Cush is the biblical name for the vast region south of Egypt, along the upper Nile, today identified with ancient Nubia, in present-day Sudan.
In the table of nations in Genesis 10, Cush appears as a son of Ham and father of Nimrod, becoming the ancestor of a people who for centuries formed powerful kingdoms along the Nile. Around the 8th century BC, Cushite kings even came to rule Egypt itself.
It was a Cushite king, Tirhakah, who came to Judah’s aid when Assyria besieged Jerusalem, in the days of Hezekiah.
Israel’s prophets also turned their eyes to this distant land. Isaiah described its swift messengers in papyrus boats. Ezekiel announced that the judgment against Egypt would reach Cush as well, its ally.
Despite the distance, the Bible does not treat Cush as forgotten by God. Psalms and Zephaniah announce that one day even the Cushites will bring worship and offerings to the Lord.
Cush reminds us that, from the Old Testament onward, God’s plan for the nations always reached distant peoples, far beyond the borders of Israel.
