And he rose up and went. And lo, an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a man in power under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to worship at Jerusalem,
One verse holds a whole life: a foreigner from Africa, one of the top officials in his queen's court, heading home from a trip to Jerusalem he made to worship. God moved an evangelist off a busy mission field onto a desert road to meet him.
Philip left public work behind and went where he could expect nobody.
Is it not remarkable that Philip, the only man the New Testament plainly calls an evangelist, was sent away from public service to one man in the desert? (Acts 8).
He raised no objection about the size of the audience.
He does not say, "Ah, I will not be able to get a congregation. And anyway I don't like a small one; I want a big one." He has not a word about small or big. In fact, he was not going to have a congregation. He must be content with one single soul. That soul is precious beyond all calculation to God, if not even to himself.
The verse lists his credentials: court official, in charge of the whole royal treasury. They were not enough.
He was a man thoroughly trusted, with an immense amount of money going through his hands. He clearly had a high place in the trust of his royal mistress. But despite all that, there was a want in his heart. This man, we find, had gone up to Jerusalem to worship. No doubt he was a convert to the Jewish faith... Seeking after God, he had taken this thousand-mile journey from beyond the southernmost edge of Egypt.
He went to the right place for the right reason — and found nothing there. Writers trace this to the state of the temple itself.
Yet, whatever his greatness, his heart was not satisfied within that circle, and he had come as a worshipper to Jerusalem... Yet it was the very house of which the Lord had testified, "You have made it a den of robbers." God's own thought was that it should be a house of prayer for all nations, where even the Ethiopian might stretch out his hands to God. But in the hands of His people it had become a place of robbery and spoil. How then could the heart that truly sought Jehovah be satisfied there?
One earlier traveller had made the same journey to Jerusalem and gone home satisfied. Commentators set the two visits side by side.
The Queen of Sheba and the Ethiopian eunuch are both examples of this, but with a difference. The Queen got the blessing in Jerusalem, for everything was in divine order in her day. The eunuch got the blessing as he travelled away from Jerusalem. By then the Temple was an empty shell, and the Christ of God had been rejected.
His title was not only an honour. Under the law it shut him out, though the prophets had already spoken to men in his position.
He was also an outcast in religious terms, despite his high position and his heart for God. As a eunuch — and I have no doubt the word is meant literally — he could not come into the congregation of the Lord (Deut. 23:1). That held true whatever precious assurances of future blessing there might be for him (Isa. 56:3-5).
On the road home he had the Scriptures open. Commentators make that the turning point of the story.
We find him in his chariot, reading the prophet Isaiah. And you can depend on it, now as then. If you find a man who has got hold of the Scriptures and is reading them, you will notice that God sends some Philip to that man's side, sooner or later. Yes, if you are in downright earnest to get the truth, you will get it.
Where he came from matters. Commentators set his story beside the two conversions that follow in Acts.
The Ethiopian was a son of Ham. Saul, the Jew, was a son of Shem. Cornelius, the Roman, was a son of Japheth. That is one man from each of the three families of mankind after the flood. It shows the universal reach of the gospel of the grace of God, and its power. We would have put the centurion first and the African last. But God's ways are not our ways. He knows how to rebuke our pride, and with Him the last shall be first.
- Seeking — he travelled a thousand miles to worship and still came home with a want in his heart. Jerusalem could not fill it.
- Barred — the law shut a eunuch out of the congregation, yet the prophets held out future blessing for him. The man religion shut out is the man grace runs after.
- Reading — he had the Scriptures and was reading them. Where a person is in earnest with the Bible, God sends a Philip.
- Sent — the one man the New Testament names as an evangelist left public work for one traveller. He never asked whether the crowd would be big or small.
- Reaching — a son of Ham first, then Shem, then Japheth. God's order rebukes our pride and shows the gospel reaching the whole human race.
was returning and sitting in his chariot and he was reading the prophet Esaias.
A high official is riding home along a desert road, far from Jerusalem, with a scroll of Isaiah open in front of him. He has been up to worship, and two questions hang over him: why the long journey, and why is he still reading?
His title marks him out as the queen's treasurer, in charge of all her money. Yet the reason he was on that road at all was that his position had not satisfied him.
