Well, that really brings it home, thank you.

Yes, I believe Eve should be understood as a black woman.

And Mary, then, as an image of a new Eve is black or blackish. I’d suggested so in a passage that seemed too unweildy & made the piece too long.

There is also the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4:8, a woman of wealth and wisdom who recognizes a divine being when her husband does not. Seeing the prophet Elisha, she insists on creating a dwelling for him to stay.

She is not Israelite. Her recognition of his divine status is a surprise — and her importance is a mystery hidden even from the prophet (4:27). As the church is said to be a ‘mystery hidden’ (Col 1:26), I have to suspect these details are connected: the black woman is in on the secret.

The story which is told of this woman being barren and having a son, and the son being raised to life, is tinged with messianic details. We might remember that in the gospels there are two genealogies for Jesus, but neither mention Mary his mother, and each could be describing Joseph.

This might indicate an idea of Jesus having a secret lineage, rising from ‘Shunammite’ women, suggesting Mary was blackish or black.