If you take a look at the Jewish population living in Israel today, you will probably be struck by the huge variety of physical traits. Millions of people all calling themselves “Jews” have gathered together after over 2000 years of being scattered throughout the world: Northern Europe, the Mediterranean Basin, North Africa, Ethiopia, Persia, the former Soviet Union, the Americas and the list goes on. All these Jews look rather different from each other. And yet, all claim to be descended from a single ancestor: “Abram the Hebrew” (Genesis 14:13). Is this really the case? Is it even possible to know what the ancient Israelites actually looked like?
No, unfortunately it is probably not possible to verify with any real certainty what Abraham looked like. Presumably, if he was born in Ur of the Chaldeans, located in modern-day southern Iraq, he would have had dark wavy hair, an olive complexion; an appearance characteristic of the populations that have lived in this region for millennia: Kurds, Turkmen, Jews, Armenians, etc. We can look to the Song of Songs for an description of what the Israelite ideal of beauty was (Song 5:10-16). However, beyond this very vague image, it is nearly impossible to know about the physical appearance of Abraham or of any of his Israelite descendants. If we cannot obtain concrete information about the genealogy of the ancient Israelites (nature), what about cultural features (nurture) of their appearance: clothing, hairstyle, facial hair, etc.?
In popular imagination, one of the most “obvious” features of an ancient Israelite man’s appearance is a full beard. Any modern illustration depicting the biblical period contains lots of dusty, turban-wearing Israelite men with unkempt beards. You will never see a clean shaven Israelite in a biblical film or drawing. Why is this? Is this just meant to make the actors look authentically “old-fashioned” or do we have evidence for the absence of shaved faces among Israelite men?
Contrary to the the ancient Egyptians (who were clean shaven) and Mesopotamians (who wore long groomed beards) who depicted themselves extensively in their art, the Israelites hardly left us images of themselves. The biblical prohibition against making graven images (Exodus 20:4) prevented the Israelites from producing art depicting themselves. So scholars mostly need to use textual descriptions found in the Bible to reconstruct the Israelites’ physical appearance.
The Hebrew Bible contains many passages which make it clear that beards are vital part of Israelite fashion. The Book of Psalms compares dwelling in peace with one’s brothers to “fine oil on the head running down onto the beard, the beard of Aaron, that comes down over the collar to his robe” (Psalm 133:2). Listen to two different musical versions of these words here and here. This metaphor is difficult to understand. Why is a well-oiled beard similar to brotherly harmony? Is it because dwelling in peace creates a feeling of overflowing bounty similar to the oil on Aaron’s beard? Is it because in the ancient Near East guests were welcomed by being anointed with fine oil? Perhaps. The main point for our purposes is that the high priest, Aaron, had a very long beard.
But lest one conclude that beards were only worn by the priestly class, we can find many biblical passages that indicate otherwise. Every Israelite man is commanded “you shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.” (Leviticus 19:27). This is the biblical basis for the sidelocks of hair (Hebrew: pe’ot) that Ultra-Orthodox men wear to this day, as seen in the image below. One might even go as far as to say that long sidelocks were the most distinctive feature of the Israelites’ appearance (circumcision was also very distinctive, but not outwardly visible). Jeremiah refers to the foreign nations that surround Israel collectively as “all those with shaven temples who live in the desert” (Jer. 9:25).
Among ancient Israelite men it was apparently considered humiliating to have one’s face shaven. When King Hanun of Ammon clips off half of the beards of David’s courtiers, he instructs them to “remain in Jericho until your beards grow back” (2 Samuel 10:5). Waiting several weeks for the hair to grow back in the ghost town of Jericho (abandoned since Joshua’s destruction of the city) was evidently preferable to the easier solution of simply shaving the other side off. A common form of greeting a fellow Israelite was to “grab his beard with the right hand to kiss him” (2 Samuel 20:9). Prior to visiting king David, it was imperative for Saul’s son Mephibosheth to prepare himself by doing the following: taking care of his feet, trimming his mustache, washing his clothes (2 Samuel 19:24). The mustache (Hebrew safam) was trimmed, but not the beard (zakan). Maybe the reason why shaving one’s beard was humiliating was that it was a pagan rite (Leviticus 21:5), a mourning practice (Job 1:20), or alternatively, a symbolic act performed by a holy man. The prophet Ezekiel, for example, is instructed as follows:
Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. (Ezekiel 5:1).
