CHUS. - A geographical term (Hebr. Kûsh), fairly frequent in the Bible. In Gen. 2:13 Cush is called the land watered by the river Gihon. This text, like that which links Cush with Nimrod, king of Shinar (Gen. 10:8, 12), would suggest a Mesopotamian region. But the biblical texts which invite us to place Cush in Africa south of Egypt, i.e., vaguely in modern Ethiopia (q.v.), are far more numerous (cf. 2 Kings 19:9; Ps. 67:32; 86:4; Isa. 11:11; 18:1; 20:3, 5; Ezek. 20:10).
Indeed, already in the Table of Nations (Gen. 10:6, 7), Cush is presented as the firstborn son of Ham (= Hamitic), whose brothers are said to be Mizraim (= Egypt), Put, and Canaan. The descendants of Cush—Saba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca—appear as tribes of Arabia. It is possible that the various data represent an ancient tradition of a migration from Mesopotamia into Africa with branches into Arabia.
In Jer. 13:23 the Cushite is described as belonging to the black race, while in Amos 9:7 a certain contempt is shown toward that people, generally employed as slaves (cf. 2 Sam. 18:21 ff.; Jer. 38:7; 39:16). Yet even Moses’ wife was a Cushite (Num. 12:1).