Philip and Ethiopian Eunuch

Philip and Ethiopian Eunuch  

The Passage: Acts 8:26-40

Structure:

a. 8:26, road to south from Jerusalem to Gaza

  b. 8:27-29, Spirit said to Philip

    c. 8:30-31, he invited Philip to sit with him (on the chariot)

      d. 8:32-33, Reading the Scripture passage

        e. 8:34, about whom is the prophet speaking here?

      d’. 8:35, Beginning with this scripture passage, he proclaim him Jesus  

    c’. 8:36-38, he ordered chariot to stop

  b’. 8:39, Spirit snatched Philip

a’. 8:40, all town until he reached Caesarea   

Historical and geographical context:

The understanding of “they” in v. 25 will determine the location of Philip when an angel of the Lord commissioned him to go to the road between Jerusalem and Gaza. The road was a desert place, which can be understood in two ways. Either the road went through the desert, or it was an abundant road.   

Also, as we will see in the next story, here we have a split or overlap of the narrative – Philip goes south, while Saul – at the same time – will go to the north, toward Damascus.      

Theology:

Angel of the Lord can have two meanings: (1) a messenger sent by God saying or acting in accordance with His will, or (2) the incarnate Second Person of the Trinity. The second one appears to Abraham (Gen. 22:11, 15-16), Moses (Ex. 3:2-6), etc. Here, most likely, we have an appearance of a messenger who had to guide Philip to the place where should’ve meet with the official of Ethiopian queen.    

A road from Jerusalem to Gaza. In the times of Old Testament Gaza was part of Philistia along with four other cities – Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath. On the way back Philip went through at least two of these cities, then to Joppa and finally to Caesarea. When he goes through the cities, he preaches the Gospel. Gath was converted in the days of David (1 Sam. 27:1-4; Amos 1:6-8). Now Philip saves the rest of Philistine.     

Ethiopia and the queen. Cadence is not a name – it’s title “great woman”. Bible sometimes uses the title vs the name (Abimelech – Gen. 20; 26:6-33; Ahasuerus – Esther). The name of the queen was most likely Amantitere who ruled from 20 to 49 AD. The history of Biblical impact on Ethiopia begins with queen of Sheba who came to king Solomon for the wise interaction (1 Kings 10:1-13).      

The importance of Isaiah for New Testament message. After the Psalms, the Book of Isaiah is the most quoted Old Testament book in the texts of New Testament. Here eunuch reads Is. 53:7-8. The passage gives a description of the suffering of the Messiah. Using these verses of Isaiah, Philip shares the Good News with the eunuch, without referring to New Testament (because New Testament was not written yet!).     

The need for hermeneutics. The need for what? Hermeneutics is a science of interpretation. Just a reading of Scripture is not helpful as an independent reading of the Bible – it should be guided (8:31). People, enlightened by the Holy Spirit – the Church – read “the letter to the Bride”. People outside of the Church can’t understand the spiritual meaning of Scripture.       

Other themes:

Other Biblical characters who were caried away by the Spirit?

Enoch – Genesis 5:24, Hebrews 11:5

Elijah – 2 Kings 2:9-12

Ezekiel – Ezekeil 8:1-4 (:3)

Jesus – Mathew 28:8-10, John 20:19, 26

St. Paul – 2 Corinthians 12:2-4   

Many Christians – 1 Thessalonians 4:17