I LOVE the story of Philip’s interaction with the man known as the “Ethiopian Eunuch”. His description as an “Ethiopian” just means that he was from Africa and had black skin. The fact that he was an official in the service of a Queen named Candace gives us some good information to investigate. “Candace” was not a name, but rather a title; “Kandake” means a queen. This means he was from Meroe, an African kingdom that became powerful about 760 BC. It was located about 200 miles south of modern day Egypt and about one hundred miles northeast of Khartoum, Sudan.
Dr. Craig Keener in his commentary on Acts says that the Greco-Roman sources unanimously referred to all people with black skin as “Ethiopian”, no matter their true country of origin. The Greek word translated as Ethiopian in Acts is very similar to a compound word that means “burnt face.” This would not be an appropriate description today obviously, but it reminds me of the beautiful countenance of my friend, Pastor Paul from Sudan in Africa. He endured great persecution by radical muslims and was nearly killed many times, but God brought him to North Dakota as a refugee. He now pastors an Assemblies of God church in Fargo called “All Nations”, and his very dark skin shines with the Glory of God!
Dr. Keener continues on page 271, “...all Meroë’s queens…were powerful and wealthy. One queen named Nawidemak ruled in the first half of the first century CE. Meroë’s art typically depicts their queens as laden with jewels and many-fringed robes, and notably corpulent.”
With a description like that, I had to try to find some paintings of these “corpulent queens.” I must say, they all looked fairly normal to me, but I am an American living in 2024. I guess it’s true what they say; “Beauty (including corpulence acceptability ratios) is truly in the eye of the beholder.”
The fact that this important official is traveling all the way to Jerusalem and back on a spiritual pilgrimage, which would have been a two month journey, one way, shows he is no casual observer but rather a passionate seeker of God. Even though there were various deities that were worshiped officially in his home country, Luke shows us that this man is solely devoted to the God of Israel and hungry for revelation about him.
We also see that he owned a personal copy of the large scroll of Isaiah. This would have been over 30 feet if it were stretched out and maybe even longer. It would have been a very expensive item, and even required an assistant or two to unroll reverently and hold up to read the passage Philip heard him reading. Dr. Keener says that reading the Scriptures was almost always done out loud at this time.
So, it’s important to try to picture the scene. Philip has been in the midst of a “red-hot-revival” in Samaria. So many have been saved, healed, delivered and filled with the Spirit of God. And now, he’s on a desert road, of sorts. On this road is a beautifully adorned chariot flanked by a personal security detail with a regal African man seated and loudly reading in Greek, Isaiah 53.
For those that are open to them, God sure creates some amazing “Divine appointments!” The fact that this official is reading, out loud, one of the clearest prophecies of the sufferings, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ as Philip just “happens to be passing by” is hilarious in a holy way. All the Holy Spirit has to say to Philip is essentially, “go get ‘em” and suddenly, it is on.
It doesn’t take long for Philip to connect the old and new dots for this man and he is so eager to be born again, that he sees a body of water that they just “happen to be passing by” and asks a question that reveals a beautiful brokenness in him. The question he asks is all the more heart wrenching when we consider the following facts.
Luke reveals to us that this African official is educated and can read the Scriptures himself, so undoubtedly Deuteronomy 23 verse 1 was probably branded painfully on his heart for years. It reads:
“ No man with crushed or severed genitals may enter the assembly of the LORD.”
Think of the impact those words had on him.
No admittance. No exceptions. No reason.
Yet even though he knew he was disqualified from ever being considered a legitimate Jewish convert, he still made the long trip to the Temple in Jerusalem to worship this God who seemed to hold him at arm’s length for sins committed against him, rather than by him.
So if we read between the lines, Luke is telling us that this African man was not like the hellenized Jews, or the Samaritans. Neither does Luke put him in the category of Cornelius, a Gentile God-fearer, that we will be introduced to in the next pericope. Instead, 5 times Luke simply reminds us that this man is a “eunuch.”
