In the Old Testament we encounter Ethiopia under the name Nubia and Cush. The Gihon River flows around the whole land of Cush (Genesis 2:13). King Ahasuerus reigned over a gigantic world empire that stretched from India to Ethiopia (Esther 1:1). Moses apparently had married a woman from Ethiopia (Numbers 12:1). Joab gave a fast runner, a man from Cush, the command to report to David that Absalom had been killed (2 Samuel 18:21, 2 Samuel 18:31). In Psalm 68:31 we also read about Egypt and Cush (perhaps the name of old Egypt or Nubia). In Psalm 87:4 we encounter the Philistines, the Tyrians, and the Moors (Cushites). In Isaiah we read that God will liberate the remnant of his people from Cush (Isaiah 11:11, Isaiah 43:3). Tirhakah, the king of Cush (who was also Pharaoh of conquered Egypt), is a feared world power in the time of King Hezekiah (Isaiah 37:9; 2 Kings 19:9).
Isaiah 18:1–7 and Isaiah 20:1–6 contain a prophecy against Cush (also Ezekiel 30:4–5, and Ezekiel 30:9). Isaiah prophecies against Cush, because Judah wants to make an alliance with them against the king of Assyria: a powerful empire south of Egypt, the current Sudan. In that prophecy, the prophet describes the envoys who come from Egypt to Jerusalem as a nation tall and smooth
(Isaiah 18:2, Isaiah 18:7). Isaiah 18:7, as well as Isaiah 45:14 and Zephaniah 3:10 announces that there will come a time that people will come from Cush to Sion with gifts for the Lord of the heavenly powers. Centuries ago, envoys came to Jerusalem for political reasons, and now in Acts 8, a minister comes with a spiritual reason to worship God!
Ethiopia is the border of the earth, where—according to ancient understanding—the sun is close to the earth, so that people there are dark and black.
27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship