|
It turns out that we really have no clue as to exactly what Jesus looked like or what race we would consider him today. Our concepts of race are catagories based on what people look like today and are completely inapplicable to how people looked 2000 years ago. The traits we consider in our concepts of race do in fact change drastically in only a few generations especially in an area of social tumult like Israel.
Were the ancient Egyptians black or white? Arab or persian? We don't really know despite some of the best preserved human remains and artifacts from the ancient world: mummies and hieroglyphics. Most likely they had a racial makeup that we simply don't have a concept of today.
Biblical concepts of race stem from Noah's three sons (by three wives) Shem (where "semite" comes from), Ham, and Japeth who were told, after the flood, to spread out and populate the earth. Older books will refer to blacks as "Hammite" and Japeth's descendants apparently spread out over all of Asia. Was Noah a real person? Possibly, but certainly his story and that of his sons is creation myth with very little present day application.
So the short answer about Jesus's race: we don't know and it doesn't matter.
|