Gerar was a small district, producing only the Acacia or gum-arabic trees, from which it had its name; it had no water but what came from a few wells, part of which had been dug by Abraham[247], after much strife with the people of the country, who sought to deprive him of them, as of a treasure.
Abraham and his brother Lot returning from Egypt, though poor shepherds, could not subsist there for want of food, and water, and they separated accordingly, by consent[248]. Now it must be confessed, as it is not pretended there was any miracle here, that there is not a more unlikely tale in all Herodotus, than this must be allowed to be upon the footing of the translation. The translator calls Zerah an Ethiopian, which should either mean he dwelt in Arabia, as he really did, and this gave him no advantage, or else that he was a stranger, who originally came from the country above Egypt; and, either way, it would have been impossible, during his whole life-time, to have collected a million of men, one of the greatest armies that ever stood upon the face of the earth, nor could he have fed them though they had ate the whole trees that grew in his country, nor could he have given every hundredth man one drink of water in a day from all the wells he had in his country.
Here, then, is an obvious triumph for infidelity, because, as I have said, no supernatural means are pretended. But had it been translated, that Zerah was a black-moor, a Cushite-negro, and prince of the Cushites, that were carriers in the Isthmus, an Ethiopian shepherd, then the wonder ceased. Twenty camels, employed to carry couriers upon them, might have procured that number of men to meet in a short space of time, and, as Zerah was the aggressor, he had time to choose when he should attack his enemy; every one of these shepherds carrying with them their provision of flour and water, as is their invariable custom, might have fought with Asa at Gerar, without eating a loaf of Zerah’s bread, or drinking a pint of his water.
The next passage I shall mention is the following: “The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia, and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine[249].” Here the several nations are distinctly and separately mentioned in their places, but the whole meaning of the passage would have been lost, had not the situation of these nations been perfectly known; or, had not the Sabeans been mentioned separately, for both the Sabeans and the Cushite were certainly Ethiopians. Now, the meaning of the verse is, that the fruit of the agriculture of Egypt, which is wheat, the commodities of the negro, gold, silver, ivory, and perfumes, would be brought by the Sabean shepherds, their carriers, a nation of great power, which should join themselves with you.
Again, Ezekiel says,[250] “And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed.”—“In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships, to make the careless Ethiopians afraid.” Now, Nebuchadnezzar was to destroy Egypt[251], from the frontiers of Palestine, to the mountains above Atbara, where the Cushite dwelt. Between this and Egypt is a great desert; the country beyond it, and on both sides, was possessed by half a million of men. The Cushite, or negro merchant, was secure under these circumstances from any insult by land, but they were open to the sea, and had no defender, and messengers, therefore, in ships or a fleet had easy access to them, to alarm and keep them at home, that they did not fall into danger by marching into Egypt against Nebuchadnezzar, or interrupting the service upon which God had sent him. But this does not appear from translating Cush, Ethiopian; the nearest Ethiopian to Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful and capable of opposing him, were the Ethiopian shepherds of the Thebaid, and these were not accessible to ships; and the shepherds, so posted near to the scene of destruction to be committed by Nebuchadnezzar, were enemies to the Cushites living in towns, and they had repeatedly themselves destroyed them, and therefore had no temptation to be other than spectators.
In several other places, the same prophet speaks of Cush as the commercial nation, sympathising with their countrymen dwelling in the towns in Egypt, independent of the shepherds, who were really their enemies, both in civil and religious matters. “And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt[252].” Now Ethiopia, as I have before said, that is, the low country of the shepherds, nearest Egypt, had no common cause with the Cushites that lived in towns there; it was their countrymen, the Cushites in Ethiopia, who mourned for those that fell in Egypt, who were merchants, traders, and dwelt in cities like themselves.
I shall mention but one instance more: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?[253]” Here Cush is rendered Ethiopian, and many Ethiopians being white, it does not appear why they should be fixed upon, or chosen for the question more than other people. But had Cush been translated Negro, or Black-moor, the question would have been very easily understood, Can the negro change his skin, or the leopard his spots?
Jeremiah[254] speaks of the chiefs of the mingled people that dwell in the deserts. And Ezekiel[255] also mentions them independent of all the others, whether Shepherds, or Cushites, or Libyans their neighbours, by the name of the Mingled People. Isaiah[256] calls them “a nation scattered and peeled; a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled:” which is a sufficient description of them, as having been expelled their own country, and settled in one that had suffered greatly by a deluge a short time before.
