What Color Was Abraham?

Alice C. Linsley

A question that is often asked concerns Abraham's appearance. The best answer, based on the biblical data, is that Abraham resembled his Nilo-Saharan cattle-herding ancestors whose skin tone was reddish brown. Further, he was a descendant of Adam, a red man. God formed the man "Adam" from the red clay which swept down into the Nile Valley from the Ethiopian highlands.

Abraham was a Hebrew. That means he was a member of the Hebrew ruler-priest caste. The point of origin of the Hebrew ruler-priest caste was the Nile Valley, a place of great genetic diversity. “Africans have the broadest spectrum of variability, with rarer versions at either end of the bell curve distribution. If everyone in the world was wiped out except Africans, almost all human genetic variability would be preserved.” (From here.)

Geneticist Kenneth Kidd further explains, “In almost any single African population or tribe, there is more genetic variation than in all the rest of the world put together."

However, the Hebrew caste practiced endogamy so there would have been a frequent recurrence of the reddish skin tone. Endogamy is a trait of all castes.

Abraham ruled in ancient Edom which the Greeks called "Idumea". The words Edom and Idumea refer to the color red. The Greeks referred to Idumea as a land of red people. Abraham's territory was entirely in the region of Edom. It extended between the settlements of his two wives, Sarah and Keturah. Sarah resided in Hebron in the north and Keturah resided in Beersheba in the south.

Edo, Edomite, Idoma and Idumea are related words. A variant of Edo is Idu. Idu was the progenitor of the Edo or Idoma of Benin. The ruler of the Edo is called Oba and the first ruler of Petra in Edom was Obodas. Among the red, bearded Ainu of Hokkaido, the regional ruler is called obito and the original name of Tokyo was Edo. There is evidence that the Ainu of Japan and eastern Canada share common ancestry, but much more research needs to be done. Might there be a relationship to the Nilotic Annu?

One of Abraham's descendants was Esau who is described in Genesis as red and hairy. One of his wives was Oholibamah, a great granddaughter of Seir the Horite Hebrew (Gen. 36). 

Abraham's grandson Esau inherited his grandfather's red skin tone. We do not know Jacob's coloring, but he may have been darker skinned than Esau. King David is described as ruddy, and as a boy he may have looked like this young man. David's skin tone was probably reddish brown like that of Egyptians who work in the sun (1 Sam. 16:12; 17:42). 

Having a red skin tone indicates a very ancient genetic lineage, going back at least 18,000 years. The biblical writers appear to have been aware of this. The term "red' involves a range of tones from red-brown to brown-red.

In his later years, after he was very wealthy and had many servants and sons and had retired to Beersheba, Abraham's skin tone was probably lighter, though still reddish. He may have appeared like this Nilotic official:

Egyptian high official and his wife

That said, none can be certain as to Abraham's skin tone, but it is evident that he was not a white European. He was a descendant of Cain and Seth, and Ham and Shem, and Nimrod the Kushite. 

Abraham's Hebrew People Spread Far and Wide

The point of origin of the biblical Hebrew was the Nile Valley. The oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship is Nekhen (4000 BC). From there, the Hebrew dispersed widely, and wherever they went they influenced the populations among whom they lived.

The Hebrew people spread across areas of Africa, the Middle East, the Levant, Southern Europe, and as far as India, Nepal and Cambodia. Kushites also came to live in Mindanao in the Philippines.

Genesis 17:5 says that Abraham means “father of many” or “father of a multitude.” Abraham was indeed the father of many since he had many children by his two wives and his two concubines.

As the Nilotic peoples spread across the ancient Near East, and married with other populations the genetic variation became less. The farther the population is from Africa, the less genetic diversity. This is not necessarily true, however, for the biblical Hebrew because they married only within their caste (endogamy).  


Hebrew Social Structure

The social structure of the Hebrew ruler-priests is complex. It is characterized by these features: endogamy, the Horite and Sethite moieties, two wives, a hierarchy of sons, the cousin bride's naming prerogative, and the sending away of non-ascendant sons.

Among Abraham's people social status and occupation were passed from father to son, but the son's ethnicity was that of his mother. All the mothers were Hebrew since Hebrew men married only within their caste.  

By Sarah, Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac was Abraham's proper heir, and he became a wealthy ruler in Edom. Isaac's proper heir was Esau. Isaac's son Jacob was sent away to serve the household of his maternal uncle (avuncular residence). Jacob was the head of the Israelites, but the Israelites were only one of many Hebrew clans. 

By Keturah, Abraham had six sons. One was Joktan. The Joktanite clans of Arabia are his descendants.

By his concubine Hagar, Abrahan had Ishmael, an Egyptian, and by his other concubine Mesek, Abraham had Eliezar. Mesek was Keturah's maidservant, just as Hagar was Sarah's maidservant.

We are not told how many daughters Abraham had, but it is certain that he had daughters as well as sons. His daughters are not named because the Genesis king lists list only first-born sons. Though a few especially important females are also named. Lamech' daughter Naamah is an example. She married her cousin Methusaleh and named their firstborn son Lamech, after her father, Lamech the Elder.

Related reading: The Hebrew were a Caste; Hebrew Rulers with Two Wives; Hebrew Sent-Away Sons; The Edomites and the Color Red; Abraham's Concubines; Who Was Eliezar of Damascus?; Abraham's Authority and Ancient Law Codes; Why Nekhen is Anthropologically Significant