He was a man thoroughly trusted, with an immense amount of money going through his hands. He clearly held a high place in the trust of the queen he served. But despite all that, there was something missing in his heart. This man, we find, had gone up to Jerusalem to worship. No doubt he was a Jewish proselyte... He was seeking God, so he had made this thousand-mile journey from a land beyond the southern edge of Egypt.
The word "returning" carries the weight of the verse. He had gone up to the one place on earth where people looked for God's blessing. He came back the same man.
He was going back without the blessing that his earnest heart yearned after. He had gone up to the great city of solemn feasts, but the blessing was no longer to be found there... Jerusalem had this added to her other sins, that when the blessing had come down from heaven, she would not have it. She despised the Holy Spirit just as she had despised the Messiah. No wonder, then, that this man who had gone up to Jerusalem to worship was heading home with the longings of his heart still unmet.
Under the law, a eunuch was shut out of the assembly of the Lord. So his disappointment ran deeper than a wasted trip. He turned to the prophets like a man with nowhere else to go, and what he found there brought him a sorrow he could not explain.
He was also an outcast in religion, despite his high position and his heart for God. As a eunuch he could not come into the congregation of the Lord (Deut. 23:1), whatever precious assurances of future blessing there might be for him (Isa. 56:3-5). He sits in his chariot on his way back from the city of hollow forms and empty ceremonies. He turns to the pages of the prophets, and to Isaiah most of all, to find comfort. But sorrow met him here too, and a sorrow he could not see into: the sorrows of One from whom Israel, it seemed, had turned, One led as a sheep to the slaughter, silent as a lamb before its shearers, His judgment taken away, His life taken from the earth. The cloud lies over it hopelessly, as it seems to him, unless someone guides him; and he has no one.
He was not skimming to pass the miles. The book had such a hold on him that a stranger's voice in that empty place did not startle him.
The Word of God was addressing his soul. The Prophet Isaiah was taking him out of himself. He was not startled by the stranger's voice in that desert place. All he cared for, all he thought of, was the secret of the Book... And Philip let him into the secret that he was searching.
The same detail is drawn out as a picture of what an anxious person does with an empty hour on a journey.
He is also a beautiful example of an anxious soul. When alone and with nothing to do, he reads the prophet Isaiah. He thinks over the prophecy of the suffering, unresisting Lamb of God. But the moment of light and deliverance had come.
Writers turn the scene into a promise. God does not leave an earnest reader without help.
We find him in his chariot, reading the prophet Isaiah. And you can count on this, now as then: find a man who has got hold of the Scriptures and is reading them, and you will see God send some Philip to that man's side, sooner or later. Yes, if you are in downright earnest to get the truth, you will get it. This man was in earnest in seeking for light, and the knowledge of God. God saw this, and prepared the way for his receiving what he sought.
- The road out. A man trusted with a queen's whole treasury travelled a thousand miles to worship. High position had left something missing in his heart.
- The road back. He came home unsatisfied. The blessing was no longer in Jerusalem: the city had refused it when it came down from heaven.
- The open book. The law shut him out of the congregation, so he turned to Isaiah for comfort. There he met a sorrow he could not explain without a guide.
- The absorbed reader. Scripture had taken him out of himself. A stranger's voice in the desert did not startle him. He wanted only the secret of the Book.
- The rule proved. Find someone in earnest with the Scriptures open, and God sends a Philip to his side sooner or later.
And the Spirit said to Philip, Approach and join this chariot.
Philip has just seen crowds in Samaria turn to Christ, and now he is on a desert road as a stranger's chariot rolls by. One short sentence redirects him, and everything turns on who speaks: the Spirit, not the angel of the earlier verses.
An angel handled the travel directions; the Spirit handles the man. Commentators draw a clear line between the two kinds of leading. They also note that no evangelist would have chosen this road.
The angel of the Lord directs him. There were two roads, and an evangelist would not have chosen the desert one. But the object of God's grace was travelling by this one; and God uses an angel here, as He always does in His providence... But here it is not an angel but "the Spirit" that said to Philip, "Go over and join this chariot." Angels have to do with circumstances, the Spirit leads as to souls.
Both kinds of leading were at work in that hour, and we notice one of them far more than the other.
