CHUS. - Geographical term (Heb. Kúf), fairly frequent in the Bible. In Gen. 2:13 the land traversed by the river Gihon is called C. This text, like the one that connects C. with Nimrod, king of Shinar (Gen. 10:8, 12), would suggest a Mesopotamian region. But the biblical texts that invite us to place C. in Africa, south of Egypt, that is, vaguely in modern Ethiopia (v.), are much more numerous (cf. 2 Kings 19:9; Ps. 67:32; 86:4; Is. 11:11; 18:1; 20:3, 5; Ez. 29:10).
Indeed, already in the genealogy of the nations (Gen. 10:6, 7), C. is presented as the firstborn son of Ham (= Hamites), whose brothers would be Mizraim (= Egypt), Phuth and Canaan. The descendants of C., namely Sheba, Havilah, Sabtah, Regma and Sabteca, appear as tribes of Arabia. It is possible that the various data represent a very ancient tradition of a passage from Mesopotamia into Africa with branches in Arabia. In Jer. 13:23 the Cushite is described as belonging to the black race; while in Am. 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 the wife of Moses was a Cushite (Num. 12:1).
Angelo Penna