Is The Black Hebrew Israelite Movement A Cult?

This End Times Deceptions Bible study focuses on the Black Hebrew Israelite movement.

On Facebook I keep seeing black people proclaim that they are the Hebrew Israelites, that they are God’s Chosen People. Many of them change their names, or add middle names that are Hebrew.

The problem that I’m seeing with their proclamation is two-fold:

A. The Scriptures they’re citing to justify their proclamation are taken out of context.

B. Some of them are making racist statements, elevating themselves above whites.

Here are the verses that I’ve seen people use, with an explanation of the true meaning.

Job 30:30, “My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

The ISR 98 literal translation reads, “My skin became black upon me, and my bones burned with heat

Job was noting an odd condition caused by his infirmities, as there is no reason to proclaim that his skin was black if he was a black man.

Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible on Job 30:30

My skin is black upon me; – It had become black by the force of the disease.

My bones are burnt with heat – The bones, in the Scriptures, are often represented as the seat of pain. The disease of Job seems to have pervaded the whole body. If it was the elephantiasis (see the notes at Job 2:7-8), these effects would be naturally produced.

John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible on Job 30:30

My skin is black upon me,… Either through deep melancholy, as may be observed in persons of such a disposition, through grief and trouble; or rather through the force of his disease, the burning ulcers and black scabs with which he was covered, as the Jews were through famine, in their captivity, Lam. 4:8;

and my bones are burnt with heat; with the heat of a burning fever; which not only made his inwards boil, but reached to his bones, and dried up the marrow of them.

Matthew Poole’s Commentary on the Holy Bible on Job 30:30

My skin is black upon me; either by his dark-coloured scabs, wherewith his body was in a manner wholly overspread; or by grief, as before.

My bones are burned with heat; the effect of his fever and sorrow, which dried up all his moisture, and caused great inflammations and burning heats within him.

Revelation 1:14, “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire.” KJV

The ISR 98 reads, “And His head and hair were white as white wool, as snow, and His eyes as a flame of fire.”

Black people who claim to be Hebrew Israelites cite the reference to wool as pointing to their hair type.

But the text is declaring that both His head and His hair are white.   The words wool and snow are describing the color, not the texture.

Messiah is the spotless lamb of Elohim and the color white symbolizes His purity.  It is not pointing out His race.

Isaiah 1:18 makes this clear, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible on Revelation 1:14

His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow. Exceedingly or perfectly white–the first suggestion to the mind of the apostle being that of wool, and then the thought occurring of its extreme whiteness resembling snow–the purest white of which the mind conceives. The comparison with wool and snow to denote anything peculiarly white is not uncommon.

Revelation 1:15, “And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

The ISR 98 reads, “and His feet like burnished brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters

Black people who claim to be Hebrew Israelites cite that His feet are black.

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary says that fine/burnished brass is polished and glossy.  Burning/heating the brass in the furnace removes the impurities.  It’s not saying that they are burnt looking, as in black.

Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible on Revelation 1:15

As if they burned in a furnace. That is, his feet were so bright that they seemed to be like a beautiful metal glowing intensely in the midst of a furnace. Any one who has looked upon the dazzling and almost insupportable brilliancy of metal in a furnace, can form an idea of the image here presented.

Revelation 3:9, “Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

Black people who claim to be Hebrew Israelites rightly cite that most of the Jews in Israel are not the DNA descendants of Abraham, and that they are.

But the DNA studies have never shown that blacks are the Israelite descendants of Abraham. Read this study: Jews Who Are Not Jews

Some blacks cite the false religion of Roman Christianity as ‘white supremacy propaganda‘.

Cesare Borgia, illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VIIt is true that the Roman Bishops and Emperor Constantine created the Roman religion of Christianity, when they gave their Roman gods and traditions, a ‘christian‘ veneer.

And they have pushed the face of white Jesus, which is based on the portrait of Cesare Borgia,  illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI.

Groups such as the KKK use the guise of Christianity to promote their ideology, but that doesn’t mean that it was created to promote white supremacy. Satan had them create it to remove people from Scriptural truth.

Read this study series to see how far the Roman Bishops pushed people away from the will of the Father: The Falling Away of 2 Thessalonians 2

So though black people rightly point out that Messiah wasn’t Caucasian, they have gone to the other extreme and proclaim that He is black.

Conclusion:

I’m not seeing Scriptural evidence that black people are the Hebrew Israelites.

At best, it seems to be a ‘feel good‘ concept for blacks, who are blindly trusting their Pastors.

At it’s extreme, some are looking down on white people as a ‘lower-class‘ people, which makes it dangerous, as they want to hold it over ‘whitey‘.

Either way, it seems to be a cult because it has manipulated Scriptures to justify a ‘special’ people group.

Interestingly enough, that is what the Israelite/Jews were chastised for, proclaiming to be a superior race.

If you have other verses or another perspective, I would love to hear them.

Related Studies:

Blacks who claim to be the Hebrew Israelites proclaim the wrong Sabbath, saying it is on Saturday of the Roman calendar.  Read The Sabbath Was Changed To SUNday