Meaning
Ethiopia country of burnt faces; the Greek word by which the Hebrew Cush is rendered (Gen 2:13; 2Kings 19:9; Esther 1:1; Job 28:19; Ps 68:31; 87:4), a country which lay to the south of Egypt, beginning at Syene on the First Cataract (Ezek 29:10; 30:6), and extending to beyond the confluence of the White and Blue Nile. It corresponds generally with what is now known as the Soudan (i.e., the land of the blacks). This country was known to the Hebrews, and is described in Isa 18:1; Zeph 3:10. They carried on some commercial intercourse with it (Isa 45:14).
Its inhabitants were descendants of Ham (Gen 10:6; Jer 13:23; Isa 18:2, "scattered and peeled," A.V.; but in R.V., "tall and smooth"). Herodotus, the Greek historian, describes them as "the tallest and handsomest of men." They are frequently represented on Egyptian monuments, and they are all of the type of the true negro. As might be expected, the history of this country is interwoven with that of Egypt.
Ethiopia is spoken of in prophecy (Ps 68:31; 87:4; Isa 45:14; Ezek 30:4-9; Dan 11:43; Nah 3:8-10; Hab 3:7; Zeph 2:12).
