By Simba Jama

IN 63 BC, the blacks of Judea lost their independence and were ruled by the Romans.
The Romans had initially established a friendly relationship with the black Judeans before they finally ruled over them.
This friendship was based on their common ancestry in Isaac the son of Abraham.
However, the Romans were ever so eager to ignore the rules and traditions that were set up by Moses in order to find a place for themselves in the Holy land they had now occupied.
An example is how the Romans made themselves priests called Pharisees.
This was unlawful in Israel because only men from the tribe of Levi were recognised as priests.
For this reason the tribe of Levi was not given a particular portion of land to occupy in the whole land but each tribe carried a population of Levites with them.
The Romans, like the Greeks before them, associated more with the sellout black Judeans (some of them Levites) and together they arrogantly ruled over the black Judeans.
These Romans were the first white and non Israelite priests.
By the time the Romans took over Judea, the whole land was awash with talk of the coming of the ‘Anointed Saviour’ and many signs were being observed in the stars by those with powers to see.
The Romans feared this man who was to come from among the black Judeans.
They were astonished at how the black Judeans were waiting so faithfully for a King who was not yet even born and it was this fear that later led the King Herod to commit genocide against Yahshua’s generation of young men.
It was the fake priests who were most worried about the rumours of the coming Saviour because many people had denounced the authority of the Pharisees in his name.
Black Judeans would often express their faith in the coming judgment against their oppressors when persecuted for mocking the false priests.
In 37 BC, another breach of Israelite law was committed by the Romans, when the Roman Senate appointed and crowned Herod king of Judea.
Herod was an Idumean and Roman.
Since the times of David, it had been made a law that only the sons of Solomon were eligible for kingship in Israel and Judea.
Thus Herod became a hater of Yahshua before the latter was born.
This Herod ruled Judea from 37 – 4 BC.
He killed hundreds of Israelite infants in Bethlehem hoping that among those killed would be the ‘Anointed Saviour’ king of Israel.
He was a ruthless man who even murdered his own wife, three of his sons, his mother-in-law, brother-in-law, uncle and many others over inheritance and other minor offenses.
From 4 BC – 39 AD Herod Antipas was the king over Judea.
This is the Herod who killed John the Baptist.
John was a key player in his generation.
According to the Quran, no other man had ever had the name John until this particular prophet was born.
The prophet named John was one such man who declared that the Messiah would come in that very generation.
John was a humble black man who was wild and only ate wild fruits and honey for food throughout his life.
He was popular for baptising people with water and preaching about the kingdom of heaven.
He was also very much against the Pharisees and would often refer to them as a brood of vipers.
On one occasion John rebuked them for thinking they could escape the coming judgment.
He also said that they should not believe that because they are also children of Abraham, they can escape the fires of hell.
John was an enemy to Herod for many other reasons, but the main reason John was killed is that Herod Antipas was promiscuous with Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife.
He rebuked the relationship saying, ‘It is unlawful to have your brother’s wife.’ Herod hated John from that day, but he could not simply kill him because of the popularity of the prophet.
On one occasion, Herodias’ daughter danced during Herod’s birthday and Herod was well pleased with her.
Herod then vowed to Herodias’ daughter that he would give her whatever she requested of him.
With influence from her mother, Herodias’ daughter requested, “Give me John’s head here on a platter.”
Consequently, Herod ordered for John the Baptist’s imprisonment, and soon after that John was beheaded and his head was given to Herodias’ daughter.
Such was the brutal nature of the Romans towards the black Judeans.
John plays an important role in Yahshua’s story because from his own mouth, he said that his existence was solely based on preparing the way for Yahshua.
He prophesied the coming of Israel’s Saviour, and thus his whole preaching was seen by the non – Israelite priests and king as a proclamation of their coming demise.
It was John who baptised Yahshua and their friendship began since childhood as John’s mother often nursed Mary, the mother of Yahshua when she was pregnant with Yahshua.
The story of Yahshua’s birth is well known to most of us.
When he was born, Yahshua was quickly dispatched to Egypt which had become a common place of refuge for Judeans.
Yahshua’s life was under threat from Herod who sought to kill him.
In Egypt the Israelites could easily blend in with the rest of the blacks and thus Yahshua was one of many black Judeans who sought refuge in the country.
Egypt at this time was a developed country and centre of learning and trade.
It was also connected to the Great Silk Road, which led to China and the Phoenician sailing routes to Europe.
Most of Yahshua’s early history is not written in the Bible because Yahshua did not spend his childhood years in Judea with the people that later wrote about him.
The Bible simply tells us that he went to Egypt and from there most of the stories touch on the latter years of his life to his crucifixion by the Romans.
As a young man, Yahshua travelled and learnt many languages.
The ancient people were surprisingly efficient travellers and the most common modes of transportation were by way of camels and horses on land, and ships and boats on water.
A thousand years before Yahshua, his ancestor Solomon had established a Kingdom in Ethiopia through his son Menyelek.
Menyelek’s mother Makeda, was the Queen of Sheba and her territory encompassed Africa, Arabia, India and even a province of Judea called Gaza.
Menyelek inherited this large kingdom and from then on only descendants of Menyelek, the son of Solomon were allowed to rule.
Thus Yahshua was travelling to lands which were inhabited by his kinsmen and the laws of Ethiopia (Africa) had been based on the law of Israel since the time of Solomon.
The three wise men from the east, which were led to Yahshua by a star, may also have been from this group.
In places like India and as far as China, there were already stone sculptures with images of ‘the future Buddha’.
And if Yahshua travelled to any of these lands then he would have seen these stone sculptures of himself.
Several depictions of this ‘future Buddha’ are still existent in Asia to this day, and if Yahshua was white as Europeans now portray him, he would have been disappointed to find that the Saviour anticipated by the people of all those lands was a black man, and still is.