In fact, there are works of art from the period of the Bible that do depict Israelites. For example, this frieze found in the throne room of Sennacherib in Nineveh depicts the famous battle of Lachish. This was one of the most important battles fought by the Assyrians as they conquered most of the southern kingdom of Judah in 701 BC. In the image below we see Israelite prisoners being led off into captivity. Note the short curly beards on the faces of the men. These are closely cropped as opposed to the long beard of the Assyrian soldiers.
Here is a depiction of King Jehu of Israel bowing down to the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III. Note the beard.
Another rare artistic depiction which might be depicting Israelites is this tomb painting from Egypt. A detail from the tomb of Khnumhotep II, an aristocrat buried in the Beni Hasan cemetery in Middle Egypt. This painting depicts a family of nomadic traders entering Egypt from Canaan in the 19th cent. BCE. This is a very rare depiction of ancient Semites, dressed in colorful tunics, as opposed to the Egyptians wearing only white waistcloths. Perhaps they have come to buy grain. The man bending over the ibex is named “Abisha the Hyksos” according to the inscription. This is a very nice visual counterpart to the story of Jacob’s sons migrating to Egypt.
The Hebrew word for beard is zakan (זקן) and appears 19 times in the Hebrew Bible. Interestingly the Greek equivalent pogon (πώγων) does not appear even once in the New Testament. What should we make of this? Were Jews clean shaven during the Roman period? No. Certainly the majority of Jewish men still had beards, as they did during the period of the Hebrew Bible. There was a small population of highly Hellenized Jews that might have shaved their beards, as was the custom among Romans. But it would have been very odd to see a Jewish man in the Land of Israel without a beard until the 20th century. The Babylonian Talmud states that Rabbi Yohanan was very handsome but did not possess perfect beauty because he lacked a beard. Interestingly, the beard is referred to by the alias “the adornment of the face” (Baba Metzia 84b). Let’s conclude by quoting one of the rare examples of a description of an ancient Jew. The following description of the physical appearance of the apostle Paul is found in the the 2nd century apocryphal book, the Acts of Paul and Thecla:
He was a man of middling size, and his hair was scanty, and his legs were a little crooked, and his knees were projecting, and he had large eyes and his eyebrows met, and his nose was somewhat long, and he was full of grace and mercy; at one time he seemed like a man, and at another time he seemed like an angel.
Not a very flattering description! Evidently, Paul’s beard was so obvious that the author did not even see the need to mention it.
Who cares about the color of their skin. I can’t believe people waste their brain cells with this nonsense. Ask god to reveal himself and Jesus Christ and if you really have faith as small as a mustard seed you will get your answer.
Asil,It do indeed matter,Negroes History was stolen by Another Race of people,That created their own Blood Line of The Khazar Jews,Zionist.The most Evil set of people that hate all Negroes,Its not nonsense,Truth of the matter these White Khazars are Owners of Record Companies,Run the Media,Control Banking System.Whom own most of the torn down Apartments in New York overcharge Blacks,Latinos,Infected with rats and bugs,Its not a Waste knowing the Truth,They teach False Doctrine,God tell us in his word,They are the Children of the Devil.
It’s not a skin problem , it’s a sin problem . Jesus says , whomsoever will . that means any body and every body . repent .
I believe that the ancient hebrews are a race of black people. Similar to the ancient Egyptian people in appearance. For the ancient Egyptian people were definitely black and many Hebrews were mistaken to be Egyptian. Could this be possible?
It is of course possible, but you need to be careful. The ruling class of ancient Egyptians did not actually have black skin. This is visible in tomb paintings which contrast the light brown skinned Egyptian masters with the dark skinned slaves brought from Nubia. Most likely the Israelites were similarly brown skinned or even lighter olive skinned, as seen in the Beni Hassan tomb.
In Song of Solomon 1:5, Solomon States he is Black and comely. In the hebrew that word is Qadar which means dark-skinned. There is no so such thing as a “black” person, nor is there anything as a “white” person. You have different shades of brown and different shades of Red. the Israelites are light to dark brown nation of people just like the so called negroes are today
You are wrong , Egypt was under several Dynasties the early one’s 1st 2nd 3rd. Where very dark and so on. Egypt was concord several times, like the Americans. It’s the same old story what did the President of Egypt say. YOU LEFT BLACK AND CAME BACK WHITE. All over Africa everyone knows the answer to this easy question. It is in front of your face. And the truth does Matter
Egypt was African settled by Ham’s son Mizraim and will always be black. GOD has made it clear it will be returned to them but they will remain base people. Eze 29:14. The inhabitants presently in Egypt are Arabs, like the present day fake jews in Israel, they stole another nations identity. All Europeans do is lie, we can read now.
