But 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 road. And he rose and went. And behold, an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a
minister of the Can'dace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of all her
treasure, had come to Jerusalem to worship and was on his way home; seated in
his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip,
"Go up and join this chariot." So Philip ran to him, and heard him
reading Isaiah the prophet, and asked, "Do you understand what you are
reading?" And he said, "How can I, unless some one guides me?"
And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the
scripture which he was reading was this: "As a sheep led to the slaughter
or a lamb before its shearer is dumb, so he opens not his mouth. In his
humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his
life is taken up from the earth." And the eunuch said to Philip, "About
whom, pray, does the prophet say this, about himself or about some one
else?" Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this scripture he
told him the good news of Jesus.
And as they went along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said,
"See, here is water! What is to prevent my being baptized?" And he
commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip
and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water,
the Spirit of the Lord caught up Philip; and the eunuch saw him no more, and
went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azo'tus, and passing on he
preached the gospel to all the towns till he came to Caesare'a.
In a Nutshell
The Holy Spirit prompted Philip to keep on the road and he is involved in an amazing conversion of a servant of the Ethiopian Queen. Then he preached in Azotus before going home to Caesarea.
Questions
This story is about Philip who was one of those appointed with Stephen. What is Luke trying to tell us? Look at Acts 1:8, Luke 24:47, Matt 28:19.
Philip moved on. God's Spirit prompted him to keep going. And that was when, out on the Gaza Road, he met a servant of the Ethiopian Queen. This foreigner "had come to Jerusalem to worship". But he was a eunuch, and Jewish law forbade him from entering the house of God (Deuteronomy 23:1). Was he going home early? Maybe someone had consoled him by referring to Isaiah's account of God's promise to eunuchs. This is found in Isaiah 56:5. There it reads: "I will give eunuchs who believe in me an everlasting name that will never be cut off." This is very stark language. The Almighty gave a wonderful promise. And no doubt Luke, a physician, knew this promise as well. He would have known that Eunuchs could not enter the temple. This man was puzzling over Isaiah's prophecies when Philip hitched a ride with him. The scroll he was reading was Chapters 40 to 66, known as "Second Isaiah". They looked together at the "suffering servant" passages. The eunuch's question was about Isaiah 53 and this gave Philip an opportunity to explain how Jesus had fulfilled this prophecy. The man believed and was baptised. He went home rejoicing. He may not have been able to worship as he had intended but now he was part of the Suffering Servant's story.
Philip returned home to Caesarea. We next hear about him in Acts 21, when Luke was accompanying Paul. It was then, I guess, that Luke heard this story from Philip's own mouth.