The Real Jews
Did you know that the apostle Simeon was nicknamed Niger… pronounced NEE-GER in Latin? Growing up, I was taught that it was pronounced ny-jer, so I never gave it any additional thought. A couple of years ago, Xavier Jackson brought up the reference in Acts, which motivated me to give it a second look. Let’s start by looking at the verse:
“Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.” – Acts 13:1
We’re going to dig into every aspect of this verse, starting with the word “Niger” and then we’re going to investigate what seems to be a list of black apostles.
From Niger To N-I-G-G-E-R
What we have above is another of the many interesting references to skin color hidden all over the Bible. In Western culture, we are taught that the word Niger is pronounced ny-jer, but that is incorrect:
As we can hear, the word is pronounced a little different than it is pronounced in the West. We run into similar mispronunciations like this all of the time, even though the people know for a fact that they are pronouncing it wrong. They choose to go out of their way to pronounce words incorrectly, which leads to others pronouncing them the same way. The most often occurs with names of people of color.
2 Pac – The majority of people pronounce it TWO-POCK. However, some non black people choose to say it wrong as TWO-PACK, even though they are capable of pronouncing it correctly. This is done on purpose as a sign of disrespect.
50 Cent – The majority of people pronounce it FIFTY-CENT. However, many non black people go out of their way to pronounce it as FIDDY-CENT for whatever reason, in an attempt to sound “black”. 50 Cent explains in his own words.
I do not believe that the pronunciation of words has any racist intent behind them, but are a result of what people THINK they heard, when it was pronounced, at least in most cases. Sometimes it’s just outright stereotyping. When we look at the progression of the pronunciation of the word “Niger”, we run into something similar.
nee-jer
nee-ger
n-ig-g-e-r
In order to understand why black people went from being called Niger to *****, we must look at the definition of the word.
The Definition of Niger
Dark, Black – The Latin Dictionary
Black – Bible Study Tools
In Spanish, we find another more familiar word that also has the same meaning:
Negro: Mid 16th century: via Spanish and Portuguese from Latin niger, nigr- black. – Oxford Dictionary
Spanish is a Latin based language, and Latin was spoken by the Roman conquerors that the Hebrews referred to as Gentiles (Matthew 20:19). The early uses of the word niger and later negro, were not racist, but were more descriptive of skin color. When slaves were brought to the Americas, the descriptive terms were later turned into racial slurs meant to degrade slaves and their descendants.
But Wait There’s More…
This is solely my opinion, but I believe that the term “n-I-g-g-e-r arose not only because of cultural mispronunciation, but also because it was a broad term used to describe black people in general. Slave owners had no desire to learn individual tribes or even names of slaves. Because of that, slaves were renamed and the broader term “niger” became “N-I-G-G-E-R” as a means of reference.
Over time the word “N-I-G-G-E-R” took on racist and hateful undertones, which is why the word is so taboo in modern society. Again, that is just my opinion, but it seems to be the case based on the history of the word.
Now that we’ve looked at Simeon the black apostle, let’s take a look at the other people mentioned in Acts 13:1.
The List of Black Apostles
At first glance, Acts 13:1 just looks like a list of names of apostles, and it is. However, as is the norm with scripture, there is a lot more to what is being presented in the text. Let’s look at each of the names in the list.
Barnabas – A Levite born in Cyprus. Cyprus was ruled an inhabited by people of color before and after Roman invasion and occupation. It’s also interesting to note that Moses was a Levite as well, and was also mistaken for an Egyptian. It is very likely that Barnabas was a person of color.
Simeon – He was surnamed Niger, pronounced “nee-jer”, which means “black skin” in Latin.
Lucius of Cyrene – Cyrene is a city located in Libya, Africa
Manaen – Only mentioned once in the Bible. Nothing else is known about him from scripture.
Saul – Later renamed Paul, he was from the tribe of Benjamin, and was mistaken for an Egyptian (Acts 21:38).
With the exception of Manaen, the other apostles listed are either called black, originate from Africa, lived in a historically ethnic area, or was mistaken for an African. Reason and logic dictate that these were not light or white skinned people.
The Breakdown
While it is certainly PC to make the claim that the Bible doesn’t talk about skin color, it’s certainly not true at all. All over the Bible we see references to skin color. The more we dig into scripture to find the meaning behind the names, locations, and culture… the more we see that the Bible is a document written by people of color, to people of color, but later included the Gentiles for redemption through Christ.
Posted By: Dea. Ron Gray Sr.
Tuesday, March 17th 2020 at 3:03PM
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