Then why doesn’t any black race in Africa speak Hebrew? It’s simple. They are not hebrews.
there are also kings with black skin and wide noses. why does black people outside of subsaharan Africa always have to be slaves?
true the apostle Paul was mistaken for an Egyptian by a Roman guard.
How about Joseph he was the Governor of Egypt sold by his brothers,Moses,King Solomon.I’am studying researching the German Rhineland Bastards,Killed by French,Germany,Millions that were fathered by Africans Negroes,and German White Woman.Forgotten and Hidden Black Holocaust of the Rhineland Bastards.They have overlook for years,only reveal Nazi Holocaust.
Also what color was King David the Bible says red has an Arab would be. Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe red and black are two different colors. Also what color was Adam the Bible says red study the Hebrew. Also what color was Esau the Bible says red. Not red as in cherry red but red as in the color of an animal which is Brown as an Arab. Example if you tell me I saw a red cow . I don’t expect it to be cherry red but I expected to be dark brown.
Red is Red. Not Brown. Lol
King David was not red like the white man, he was what we Black people call a “Redbone” in our race. A light skinned black person. Kind of reddish colored. His son was King Solomon. Read Song of Solomon 1:5-6, he tells you in plain language what color he was…
Rev 3: 13 is describing the color of his hair his head WHITE like wool what color is wool? White his hair WHITE like wool and also WHITE as snow. WHITE is a symbol of purity have you ever seen pure wool? WHITE have you ever seen pure snow ? WHITE. … By the way Arabic people call father Abraham father through flesh and they have Jesus in their blood line as well. Remember Genesis chapter 10 speaks of Father Abraham he is somatic from the land of or of the Chaldeans Iraq and besides that if you don’t follow the Torah with spirit you are none of his.
That’s his glorified body being spoken of in Revelation, not his human fleshly body and brass looks more golden than it is black especially when molten or heated, but that’s already been mentioned.
Why disregard the physical evidence that the people who claim to be Jewish are in fact Jewish to some extent?
That’s his glorified body being spoken of in Revelation, not his human fleshly body and brass looks more golden than it is black especially when molten or heated.
It’s unfortunate that things are often taken out of context. But the reality is this. the images we are presented with today of what we think of as Middle Eastern, is a result of the conquest of Egypt from the original inhabitants who were black.
It’s like pulling up a picture of Americans. What you see today is a mixture of peoples. Not that of the indigenous black skinned Indians who were wiped out as a result of geneside.
There were two major invaions of Jeruselem. The Assyrian Invasion and the Roman Invasion of 70 CE. Each drove the original Jews west into Africa, the land of Ham who was also a black man.
http://www.therealhebrewisraelites.com/photos/THE-BEGINNING-TO-EGYPTIAN-SLAVERY/68814_10150467055390001_666995000_15446197_6093070_n.jpg
http://www.angelfire.com/ill/hebrewisrael/printpages/phys.html
Have you ever seen brass burning in a furnace? It’s not black.
Know who else has bronze skin?
The descendents of Ishmael arabic, Palestinian etc…which makes sense seeing as how they are descended from Avraham who was from ur…They also tend to have very thick hair as well.
Some israelites may very well have been black but likely only after mixing with some of the other people such as in Egypt.
The indigenous people of what you call Palestine were black. But to understand or accept that, you will have to come to the realization that Palestine/Israel is actually north east Africa. It was and is the Land of Ham. That land the colonizers called Palestine is the same land the bible calls Canaan. Canaan was a son of Ham, the progenitor of the dark races, not the negroes according to Zondervan’s bible dictionary. Those ancient hebrews were all people with melanin in there skin to protect them from the sun. Same with the people of Ur where our forefather Abraham came from. Nimrod, the first ruler over the people back then was the Grandson of Ham. There were no white people in the land until Esau and he married a Cushite or Nubian woman. So even his first offsprings had melanin. They all had melanin or were dark skinned people.
Thank You.
You’re exactly right!!
That’s why YAH commanded Israel not to Mix with the Cannanite peoples because they were cursed
The messiah was not the so called black man. He was middle eastern, not even remotely the same. There are too many biblical references that give clues to the typical Israelite appearance & also there are numerous tomb paintings in Egypt that depict middle eastern Israelites.