Bible Discussion Thread

I believe that this is not intentionally racist, nor is it meant to be taken entirely literally. Very dark flesh in the ancient middle east would 've been slightly exotic, but it also is a common descriptor for evil or sinful ideas and actions. This was a way of saying that not all things dark fall into that category. It was also seen as an allusion to the queen of Sheba by the alchemists of the middle ages and renaissance and a common fantasy of the white European or Anglo was to purify the dark black earthly feminine into its golden white counterpart. One of many ways of describing the process of transmutation from the lead of simple fallen earthly woman to the golden white of the ineffable godhead. Also according to other myths of the time Solomon and the queen of Sheba have a daughter named Bellacarne who is black and white and whose name means "beautiful flesh " roughly translated. I think this proves that it is less to do with race and more to do with a balancing of the two extremes. Beautiful words.