Interesting African Presence In The Bible

The word of God is meant for everyone in the world. This includes Africans who appear to have gods of their own, unique to every tribe. Preaching to Africans about God and considering their history of suffering makes one question the African presence in the bible. This would be a good point to begin because it gives them a chance to associate with the biblical teaching.

The Garden of Eden in the New Testament is the genesis of humanity. This is where man was placed upon creation. Genesis places the location of this garden as somewhere in the middle of a system of four rivers. The rivers mentioned are Asshur, Havilah and Cush. These rivers are found in present day Ethiopia. Considering that remains of the earliest man have been found in Ethiopia, there is likelihood that this was the Garden of Eden.

Biblical patriarchs are shown to have married or sired children with women of African descent. This afforded credence to the central place of Africans in biblical history. Sarah allowed Abraham to have a child with Hagar when her womb was barren. It signifies an element of rescue. Hagar was a Hermitic slave. This leaves Africans occupying a special place in the history of salvation.

Chapter 68 of the book of Psalms says that a prophet shall rise from Egypt. It continues to say in clear words that Ethiopia shall call unto the lord. These words were spoken thousands of years before Jesus was born. At nativity, Jesus runs away with his parents to Egypt because Herod wanted to kill him. This is the rise that is referred in Psalms. It is also the coming of wise men that is insinuated by Ethiopia stretching out to the Lord.

Egypt has a special place in biblical story of salvation. However negative the mention is in Old Testament, there is an element of redemption in New Testament. Joseph ends up in Egypt after being sold by his brothers. Moses rescues the people when God sends 7 disasters to the people of Egypt. Egypt acts as a refuge to Israelis when they faced drought. However, it is referred as the land of oppression even in imagery today.

The story of Jesus opens with the flight of Mary and Joseph to Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod. They were told to run to Egypt by an angel of God. If it had not been for Egypt, Jesus would have met his death as an infant. This gives Africa a very special place in this biblical story of salvation.

Cyrene features in the history of Roman Empire because it produced oil, wool and corn. History has it that Cyrene was in Africa. This name is common because of Simon, a passerby who helped Jesus with his cross on the way to Golgotha. Considering that Rome traded with Cyrene and the people were known to be long distance marathoners, Simon definitely came from Africa.

There are disciples who went all the way to Africa to preach the gospel. Stephen is one of these apostles. As captured in Acts chapter 13 verses 1 and 2, the good news got to Africa as soon as Jesus resurrected. These vivid connections and many more reveal the central place that Africa holds in biblical story of salvation.

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