AP

Bible Studies on the Acts of the Apostles

The Conversion of the Ethiopian (Acts 8:26-40)

Until now the gospel had been proclaimed exclusively within the ancient borders of Israel, to Jews and Samaritans, the descendants of Shem. Things would remain this way for a little while. Nevertheless, the preaching to the Gentiles is coming within view. For even before Peter proclaimed the gospel to the Roman official, Cornelius, and before Paul had begun his missionary journeys, Philip was given the privilege of baptizing the first person from among the Gentiles. This was not a white European or a descendant of Japheth, but a black African and descendent of Ham: he was the chief treasury official of Ethiopia.

This was how the Lord Jesus began opening the way for an even wider proclamation of the gospel to the Gentiles. In Acts 9, he calls Paul to be an apostle to the Gentiles. In Acts 10–11, he teaches Peter that the law had been taken down as a wall of separation between Jew and Gentile. In Acts 11, he founded the church in Antioch, which would become the home base from where Paul would be starting his missionary journeys from Acts 13 onward.

The incorporation of the first African in the New Testament church did not happen at the initiative of the apostles, nor of Philip, but as the direct result of heavenly intervention. The way in which Philip met the palace official was clearly a result of divine guidance, for the Lord began by sending an angel. This always indicated that something special was about to happen. In this case, it was the incorporation of the first African in the Christian church by baptism (cf. Acts 10:3, 47–48). The angel commanded Philip to go South on the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza (formerly a Philistine city).

There are two roads connecting these locales, one busy, the other less so. Philip was to take the one running past Gaza through the desert to Egypt. He obeyed the command given him, but he did not immediately understand what he would have to do on that quiet road. This quickly became clear, for he met a very important Ethiopian riding in a chariot. He was the chief treasurer of Candace of Ethiopia. This was not a first name, but a title of the queen-mother. The king of Ethiopia was viewed as a son of the sun god and therefore too holy to be administering the country himself. The real authority rested, therefore, with the queen-mother, who functioned on behalf of her son as the regent. Because in those days there was no difference between the private purse of a ruler and the treasury of the kingdom, this chief treasurer was something like a minister of finance. So the Lord chose an influential man to be the first Gentile in the Christian church.

The Bible describes him as a eunuch, a castrated male. He had obtained his high position at the court at the cost of his masculinity. The joys of married life and fatherhood were unknown to him. He arouses our sympathy further because he had his fill of pagan religions and philosophies. He had not found peace. At that time about two million Jews were living in Egypt, and there was a prosperous trade relationship between Egypt and Ethiopia. Perhaps as a minister of finance he had met a Jewish merchant or missionary. In this way, before making his pilgrimage to Jerusalem he could have already heard quite a bit about Yahweh and his people (Matthew 23:15) and could have belonged to the “God-fearers” (Acts 13:50; 17:4, 17; 18:7).

And now he was making the trip of a lifetime: a pilgrimage to the temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem. About fifteen hundred kilometres! This man was very keen to find out about the God of Israel! When he arrived, he would have suffered several severe disappointments. In the first place, as an Ethiopian he could proceed no further than the so-called Court of the Gentiles. In the second place, he encountered an even more painful “No trespassing” sign than that. If he did not know ahead of time, he would have been told in Jerusalem: as a castrated man he would never be able to belong to God’s people as a full-blown proselyte through circumcision.

In Israel, a eunuch was an excluded person. The book of Moses was clear: “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the LORD” (Deut. 23:1). They could live in the country, but not enter the assembly, the church assembly. A descendant of Aaron who had a defect in his sexual organ was excluded from priestly service (Leviticus 21:16–21). This was one of the pedagogical-symbolic ordinances whereby Yahweh imprinted upon his people that as Creator and God of life, he has an intense aversion toward sin, death, and defect, and he was unwilling to take pleasure in these. Therefore, a “dry tree” like a castrated man (Isaiah 56:3, but look at vv. 4-5, and Jesus quoted v. 7) was unsuited to enter the assembly of God’s church. Even more so because among the Gentiles, young boys and men were castrated for religious reasons, something that was an absolute abomination in God’s eyes.

His stay in Jerusalem, would not have given the Ethiopian the joy he was perhaps expecting. Being so near to the God of Israel, he would remain at a distance, at most a second-class worshipper. And to think that he had travelled so far just for that! Nevertheless, he had acquired a scroll of Isaiah. These were extremely expensive because they were produced on parchment, or the skin of the papyrus plant, and were written by hand letter by letter. Most Jews had to go to the synagogue if they wanted to study a Bible scroll, but this minister of finance was able to acquire one. (How wealthy we are, to be able to own complete and inexpensive Bibles!) When Philip and he met, he was reading aloud from his copy of the scroll of Isaiah.

Reading in ancient times was almost invariably aloud. Why this should be so will be apparent to anyone who tries to read a copy of ancient manuscript; the words require to be spelt out, and this is done more easily aloud than in silence. [… reading] silently is learned more quickly with modern print than with ancient manuscript (F.F. Bruce).

The passage was Isaiah 53:7-8. Philip asked him whether he understood what he was reading. It is not surprising that he did not understand it. It must have been almost impossible to understand how these verses would be fulfilled until Christ came and fulfilled them. Christ foretold his sufferings in term of this prophecy (Mark 10:45). Philip seized the opportunity and explained that the passage had reached fulfilment in the self-sacrificing death of Jesus. He must have explained about baptism also, for the eunuch promptly asked to be baptized at the first opportunity. After that Philip suddenly disappeared, but the eunuch “went on his way rejoicing.” Philip “appeared” again in Azotus and travelled, preaching the Gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea. It seems that he settled there, as next we hear of him (about 20 years later) having four daughters who prophesied (see Acts 21:8-9).

Questions:

Until Stephen’s martyrdom, thousands of Jews were converted. After that, not so many. How do you account for that?

What are the barriers to understanding the Scriptures in the 21^st century? How might barriers be distinguished from humankind’s natural spiritual resistance to the Gospel?

If someone asked you: “So what is the Bible really about?” – what sort of quick and clear answer would you give?

The early church was colour-blind, so what does that say to us today?

– Alida Sewell