From the Land of Promise to the Land of the Hebrews

Richard Blome's 1670 Treatise and the Black Israelites of the Promised Land

In 1670, English cartographer Richard Blome published A Geographical Description of the Four Parts of the World. In his entry on the Holy Land, he offered a striking portrayal of the ancient Israelites. Blome described those who "anciently possessed" the Promised Land as "of a middle stature, strong of body, of a Black complexion, goggle-ey'd, a subtile and ingenious people." In short, Blome portrayed the Israelites as Black.

This characterization, coming from a 17th-century European scholar, aligns with biblical descriptions. For instance, in the Song of Solomon, an Israelite woman says: "I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem" (Song of Solomon 1:5–6, KJV). Blome’s account confirms that some early European writers recognized the Israelites as a Black people.

This insight is more significant when considered in light of the land they inhabited. According to Genesis 15:18, Yahuah promised Abraham: "Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates." While modern assumptions place this territory in the Middle East, historical evidence challenges this.

National Geographic once noted that local traditions referred to the Niger River as the Euphrates, illustrating that African regions shared names with biblical lands. The account describes branches of this river surrounding the Kingdom of Emenuan, resembling descriptions in Genesis. This opens the possibility that the biblical Euphrates was actually an African river, supporting the idea that the true Promised Land is in Africa.

"Land of the Hebrews" – Historical Witnesses and Geographic Clues

Direct Quote: A geographical description of the four parts of the world ...  1670

by Blome, Richard.

"When God promised the land to Abraham and his descendants, it was known as the Land of Promise. But after the Hebrews returned from Egypt and divided it among the tribes, it became known as the Land of the Hebrews, and it was governed by prophets, judges, and kings. Under these kings, the land was soon divided into Judah and Israel. Under Roman rule, it was referred to only as Judea or Palestine, Judea because the tribe of Judah was the most powerful and its kingdom lasted longer than that of Israel, and Palestine because the Philistines occupied part of the coastal region of Judea. After the death of our Savior, Jesus Christ, the entire country was called the land of the Jews, because the Jews were the people who had possessed it."

After the Exodus, the Bible says: "The Lord gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein" (Joshua 21:43). Joseph even referred to his homeland as "the land of the Hebrews" (Genesis 40:15 “I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.”). Blome echoed this, stating that once the Israelites settled the land, it was known simply as the "Land of the Hebrews."

This becomes even more revealing when combined with 17th-century reports. John Pory, an English geographer and translator of Leo Africanus’ Description of Africa, noted that the Abyssinians (Ethiopians) believed a populous nation of Jews lived west of the Nile under a powerful king. Historian Sidney Mendelssohn cites Pory’s words: "At this day also the Abassins affirm, that upon [the Nile] towards the West there inhabiteth a most populous nation of the Jewish stock under a mighty King." Pory also wrote that European cartographers of the time depicted a region between Abyssinia and Congo as the "Land of the Hebrews," located in equatorial mountains. He further mentioned Jewish communities living independently in mountain regions like Goiame and Gorhan, today’s Ethiopian highlands.

Venetian cartographer Livio Sanuto, in his 1588 Atlas Africae, labeled parts of central Africa as "Terra de' Giudei", "Land of the Jews." His Tabula X placed this land southwest of Ethiopia and near the Kingdom of Benin. The Latin version, Iudaeorum Terra, appears near the equator, exactly where Ethiopia and Congo meet. All these sources suggest that many early historians and geographers understood the "Land of the Hebrews" to be in Africa. All of these various names for the Promise Land aligns with what Blome stated in “A geographical description of the four parts of the world”. The prophet Zephaniah supports this connection: "From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering" (Zephaniah 3:10). If, as these witnesses claim, Hebrew populations lived beyond the Nile in central Africa, it is possible the biblical homeland itself was there.

Kings and Judges in Africa – A Hebrew Monarchy on African Soil

If the "Land of the Hebrews" was in Africa, then Israelite governance, the era of prophets, judges, and kings, unfolded there as well. Acts 13:20–22 recounts how Israel was first ruled by judges, then by kings such as Saul, David, and Solomon. Eventually, the kingdom split: the northern kingdom (Israel or Ephraim) and the southern kingdom (Judah).

Traditionally, this has been assigned to the Levant. But if Iudaeorum Terra was in Africa, the Kingdom of Judah obviously existed in or near present-day Ethiopia, with Israel nearby. Ethiopian history supports this. The Semien Mountains once housed the Kingdom of Beta Israel (Falasha), a Israelite monarchy that resisted the Christian empire until it was conquered in the 1500s. Mendelssohn recorded these wars, noting that Falasha kings ruled over a region long associated with Israelite culture. This raises the possibility that figures like Samson, Samuel, David, and Solomon did not live in ancient Palestine but in the Ethiopian highlands, where the geography, climate, and cultural memory align more closely with biblical descriptions.

Calvary and the Tomb of Adam – A Sacred Tradition in Ethiopia

Ethiopian tradition identifies Mount Calvary (Golgotha) as the site where Yahusha was crucified. An ancient belief holds that Adam was buried at Calvary, and Yahusha’s blood fell upon his bones. Interestingly, Ethiopia’s rock-hewn churches in Lalibela, built as a "New Jerusalem", include a location called the "Tomb of Adam," located beside a peak known as Mount Golgotha. These are not metaphorical names but literal markers on the landscape. Richard Blome, in his writings, also identified Calvary as the place of Adam's burial, reinforcing the connection. The presence of these names and features in Ethiopia, not Palestine, suggests that the real Calvary and even Adam’s resting place is in Africa.

The Land of Milk and Honey – Ethiopia’s Fertile Landscape

The Promised Land is repeatedly called "a land flowing with milk and honey." Blome described it as "a land flowing with milk and honey, and beset with pleasant mountains, and fertile valleys, adorned with sweet brooks; where the inhabitants are neither burnt with heats, nor pinched with colds." Palestine’s climate is often arid and extreme, unlike the temperate Ethiopian highlands. Ethiopia has lush valleys, flowing streams, and terraced agriculture. The highlands produce milk, honey, grain, and wine, echoing Deuteronomy 8:7–9. Lalibela itself lies among green hills, near a stream known locally as the Jordan.

This climate matches the biblical vision: "a good land, a land of brooks of water, fountains, and depths that spring out of valleys and hills." Ethiopia's geography fits this description far better than the traditional location of Palestine. I will also be discussing this climate in an upcoming teaching that validates this as the only true location for Jerusalem based upon the biblical texts.

Jerusalem “Cut Out of the Rock” – Lalibela’s Stone-Carved City

Perhaps the strongest architectural evidence comes from Lalibela. Its churches are not built with stone blocks but carved entirely out of solid rock, monolithic structures sunken into the ground. Richard Blome wrote that Jerusalem’s gates, walls, and towers were "cut out of the rock." This phrase, which seems odd when describing the Old City of Jerusalem, perfectly matches Lalibela. The site is a fortress-like complex with trenches, tunnels, and churches carved from stone. It even includes a city wall and fortified structures, features echoed in the Letter of Aristeas, which described the Temple’s defenses as "impregnable."

Lalibela, like Jerusalem, is protected and sacred, suggesting that it was not merely imitating Jerusalem, but is the True Jerusalem. Its architecture, climate, and spiritual features align more with biblical Jerusalem than with any site in the Levant.

Conclusion: Lalibela, Ethiopia – The True Jerusalem?

From Blome’s 1670 writings to Pory’s African observations, from Sanuto’s maps to the traditions of the Beta Israel, all lines of evidence converge: Ethiopia is the true biblical Zion. Lalibela, with its rock-hewn churches, “Mount Golgotha,” “Tomb of Adam,” and “Jordan” stream, preserves the sacred geography of Scripture.

Ethiopia is one of the few nations mentioned repeatedly in the Bible, often called Cush. Its traditions, kingship, and claims to the Ark of the Covenant and the Solomonic dynasty are not myths, they are memories of a lost kingdom of Israel.

In Acts 8, an Ethiopian eunuch travels to Jerusalem reading Hebrew scripture and is baptized. Perhaps he was returning home, not journeying afar. Lalibela is still called “the Second Jerusalem” by Ethiopians, though in truth, it's the First Jerusalem, or Original Jerusalem.

As Psalm 68:31 declares, "Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God." Perhaps she already has, from Zion’s highlands all along. Isaiah 51:1

51 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn;

More proof can be found in my book, “True Jerusalem, The Lost Kingdom of The Israelites” at Amazon.com.