Acts 8:26-40--Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

Acts 8:26-40
English Standard Version

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 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 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
    and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
    so he opens not his mouth.
33 In his humiliation justice was denied him.
    Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”

​34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

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This is a pivotal passage in the book of Acts that many of us miss because it's tucked away in a small section between the focus on the church in Jerusalem and the focus of the missionary-sending church of Syrian Antioch.  We have seen Philip just finishing a mission trip to Samaria.  He's probably just gotten back to Jerusalem with Peter and John and there seems to be no rest for the weary as God has another assignment for him.

An angel of the Lord appears to Philip and tells him to head south to the road towards Gaza.  Gaza is about as far away from Samaria as you can get as it is a small strip of land between Israel and Egypt  Luke includes for his readers that aren't familiar with the area that this is a desert place--water is scarce there (that will be important later in the story).  He immediately got up and went as he was commanded by the Spirit and somewhere along the road (we are not sure how close to Jerusalem or Gaza it was).  He comes upon an Ethiopian eunuch travelling along this road as well.  Luke tells us that this eunuch was an official in the court of Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, which explains why this man was a eunuch, as that was common for men in royal service, especially those responsible to serve and protect female royalty.  In fact, Luke further identifies him as her treasurer, so this is a man that is probably wealthy and has a lot of power and influence.

Why do I mention that this man is probably wealthy?  Because unlike today's Western world where anyone who wants a Bible can get one, most of the copies of the books of the Bible were held closely by the scribes and obtaining a copy of an entire book of the Old Testament (as it appears this man had access to the entire book of Isaiah the Prophet), would be very expensive.  Yes, it had been translated into Greek in what we know as the Septuagint, but there still were not copies of the Septuagint in every home--mostly the elites and right people could afford their own copy.  It is likely because of this man's wealth and connection to the queen of Ethiopia that he was able to have access to this scroll that he was reading from.

He had come to Jerusalem to worship, but if we know the Law, we would know that this eunuch would have been excluded from the Temple.  Not even his position or wealth would have been able to buy him access to God.  I'm sorry for the somewhat graphic nature of what I'm about to quote from the Old Testament, but it's important to understand the context here that this man went to Jerusalem seeking access to God and to find understanding about this text and was denied access because of the barriers that were put up under the Law.

“No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the LORD.  (Deuteronomy 23:1, ESV)

Now we understand why the Lord sent Philip to go meet this man.  I'm sure he was a bit dejected having travelled all this way from Ethiopia to Jerusalem having heard of the greatness of the LORD and the text is clear that he desired to worship the LORD, but because of his castration he would have been excluded from entering the Temple.  On his way home he is reading from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah from a portion that we would say is Isaiah chapter 53.

The Holy Spirit instructs Philip to join the chariot, which is no small task since chariots were the fastest form of travel from the time of the Exodus all the way until the invention of the motorized vehicles.  Probably the chariot wasn't travelling at full-speed, but it still would have been no small thing to ask someone on foot to keep up with a chariot, especially in desert conditions like this.  Philip doesn't question the Holy Spirit's instructions or argue with Him, he just immediately obeys.

Philip hears what the Ethiopian eunuch is reading and asks the eunuch if he understands what he's reading.  The eunuch responds appropriately with, "How can I understand unless someone explains it to me?"  This reminds me of Romans 10:14-15:

Romans 10:14-15
English Standard Version
​14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

The eunuch invited Philip up into the chariot with him and starting at this passage in Isaiah 53:7-8, Philip explained the entire gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch.  We are moving form God taking the gospel first to the Jews who had the foundation of all the Law and the Prophets, to the Samaritans who had only the Law, but not the Prophets, to now taking the gospel to the Gentiles who have had neither the Law nor the Prophets.  Philip would have to recall Scripture from memory (with the help of the Holy Spirit of course).

They travelled together probably for some time and distance, and at some point they came upon some body of water that was large enough for baptism.  Nowhere do we see that the eunuch prayed the Sinner's Prayer or that he was catechized so that he could answer all the questions with the right answers, or anything of the sort.  Baptism was a desire put into the eunuch's heart to be obedient to the Scriptures.  He understood somehow from what he had been told that it was the next logical thing to do, and his sincere question to Philip was "Is there anything barring me from being baptized?"  Remember he had probably just been barred from entering the Temple and he's probably expecting to be shut out once again.

The eunuch commanded the chariot to stop and the eunuch and Philip went down into the waters of baptism together.  This man who went to Jerusalem to seek answers that he wouldn't have gotten form the priests there (as they would not have told him that the prophecy was about Jesus who was crucified for the sins of all men) was returning home thinking he would not be able to get answers to these important questions and that he would never be able to worship the LORD--for in his culture worship always happened in the temples of the gods and goddesses, and he was excluded from the Temple.  But the Holy Spirit had a divine appointment for this eunuch on his way home when everything looked hopeless--God sent Philip to speak to this one man, and though it is not the mass conversion that we saw in Samaria, it is something still worthy of just as much rejoicing both in heaven and here on earth as the gospel is going forth to all the nations, and not only to the Gentiles who were kept from crossing a particular line in the Temple upon threat of death, but a man that would have been totally excluded and not even allowed to approach the altar to offer a sacrifice.  He was completely cut off, though he desired to know God and be part of God's people.  God showed this man that through Christ, Jesus had made a way for him.  The barriers to entry had been torn down and now there was no more distinction between Jew and Gentile and no other righteous requirement of the Law would keep him from having a relationship with God because Jesus completely fulfilled the Law for Him (see the book of Galatians).

As soon as they came up out of the waters of baptism, the Holy Spirit transported Philip to the next place he had him to go which was a small costal town called Azotus.  From there he travelled north along the coast preaching the gospel in all the towns of the southern kingdom of Judea on his way towards Caesarea.

Next time, our attention will shift from the south to the north as Saul of Tarsus is going to be given authority as a bounty hunter by the Sanhedrin to go after the followers of the Way that have fled to neighboring countries, specifically those that have fled to Damascus.  It is on this road to Damascus that we will see a different kind of divine appointment as Jesus Himself will confront Saul, and this will be the opening of much of the rest of the book of Acts that describes the gospel going to Asia and Europe (though there will be one small portion left focusing on Peter and Cornelius before we get there).