point using lattitudes and longitutes; whereby the equator provides a demarcating line that rests halfway from North to South. By virtue of this, the sun is never too far away from this region and also never too near so that we get to experience almost balanced hours of day and night all year. On top of it all, the climate is temperate, and this definitely contributes towards the abundance that is found around the Tropics [for both animal and plant life].
Getting back again to our opening text, we can now obtain a well-balanced understanding of how Abraham actually moved to and from Egypt as he made his way to and back to the South which ended up being the Promised Land. This man was always resident in Africa; he never really stepped out of this land – at least according to what Scripture reveals to us. On the other hand, this makes sub-Saharan Africa; not the “Middle East”; the true holy land. It is a land widely understood to be adequately-baked of the sun; the land of the black people – the people of the soil – and the cradle of all mankind. So, then, what do you believe Abraham’s complexion was, seeing that he spent his lifetime in Africa and that his descendants could actually be able to mingle freely with ancient Egyptians who are indeed Hamites and brothers of Cushites; the black people of Africa?
