Kunte Kinte (IF You Know? Book Excerpt)
…What’s in a Name?
“…What is His Name, and what is His Son’s Name, if you know?”
Proverbs 30:4
Most of us are familiar with the book, inspiring the 1970s television miniseries, “Roots: The Saga of An American Family,” by Alex Haley.
The character, Kunta Kinte, shook the world, as we are confronted by a disturbing scene, brilliantly enacted in the miniseries by a young LeVar Burton.
In this scene, Kunta Kinte, who was enslaved in 1767, is flogged mercilessly, punishment for not accepting his new name, “Toby.”
We see him put up a defiant fight against having his identity changed.
Against having his name changed.
The depiction showcases the brutality of a slave being beaten and humiliated into submission. That was the reality of a slave’s life.
After many rounds of whipping, while repeatedly demanding that he submit and say his new name, Kunta Kinte can hold out no longer.
The scene ends, at his breaking point, when asked what his name was, he replied, in a weak voice, “Toby.”
(Viewer discretion is advised. This scene is quite distressing).
It resonates.
And how much more, for slave, after slave, “The People,” a People called by the Name Of YAH?
Let’s not forget. Our Savior.
Also beaten. Whipped.
“So then Pilate took (Yahshua) Jesus and had Him scourged (flogged, whipped). And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head and put a purple robe around Him. and they kept coming up to Him, saying [mockingly], ‘Hail, King of the Jews [Good health! Peace! Long life to you, King of the Jews]!’ And they slapped Him in the face.”
John 19:1-3
(Also see, for example, Matthew 27:26; Mark 15:15; Matthew 20:19; Mark 10:34; Isaiah 50:6).
Scripture mentions flogging. The whipping. The humiliation. The taunting. The mockery. The horrifying experience of a slave?
Yahshua experienced that.
His experience was eternal. It was the Redemptive Work of Humanity’s Salvation.
He endured not just the beating, but the full sin, with every lash, bleeding wound, and taunt.
“The plowers plowed on my back; They made their furrows long.”
Psalm 129:3
This scripture prophesied Him…
Copyright © 2025 by Sheryle Cruse
