So.. What Color Was Jesus?

The Jesus many of us grew up seeing came from centuries of European art -- but does the Bible ever actually describe Him that way? On this episode of I Didn't Know, Maybe You Didn't Either, B Daht breaks down the "hair like wool" and "bronze" passages, what Revelation really means, and what history can actually tell us about what a first-century Jewish man from Galilee likely looked like.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome back, know-it-alls, to another episode of the most anticipated
podcast on the Black Effect Podcast Network. It's titled, I
Didn't Know. Maybe you didn't either. I'm your host, BDOT,
the reigning Mr. Alumni at my alma mater, Winston-Salem State University.
And to be quite honest, homecoming is coming up in

(00:22):
about two months, which makes this the final two months
of my reign. And although I am a king, today's
episode is about the king of kings. Huh? Jesus. Oh yeah,
we're continuing with some Bible study of things that I
didn't know. And maybe you didn't either about the Bible.
You know, I came to the realization... that my relationship

(00:42):
with Christ and the Bible in totality has sort of
been from a third-person perspective, not a direct relationship. Like
I've regurgitated these scriptures for years, memorized the characters Noah
and his ark, Jonah and his whale, Jesus and his cross,
but really understanding the background of who these people were
never gave it a thought. But like I told you

(01:03):
a couple episodes ago, while I was watching House of
the Dragons, It's like I just felt it in my spirit.
This how people used to die in Jesus's time. And again,
I always say, I know that Westeros is not even
a real place. However, the Bible is hell or Game
of Thrones. But before we get into the episode, it
is imperative that I give you three of the most

(01:25):
useless facts you'll never need ever, not a day in
life about Jesus now. Up first, you know, the Bible
never tells us Jesus's height. We don't know if he
were 5'9, 6'2. Every movie casting director been guessing for
2,000 years. Your second useless fact, Jesus and what his

(01:46):
family would have called him in English. See, his name
is usually changed from the Hebrew word Yeshua. Jesus comes
into English through the Greek and Latin forms. His folk
would have called him Yeshua. And your third and final
useless fact will be a preview for next episode. Do
you know how old Moses was when he split the

(02:07):
Red Sea? If you said 80, you're correct. 80 years old, man.
He lived to be 120. And to be quite honest
with you, he lived three 40-year lives. The first two
preparing him for the last 40. But we'll get into
that next episode. Those have been your three useless facts

(02:29):
about Jesus now. And for today's episode, did you know
there's a scripture that we've been getting wrong as hell
and screaming that Jesus was black? Because I didn't. So

(02:51):
what color was Jesus? We've all seen the argument, Jesus
was black. No, Jesus looked like this. Then we get
that picture we see all the time, long brown hair,
light skin, flowing beard, like Jesus just finished an acoustic
set at Coachella. But do either one of those pictures
actually come from the Bible is the question. Because apparently
we've been arguing over the description that the Bible never

(03:13):
really gives us at all. First, the European Jesus. See,
many of us grew up seeing Jesus with the white face,
the long hair, the European features. But Matthew didn't describe
Jesus that way. Neither did Mark, Luke or John. The
European artists did. See, when Christianity starts spreading through Europe,
the artists start drawing the biblical figures using faces and

(03:36):
features that was familiar to them and their cultures. Then eventually,
they art became the mental pictures. Historically, though, Jesus was
a first century Jewish man from Galilee in the ancient Levant.
So that European Jesus, that probably ain't an accurate portrait
of the historical Jesus. But then it's the other argument.
The Bible specifically say Jesus was black. I read it.

(03:58):
Jesus had hair like wool and skin like burnt bronze.
Case closed. Jesus was black. They don't want you to
know that, though. They don't want you to know that. Well,
they don't want you to know that because that's not
exactly what Revelation say. See, Revelation 1 verse 14 say
his hair was white like wool, as white as snow.

(04:18):
It wasn't describing the texture. It was describing the color.
Then verse 15 say his feet were like bronze glowing
in a furnace. Not that his skin was bronze. Like
this ain't no police sketch in the book of Revelation.
His eyes were like fire. His voice is like rushing waters.
He holding seven stars. There's a double-edged sword coming out
of his mouth. His face shine like the sun. Like

(04:41):
these is descriptions. So unless Jesus was literally walking around
Galilee with fiery eyeballs and a sword coming out his mouth,
this ain't his driver's license description. In the book of Revelation,
John is just having a vision. So Revelations ain't giving
us Jesus's ethnicity. It's showing his power, his authority, his divinity,
his glory. The Jesus who was humiliated and crucified is

(05:04):
now revealed as the glorified Christ. But hold on, that
don't mean Jesus looked European, and it don't mean revelations
prove that he was a black man. Again, historically, Jesus
was Jewish, born in the ancient Near East and raised
in Galilee. He probably had dark hair, brown eyes, and
a brownish complexion. That's just the facts. Not a Swedish Jesus.

(05:25):
And then when you start talking about is Jesus black,
you're talking about like the current racial categories and then
sending them backwards 2000 years. You can't do that. Jesus
wasn't walking around checking white, black, Hispanic or other. He
was just a Jewish man from Galilee. And as I
read more, I realized that the Bible is remarkably uninterested.
in describing Jesus' physical appearance. I mean, they very well

(05:48):
could have. We get his teachings, his miracles, his relationships,
his confrontations, his crucifixion, and his resurrection, but no description?
Like Matthew never said, Jesus was 5'9, medium brown complexion,
brown eyes, his beard was connected. It doesn't say that.
So generations of people did what people do. We filled

(06:09):
in the blank. European Christians painted European looking Jesus. African
Christians had African looking Jesuses. I want to do Asian
Christians have Asian looking Jesuses. it's all interpretation so when
you ask what color was jesus i don't know i
can't give you his pantone number i know that european
picture with buddy with the herbal essence shampoo hair that

(06:31):
ain't it but i also now know that the bible
wasn't describing the texture of his hair when he said
the wool it was describing the color of his hair
when it said white like wool because i didn't know
maybe you didn't either