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Some of the descendants of Cush, the son of Ham. They are represented on the Egyptian monuments as darker in colour than the Egyptians. Without being black they may have been the darkest of any people known to the Israelites, as the question is asked: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin?" Jer. 13: 23. As 'Ham' signifies 'black,' he was probably a dark man, and it is implied in Cant. 1: 6 that the sun causes the complexion to be black or dark, therefore the farther south in Africa (to the Equator), the darker would be the skin. This, with degraded habits, had changed the features of those in the centre
of Africa, from the more cultivated sons of Ham in the north. The Ethiopians appear to have been nearly as far advanced in the arts and sciences as the Egyptians, but some of the monuments in the south are by Egyptian kings. As far south as Aboo-Simbel, about 22 20' N, are two temples hewn in the rock, which rank in interest next to the ruins at Thebes; these are attributed to Rameses 2 king of Egypt, with colossal statues of himself cut out of the solid rock. It was an Ethiopian who befriended Jeremiah and drew him out of the pit, for which his life was spared. Jer. 38: 7, 10, 12; Jer. 39: 16. It was a pious Ethiopian, of great authority with his queen, to whom Philip preached of Jesus, and then baptised him. Acts 8: 27.