Philip Ochieng: Kushite Flight from Canaan

Philip Ochieng, a Kenyan contemporary of President Obama's father, relates how the Kalenjin, a Kushite people, once resided in Egypt and Canaan and fled before their oppressors. They claim to have fled oppression in Egyptian held lands and wandered for 40 years in the wildernesses of Sudan and northwestern Kenya where they encountered God at the sacred mountain El-gon (Mount of the Most High). There is linguistic evidence to support this. For example, the Kalenjin capital is Kericho which is Jericho. Read more of Ochieng's views on the Kalenjin here.

The Kalenjin were a warrior caste in ancient Egypt. They have been identified with the Midianites. Midian is a Kalenjin clan of Baringo district of Kenya. Kalenjin were identified by clan divisions, namely Sebei, Sabaot, Miot and Midian until modern times. Here we have a suggestion of a Sheba-Midian-Egyptian confederation. This may explain the confusion in Genesis 37 where we are told that Joseph was sold to a caravan of Ishmaelite/Egyptian merchants (verse 25) and Midianite merchants (verse 28).

The linguistic connection between ancient Egypt and the Kalenjin is evidenced in the correspondance of many common words. The ancient Egyptian word for country was kmt, which corresponds to the Kalenjin word kemet. In both languages ntr designates divinity. The Kalenjin were a hill country people who dwelt in the region of their sacred mountain "El-gon" in the Tororo (n-trr) Hills of eastern Uganda. From there they migrated to Egypt, where they stayed for thousands of years. Some migrated back to Kenya and Uganda. Others moved into Canaan and Mesopotamia.

The Kalenjin, like the Egyptians, regarded the sun as the emblem of the Creator. Their word Asiis refers to both God and the sun. This is also an ancient Egyptian name for the Creator and is found among other African tribes who originated in the Nile Valley. The Asante of Ghana are the people (nte) of As.

The Kalenjin appear to be one of many groups that moved from the Nile Valley into Canaan and Mesopotamia. This Kushite migration is referenced in Genesis 10 and confirmed by historical records of Sargon the Great, who is likely Nimrod, the son of Kush.

Today, it is estimated that 44% of the Kalinjin are Christian.


Related reading:  Nilo-Saharan and Saharo-Nubian Populations; The Urheimat of the Canaanite Y; The Migration of Abraham's Ancestors; Abraham's Kushite Ancestors; Sacred Mountains