God’s command and Philip’s response.
26 An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip:
“Get up and go south
to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”
(This is the desert road.)
27 So he got up and went.
There was an Ethiopian man,
a eunuch and high official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians,
who was in charge of her entire treasury.
He had come to worship in Jerusalem
28 and was sitting in his chariot on his way home,
reading the prophet Isaiah aloud.
29 The Spirit told Philip,
“Go and join that chariot.”
follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
share background information on Philip’s ministry.
show where Philip had been (Samaria)
and where God was sending him (Gaza).
Emphasize Philip’s willingness to drop everything in Samaria
so he could accept God’s new assignment for him.
verses 26-27 (PSG, pp. 84-85)
26) Angel of the Lord:
an angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds to announce a momentous event in salvation history.
Here, an angel signals another seismic shift.
The gospel was going out
from Jerusalem into the wider world.26) Get up and go south:
Despite the overwhelming success of his work in Samaria, God was completely uprooting his servant.
Samaria was located north of Jerusalem.
The desert road was well to the south
Moving so far from a prosperous ministry did not align with human logic,
but it fit God’s plan.27) Eunuch:
The word translated eunuch suggests that the man was emasculated,
either because he was born that way or was made a eunuch by someone else.
In the ancient world, the term “eunuch” also referred to
officials given responsibility for a nation’s treasury.
In that context, “eunuch” was a title, not a description of impotence.27) Worship in Jerusalem:
Like Nicolaus in Acts 6,
the Ethiopian was probably also a convert to Judaism,
However, if he was a physical eunuch, he would have been barred from the temple (Deut. 23:1) and it would have been impossible for him to become a full member of the Jewish faith. He could have visited the temple, but he could not have entered. So, it seems that he embraced Israel’s God without fully converting to Judaism.Of course, the inclusion of non-Israelites in God’s kingdom
was always part of His plan.
Ethiopian
Most scholars believe that ancient Ethiopia was different from the modern-day nation of Ethiopia.
While its precise location cannot be discerned with certainty,
we can be sure that the man was from Africa.
The Bible also sometimes calls this area Cush
(Esth. 1:1; 8:9; Ezek. 29:10).
To many living in the first century, it was essentially the ends of the earth.
This is yet another indication that salvation is available to all.
The Ethiopian was religious and educated.
He also had a powerful position.
But God knew he needed something more, and He sent Philip to share that truth with him.