Bible Dictionary
Cushite
Cushite means a person associated with Cush or Ethiopia. The term is used for the messenger sent to David and in references to a Cushite woman and other people connected with Cush.
Definition
A Cushite is a person associated with Cush or Ethiopia. The term may identify a member of the Cushite people or someone connected with the land called Cush.
Biblical Usage
The term is used of the messenger who brought David news of Absalom’s defeat. Scripture also mentions a Cushite woman whom Moses married and uses related forms for the father of Shelemiah and the father of Zephaniah.
Historical Background
The supplied material notes that the term is often rendered “Ethiopian” and that the identity of Moses’ Cushite woman has led some to suggest that Zipporah was meant, connecting Midian with Cush.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(1.) The messenger sent by Joab to David to announce his victory over Absalom (2 Sam. 18:32). (2.) The father of Shelemiah (Jer. 36:14). (3.) Son of Gedaliah, and father of the prophet Zephaniah (1:1). (4.) Moses married a Cushite woman (Num. 12:1). From this circumstance some have supposed that Zipporah was meant, and hence that Midian was Cush.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>kush'-it: Whereas kushi, is elsewhere rendered Ethiopian, in 2Sa 18:21-32 it is rendered Cushite in the Revised Version (British and American) (see CUSHI and compare CUSHITE WOMAN). Its plural, which occurs in Zephaniah, Daniel and 2 Chronicles, also in the form kushiyim, in Amos, is uniformly translated Ethiopians, following Septuagint. The other Old Testament books use simply kush, for people as well as land.</p>