Acts, Part 16

Notes
Transcript
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.
The Meeting on the Gaza Road
The Meeting on the Gaza Road
Philip’s ministry now takes an unexpected turn. As so often in Luke’s writings, the Lord intervenes and changes human plans through a vision or, as in this case, by the word of an angel. The command is to go south to the road leading from Jerusalem to deserted Gaza, razed in 99 b.c. (8:26; Josephus, Ant. 13.13.3). The city was rebuilt in 57 b.c. on a new site. It is strange that a popular evangelist is sent to a wilderness area where people are scarce. But likely Philip by now is used to the Lord’s surprises.
The angel only speaks. Philip simply arises and goes (8:27). Instead of a crowd of people, he finds just one man, an Ethiopian, from what is known as Nubia (Cush in OT; extending from Aswan in Egypt to Khartoum in the Sudan). Instead of being despised or deprived, he is, to Luke’s first-century readers, a fascinating individual (Willimon: 71). He belongs to that group known as court officials or eunuchs (2 Kings 20:18; Isa. 39:7; Jer. 38:7) and may or may not be an actual eunuch. What Acts emphasizes is his high position as the chief treasurer for the queen mother of his nation.
Nubian kings are regarded as offspring of the sun-god and are too sacred to do the actual ruling. Such duties are left to the monarch’s mother, always called by the hereditary title Candace. As her chief treasurer, this man is both rich and powerful. He represents his country and is now returning from Jerusalem, where he has gone to worship Yahweh, the God of the Jews (8:27). If he is an actual eunuch, it is doubtful that he can be a proselyte of the faith. Therefore, he likely is a God-fearer or inquirer. If so, he is the first of a series of such persons in Acts: Cornelius (10:2), Lydia (16:14), and the many devout Greeks of Thessalonica (17:4) and other cities.
Philip is first aware of a richly furnished covered chariot with a driver in the front seat and the finance minister seated comfortably behind, busily reading a biblical scroll (8:28). The Spirit, now directing Philip (8:29) after the angel’s initial command (8:26), tells the evangelist to join the carriage. To do so, he actually runs up alongside it, close enough to hear the man reading aloud (8:30). Philip recognizes it as from Isaiah (53:7–8) and boldly asks him if he understands what he is reading. It is possible that the Ethiopian has heard believers in Jerusalem discussing the messianic meaning of this very passage, and now here is a stranger to explain it to him. So he eagerly invites Philip up into the back seat of the chariot with him. It is obvious by the way Luke writes this that the Spirit is guiding every move they make (8:29, 39, framing the whole encounter).
Philip’s Exposition of Scripture
Philip’s Exposition of Scripture
This Isaiah passage (52:13–53:12), from the well-known Servant Songs, is claimed as a key prophecy of the afflictions of the Messiah. Jesus said, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer” (Luke 24:46; cf. 22:37; Acts 3:18). In his Gospel, Luke does not highlight the redemptive suffering servant aspect of Jesus’ work in the way Mark does (10:45 ‖ Matt. 20:28). Now he uses these verses as clearly pointing to the Lord.
The Ethiopian’s question of whether this text might be referring to the prophet himself (8:24) is a logical one, especially since Jeremiah describes his own sufferings in similar terms (11:18–20). For Philip, this provides a wonderful opportunity to begin here and tell about Jesus and his gospel. Luke omits the actual exposition. Yet it seems clear that Philip takes the words like a sheep led to the slaughter (8:32) and his life is taken away from the earth (8:33) to tell of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion and then of salvation through him. After that, in view of what happens, Philip must have added a great deal more, such as instruction in repentance, baptism, and the Christian life.
Baptism and Departure of the Ethiopian
Baptism and Departure of the Ethiopian
Luke moves at once to the dramatic outcome of the encounter. However adequate or inadequate the preparation for discipleship might be, the sight of water brings it to a culmination. The official himself sees it, is eager to be baptized, and orders the chariot to stop (8:36–38a). While it might seem surprising to find water along this desert road, either the Wadi el-Hasi northeast of Gaza or the wadi in the valley of Elah of that area (1 Sam. 17:19, 40) might have contained adequate pools. The Ethiopian’s question, What is to prevent me from being baptized? sounds like an early baptismal formula (8:36; Munck, 1967:78). The words of Acts 8:37, found in the KJV and in the NRSV footnote, are not supported by the most ancient manuscripts. They are an early addition by the Western text [Greek Text, p. 311], supplying proper words to ask a candidate for a profession of faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
Luke seems to make a point of them going down into the water before baptism and up out of the water afterward, but says nothing more of the ritual itself except that Philip does the baptizing (8:38–39). Since baptizō usually means to “dip” or “wash,” some form of immersion administered by the evangelist seems likely. Philip, however, could use pouring after they step into the water.
Soon after the two emerge from the water, they part company. The Spirit of the Lord catches up Philip out of the Ethiopian’s sight, and they never see each other again (8:39). But the baptized chief treasurer goes on his way, rejoicing in his newfound faith. Joy is an important fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22), evidenced again in Acts after another unusual person is brought into the kingdom (16:34).
Tradition has it that the Ethiopian later becomes a missionary among his people (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.12.8). Though there is no record of an Ethiopian church for another three centuries, it may well be that the roots of the Ethiopian Coptic Church go back to this incident. Certainly Luke has placed this baptism strategically between those of the Samaritans and of Cornelius and his household, as examples of the unhindered outreach of the gospel (28:31; Willimon: 72). Moreover, he has recorded here a series of divine promptings, by angel and by Spirit, paralleled in only one other story, that of Cornelius (Haenchen: 315). Thus the evangelistic thrust is moving from Jew to Samaritan and now to the boundaries of the world. Psalm 68:31b is being fulfilled: “Let Ethiopia hasten to stretch out its hands to God.”
Philip’s Trip to Caesarea
Philip’s Trip to Caesarea
As Philip later tells this story to Luke, he describes it as being taken on his way by the Spirit. Either in his mind or that of the author who records it, there may be memory of the way Ezekiel was lifted up by the Spirit and brought from the River Chebar to the east gate of the house of the Lord (Ezek. 11:1). However it happened, Philip is presumably so filled with the Spirit that he is hardly conscious of anything else until he later has found himself at the town of Azotus.
Azotus is the ancient Ashdod, rebuilt by the Romans in about 55 b.c. It was situated three miles from the coast, some 20 miles north of Gaza and halfway between it and Joppa. Northward from along the coast, Philip begins preaching the gospel in all the towns and villages until he reaches Caesarea (8:40). In that city Luke, on his way to Jerusalem with Paul and his party, stays at the house of Philip and has an opportunity to hear from him an eyewitness account of this whole incident (21:8–10).