The Dispersion of Kush כוּשּׁ
The Kingdom of Cush, Egypt’s neighbor to the south, played an important role in biblical history despite being one of the lesser known kingdoms. According to 2 Kings 19:9, “Tirhakah, King of Cush” came to the aid of Hezekiah against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, when his forces laid siege to Jerusalem in 701 B.C.E. Without such aid, it is hard to imagine that the Kingdom of Judah would have survived. Judah would have likely gone the way of the Kingdom of Israel—spread to the four winds, never to return.
The land of Cush has been known by many names throughout history. The Egyptians knew the land as Cush. To the Greeks and Romans it was Aethiopia (or Ethiopia—though not to be confused with the modern nation located on the Horn of Africa). The medieval Arabs referred to the country as Nubia.
Regardless of the name by which it was known, Cush played an interesting role in the history of Canaan, Egypt, and the wider ancient Near East as a whole.
Mentioned some 54 times in the Hebrew Bible, Cush features in the historical books—specifically Kings and Chronicles—as well as the prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekial, and Nahum all make mention Cush or the Cushites.
Within various reigns of Kush there is enough evidence to show "a Cushite diaspora" the dispersion of the citizens of Cush/Kush out of their ancient ancestral homeland (the Land of Israel) and their subsequent settlement in other parts of the globe.
Rashi's Commentary
Are you not like the children of the Cushites to Me: Why should I refrain from exacting retribution upon you do not return to Me? Have you not come from the sons of Noah like the other nations? Like the Cushites whom you resemble, as the matter is stated: (Jer. 13:23) “Will a Cushite change his skin…? So will you be able to improve.”
Levitch's Commentary
And there it is ..... So will you be able to improve?
..to be continued
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