During the Tigray war between November 2020 and November 2022, when the ethnic Oromo Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed Ali moved against the Ethiopian region of Tigray, a Christian people and the descendants of Sheba of the ancient kingdom of Axum, I changed my view on the identity of Cush. At the time, I said that כושים Cushim in Daniel 11:43 and Zephaniah 2:12, which reads “Ethiopians” in the English of the King James Bible 1769 might not mean the people of North Sudan, the area immediately south of Egypt. At that time, I suggested that Cushim might mean the Muslim Oromo tribe of Ethiopia plus similar black Africans such as the Islamists of Somalia.
But now, in view of things that have happened this year 2024, in the first place, the civil war in North Sudan between the military government of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, and in the second place, the decision by the Ethiopian government of Abiy Ahmed Ali to strike a deal with Somaliland for a naval port, even though Somaliland is a territory disputed and claimed by Somalia – in light of these 2 events in 2024 – I am inclined to think that Cushim is the people of North Sudan after all, specifically the Arab Islamists of the RSF, formerly known as the Janjaweed.
Besides once being ancient Nubia, a civilisation of black Africans, modern-day Sudan has been quite Islamic for some time. The Mahdist war of the late 19th century between the British Empire and the self-proclaimed Mahdi of Islam, Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah, happened in Sudan. Plus, during the 1990s, Sudan provided refuge to Al-Qaeda’s Osama bin Laden.
In July 2011, Sudan formally split into 2 countries: North and South Sudan. North Sudan remained Islamic. But South Sudan was a new country with Muslims in the minority. Some say, the majority of the people of South Sudan are Christians, the fruit of 19th century British evangelist Maj. Gen. Charles George Gordon, whom the British PM at the time William Ewart Gladstone, a Freemason, famously betrayed.
Then in September 2020, North Sudan formally changed its constitution so that Islam would no longer be its official religion (ref. 1). In other words, Shariah law stopped being the primary source of law in North Sudan. It was probably this and North Sudan signing the Abraham Accords that provoked the RSF to rebel.
It is also interesting that the tribal fighting in the Darfur region of Sudan, which flares up from time to time (ref. 2), is essentially a religious conflict. The fighting that goes on is between Muslim Arabs and non-Muslim black Africans.
Arab militias such as the Janjaweed are Islamists trying to impose Islamic rule. This explains the various secular and Marxist sounding groups that oppose them such as the “Sudan Liberation Army” and the “Darfur Liberation Front”. In South Sudan, before it became a new country in 2011, there was even the “Sudan People’s Liberation Army”. That army is now the defence force of South Sudan, the “South Sudan People’s Defence Forces”.
What is more, Janjaweed which is said to be some amalgam of the Arabic words jinn and ajawid suggests the Islamic militias of Sudan, many of them wearing their 19th century Mahdist style head-wrap, are behaving like “devils”.
The point is, most of the black Africans of Sudan are not Islamists. Granted, some of them are Muslim by habit. But apparently, many of them are trying to “liberate” themselves from Islam.
This is why at one point I thought Cushim cannot be the black people of Sudan, but instead Cushim might have to be the Oromos, a tribe of Ethiopia which is predominantly Muslim. The Oromos of Ethiopia are ethinically related to the Somalis of Somalia. Quite likely, these are the descendants of ancient Nubia, which is Cush, and over the years they migrated southwards further away from Egypt.
The word “Ethiopia” derives from the ancient Greek expression “Aithiops” which means “burnt face”. The word “Sudan” derives from the Arabic expression “bilad al-sudan” which means “land of the blacks”.
In the 19th century, Emperor Menelik of Abyssinia conquered the territories south of his empire. Among the people that were absorbed into Abyssinia were the Oromos. Subsequently, Menelik formally renamed his empire “Ethiopia”, or in Amharic, “Ityopya” (ref. 3). Arguably, Abyssinia had become partly Cushite.
This is yet another reason why I thought modern day Ethiopia, excluding the region of Tigray, might be Cush.
But now, with Ethiopia under Abiy Ahmed Ali doing that Somaliland deal in January 2024 (ref. 4), which has put Ethiopia at odds with Somalia, it seems impossible for Ethiopia and Somalia to unite and come against Israel, per Daniel 11:43 etc.
Then again, the country of Somalia is almost entirely Muslim, but the radicals of Somalia are the likes of Al Shabaab, which is an insurgency that the government is fighting. If Ethiopia were to weaken or wreck the government of Somalia, then conceivably Al Shabaab would take over, and might join forces with the Oromos of Ethiopia, in which case I will have to change my thinking yet again.
Interestingly, Egypt is now arming Somalia, as in the government of Somalia, because Egypt has issues with Ethiopia over the river Nile, which is another Bible prophecy that I will explain some other time. Egypt’s decision to side with the Somali government means Egypt is against Al Shabaab. This makes sense because Egypt is currently fighting against ISIS in the Sinai.
To add to all that, Egypt is now also arming and helping the military government of North Sudan. Again, this puts Egypt on the opposite side of radical Islam, which explains why in due time, the Assyrian will move against Egypt.
He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt…
Daniel 11:42-43
Anyway, in Daniel 11:43, for now, the term “the Ethiopians” could still be either the black Africans of Oroma Ethiopia plus the likes of Al Shabaab of Somalia or else the Arab Islamists of the RSF of North Sudan.
The translators of the KJV 1611 and 1769 used the word “Ethiopians” in Daniel 11:43 and Zephaniah 2:12 for Cushim. But other Bibles such as the Good News Bible 1976 translates the same as “the people of Sudan”.
… and the Libyans and the Ethiopians [Cushim] shall be at his [the Assyrian] steps.
Daniel 11:43
It remains to be seen which it actually is.
Certainly, the RSF of North Sudan has the potential to be one of the heads of the beast because of their apparent psychotic behaviour. In the civil war of North Sudan right now, there are random killings, rampant sexual violence, and even the raping of children (ref. 5, 6). It is an insanity that can only be explained by the presence of demons. The atrocities of the RSF in North Sudan remind me to some extent of what Hamas did to Israel on 7 October 2023.
For the time being, the government of North Sudan is doing ok militarily, and so apparently is Israel – with its ongoing conflicts against Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran.
So, these are still early days. The beast with 7 heads and 10 horns has not yet formed. There might still be another twist concerning the identity of Cush.
References:
1. Middle East Monitor (7 September 2020), “Sudan separates religion from state ending 30 years of Islamic rule”, middleeastmonitor.com
2. SBS (20 January 2021), “Days of fighting in Sudan’s Darfur region has left nearly 140 people dead”, sbs.com.au
3. Tuji Jidda (2 November 2009), “Abyssinia to Ethiopia: from Obfuscation to Confusion”, opride.com
4. Maxwell Webb (2 October 2024), “Nine months later: The regional implications of the Ethiopia-Somaliland MOU”, atlanticcouncil.org
5. “Testimony from frontline of Sudan’s civil war”, youtube.com/watch?v=EQFizxOZ8jQ
6. “Inside the Sudanese capital district retaken by government forces”, youtube.com/watch?v=iwSVUKt3ljA