Eunuchs like him were often castrated as boys, raised up to be in the service of Kings and Queens, and thought to be uniquely trustworthy to serve and guard even the royal harems of beautiful women because of their man-made physical disabilities. They were often nothing more than well dressed slaves who could never even entertain the dream of having a wife and children of their own. And when they died, their name and lineage died with them. It would be easy to understand that they probably felt like dry dead trees that were still standing.
Even though this man was revered and respected enough to be in charge of all the fabulous riches of the Meroe Kadake/Queen, he certainly discovered, as did even King Solomon, that money and position can never buy true spiritual contentment and peace.
On top of all that, after making an arduous journey from Sudan all the way to Jerusalem, no doubt not coming empty handed, but bringing with him some very generous offerings, he is reminded that he will always be on the “outside, looking in.” With no explanation and seemingly no rational reason, the command of God through Moses remained strikingly specific and straightforward.
It’s as though God Himself had posted a sign near the Temple mount that said; “No eunuchs, even God-fearing rich ones, are allowed. Leave your gift, and go home.”
When we factor in all of those painful things, it brings a new depth of emotion to what happens next.
With trembling lips, I imagine him locking eyes with Philip, and trying not to get his hopes up, anxiously asking this heartbreaking question;
“Look, here is water. Is there anything that would prevent me from being baptized?”
I can almost see Philip excitedly take this dark-skinned man by the hand and pull him out of the chariot and into the water, and then, as he had done so many times in Samaria, said to him; “If you believe with all your heart, you may be baptized.”
Luke then tells us; “The eunuch replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
We are not told what words Philip spoke as he immersed that black man in the water, but I imagine it to have been something like this:
“My brother…upon the profession of your faith in Messiah Jesus of Nazareth…the same one the Prophet Isaiah wrote of and that we read about today…the One who bore your transgressions and carried your iniquities…and the One who heals you now by His stripes…I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!”
And just like that, Philip was gone, and suddenly, there was only one man standing in the water.
But he was not the same man as he had been only minutes before.
He was transformed into a new creation in Christ Jesus!
I can imagine he and his servants rejoicing incredulously and repeatedly asking each other questions like; “what just happened?!”
Perhaps after looking for Philip and not finding him, the regal African chariot was on the move again. And with his dark skin still drying in the middle eastern sun, I can envision him excitedly opening the scroll of Isaiah to the section we know as chapter 54, where they had left off and reading these words:
1 “Shout for joy, O barren woman,
who bears no children;
break forth in song and cry aloud,
you who have never travailed;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband,”
I believe a seemingly irrational hope and a peace that bypassed his understanding began to grow in his heart as he pondered these “exceedingly great and precious promises”. This peace and hope grew with each word he read aloud until he came to the passage that rendered him silent for a moment. And I truly believe that he did not speak the next passage…he sobbed his way through these beautiful life-giving words.
56:3 Let no foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say,
“The LORD will utterly exclude me from His people.”
And let the eunuch not say,
“I am but a dry tree.”
4 For this is what the LORD says:
“To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,
who choose what pleases Me
and hold fast to My covenant—
5 I will give them, in My house and within My walls,
a memorial and a name better than that of sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name
that will not be cut off.
6 And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD
to minister to Him, to love the name of the LORD,
and to be His servants—all who keep the Sabbath without profaning it and who hold fast to My covenant—
7 I will bring them to My holy mountain
and make them joyful in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be accepted on My altar,
for My house will be called a house of prayer
for all the nations.”
8 Thus declares the Lord GOD,
who gathers the dispersed of Israel:
“I will gather to them still others besides those already gathered.”
PRN: Oh Father, God…thank you for promising that “all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Thank you Lord Jesus for saying; “anyone who comes to me, I will for no reason cast them out.” Holy Spirit, thank you that You are drawing broken hearted people to Yourself and revealing Your love for them. Please arrange Divine appointments for us to be Your loving voice to those who feel they are never good enough to be loved by You. Use us to explain the Scriptures they do not understand, and inspire the faith in them to confess “I believe that Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God”. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.
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