Obedience and Proper Interest

Introduction

Acts 8 has given us two contrasts, so far.

Religious zeal expressed by violence.

Religious zeal that seeks to exploit God’s power for personal gain.

We have also had two positives.

Those who fled Jerusalem have preached the gospel.

They have not abandoned the faith in the face of persecution.

Philip is the key example.

People in Samaria believed, were baptized, and were witnessed by the apostles to have genuinely identified with Jesus.

We remain outside of Jerusalem, and we might consider what is going on there with the apostles.

If Saul, so far, has rejected, and Simon turned out to be disingenuous, what does someone who truly wants to identify with Jesus look like.

Philip: An Example of Commitment

Luke has already used him as the embodiment of the commitment of Jesus’ followers.

Now, he continues to be so.

We learn from Acts 8:25 that the witnesses who spoke the word returned to Jerusalem.

This resolves the narrative so that those who fled returned to the city, perhaps with Peter and John.

They were proclaiming the word in many Samaritan villages.

The writer now wishes to draw attention back to Phillip.

Luke does not emphasize the activities of the Peter or of the apostles.

Phillip obeys despite extraordinary circumstances.

He receives directions that specify what he is to do, when/what direction he is to do it, and where to do it.

What: Rise

When/What direction: Be going to the south (or at midday)

Where: on the road descending from Jerusalem to Gaza.

Luke also adds that the road is not well traveled (it is a desert).

Philip did as he was instructed.

The Eunuch: An Introduction

The writer draws the reader’s/hearer’s attention to the eunuch.

He is:

A man from Ethiopia.

An official and eunuch over the treasury of his queen.

Pliny the Elder: They reported also that the city of Meroë stands at a distance of seventy miles from the first entrance of the island of Meroë, and that close to it is another island, Tadu by name, which forms a harbour facing those who enter the right hand channel of the river. The buildings in the city, they said, were but few in number, and they stated that a female, whose name was Candace, ruled over the district, that name having passed from queen to queen for many years (NH 6.186).

He was traveling because:

He had come to Jerusalem to worship there.

No doubt he had come for the festivities.

Had he been present during the crucifixion?

He was returning home, sitting in his chariot, and reading Isaiah the prophet.

A Proper Interest

We learn the Spirit told Philip to approach him and join the carriage.

As Philip approached, he could hear the man following the ancient custom of reading aloud or having one of his servants do so.

Philip asked the man if he understood the passage he was reading.

He proclaimed, through a question, that he could not without someone explaining it to him.

Let us note what is missing:

No questions about how Philip came to be with him or to know about his presence.

No interest in buying something from Philip.

Let us note:

Genuine interest in more than reading the scriptures.

He needed to understand what he read (and so do we).

The earlier proclamations of the Word of the Lord would have included passages of the scriptures.

Witih this man, he was already reading the scriptures.

As we approach Paul, we are farther away from Jerusalem.

Jews

Hellenistic Jews

Samaritans

And, now, an Meroevian treasurer.