{"id":65745,"date":"2019-11-17T13:43:23","date_gmt":"2019-11-17T11:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=65745"},"modified":"2023-06-12T18:28:49","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T15:28:49","slug":"where-in-the-world-is-kush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/where-in-the-world-is-kush\/","title":{"rendered":"Where In The World Is Kush?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[774,361],"acf":{"old_id":"65745","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"352","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"East? South? Africa? Assyria?\u00a0\u00a0","content":"

Our chapter addresses \u201ca land of shadowy (alt: buzzing) wings beyond the rivers of Kush\u201d (1). While most English translations (e.g., JPS, King James) render Kush as Ethiopia (or Nubia), that was not the consensus of the traditional exegetes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rashi stated that \u201cit is situated in the east.\u201d Ibn Ezra\u2014followed by Malbim\u2014identified it explicitly with Assyria, and others (Radak, Ibn Kaspi), while offering no specific geographic designation, took it\u2014along with the following verse\u2014as indicating a country with a network of rivers traversed by sailboats\u2014a description more likely for Assyria than Ethiopia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, if Kush sounds familiar, it is probably because the opening verse of the Book of Esther demarcates the empire of King Ahasuerus as extending from Hodu (India) to Kush. Since he ruled from Susa, Persia, over 127 provinces, it would be reasonable to assume that the farther reaches of his kingdom were in Africa. However, Gen. 2:13 names Kush as the location of the River Gihon\u2014one of the rivers (along with the Tigris and Euphrates) of what appears to be a Mesopotamian Garden of Eden.<\/span><\/p>\n

This uncertainty regarding the exact location of Kush may very well be behind the following difference of opinion recorded in the Talmud:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom Hodu to Kush.\u201d Rav and Samuel gave different interpretations of this. One said that Hodu is at one end of the world and Kush at the other, and the other said that Hodu and Kush adjoin one another, and that [the meaning is that] as he ruled over Hodu and Kush, so he ruled from one end of the world to the other. (BT Megillah 11a)<\/span><\/p>\n

Either way, here is Malbim\u2019s* summary of the chapter, contained in his commentary to the last verse.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the reign of Hezekiah, many of the ten [lost] tribes returned to Jerusalem in order to take shelter under his wings. The view of the Sages is that this prophecy is futuristic, and so it was interpreted by the exegetes. However, as much as I may diverge from their path in pursuit of <\/span>peshat<\/span><\/i>, I have already noted in chapter 11 that the futuristic prophecies began during the time of Hezekiah\u2014as the prophet himself acknowledged at the opening of chapter 48.<\/span><\/p>\n

While scholars (and adventurers) have scoured the earth in search of the actual ten lost tribes\u2014one theory even identified them with the American Indians\u2014Malbim saw them also as a symbol for the reunification of one Jewish nation under God, indivisible.<\/span><\/p>\n

*For the significance of Malbim\u2019s commentary to the Book of Isaiah,<\/span> see our introduction to chapter 1.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":65746,"id":65746,"title":"is18-map","filename":"is18-map.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/where-in-the-world-is-kush\/is18-map\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is18-map","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":65745,"date":"2019-11-17 11:42:15","modified":"2019-11-17 11:43:21","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1280,"height":1069,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map-300x251.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":251,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map-768x641.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":641,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map-1024x855.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":855,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1069,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1069,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map-1200x1002.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1002,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map-503x420.png","home_baner-width":503,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Where In The World Is Kush?","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"East? 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