As it was then, so it is now. Yet we think more readily of the guidance of the Spirit than of the direction of providence. May we trust God for everything! He changes not!
The command came to a man in the middle of a successful campaign, where he was known and loved.
Philip shows the character of prompt, unquestioning obedience with a simple heart. He is called to leave his prosperous work. That work carried all his personal importance (if he had been seeking it), and there people surrounded him with respect and affection... Philip's ready obedience does not weigh the difference between Samaria and Gaza. It looks at the Lord's will, and he goes. The gospel now spreads to Gentiles who had joined the Jewish faith, and makes its way to the heart of Ethiopia.
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The order matters. Philip was already on the desert road, obeying his first orders, before the Spirit gave him anything to do there.
Circumstances do not guide him; the Lord does... Because he is in the path of obedience, the Spirit is free to use him. The power of the Spirit is the only power for the Lord's work, and only in the path of obedience can a servant know that power. Being in that path, Philip hears the Spirit say, "Go over and join this chariot." He is in the path of obedience and in the power of the Holy Spirit, and he is also in the energy of divine affection. Another writer has linked this with Luke 15, where the father ran to meet his lost son. Here the servant, in tune with the heart of God, runs to carry the good news of salvation to the thirsty soul.
The instruction stops short of what we might expect. Philip is told to draw alongside, not to climb aboard — the invitation into the carriage comes later, from the traveller himself.
He always directs us to the right person, if only we are willing and ready, like Philip, to go at the Lord's bidding... "Go near." God does not say, Go into the chariot. Oh no! God says, "Go near, and join yourself to this chariot."
Walking up to a high official uninvited took nerve. But the Spirit was already at work on the other side too.
A stranger to that eunuch made bold to address him. Naturally he might have pushed him away. Why should that plain man dare to intrude on such a high official? He had no following, not even one servant to mark his rank... But when the Spirit prepares hearts, they are ready to welcome help. The outward appearance of the person, or the strangeness of such a meeting, raises no objection in the mind of a true inquirer.
Commentators are careful here: the manner has changed, the reality has not.
It was not an angel, but the Spirit whose voice told him to draw near to the anxious Ethiopian official. We may not hear Him as Philip did, but He still gives us guidance of the same kind in dealing with souls. The Spirit knows their need. In love He works through Christ's members and servants, who often have no idea what He is going to do. The love of the Spirit is a real thing, as well as the love of Christ.
- Providence, then person. The angel picked the road; the Spirit picked the man. Angels deal with circumstances, the Spirit deals with souls — and both were at work in the same hour.
- Obedience unlocks it. Philip was already walking the desert road before the word came. The Spirit is free to use a servant who is already in the path of obedience.
- Cost, then reach. He left a thriving work and a city that loved him, and never weighed Samaria against Gaza. Through that one obedience the gospel travelled to Ethiopia.
- Near, not in. God did not say, Go into the chariot. He said, Go near — and the Spirit guides a willing servant to the right person.
- Still true. We may not hear the voice as Philip did. But the Spirit still knows what souls need, and works through servants who have no idea what He is about to do.
And Philip, running up, heard him reading the prophet Esaias, and said, Dost thou then know what thou art reading of?
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And he said, How should I then be able unless some one guide me? And he begged Philip to come up and sit with him.
A court official of the Ethiopian queen rides home through desert, reading Isaiah aloud and understanding nothing. Philip asks whether he follows it, and the answer is both a confession and an invitation.
His reply admits something about himself — and about every reader.
It was an admission that he could not understand without a teacher. It was almost a confession of the great fact: whatever human learning may boast, the unaided mind of man cannot grasp the truth of God at all.
He was going home from Jerusalem no better off. The law shut him out of the assembly, and the passage on his lap described a sufferer he could not name.
As a eunuch — if we take that literally, as I do not doubt we should — he could not enter the assembly of the Lord (Deuteronomy 23:1), whatever precious promises of future blessing there were for him (Isaiah 56:3-5). Sitting in his chariot, returning from the city of empty forms and barren ceremonies, he turns naturally to the prophets, and to Isaiah most of all, to find comfort. But here too he met sorrow, of a kind he could not penetrate: the sorrows of One from whom Israel seemed to have turned, One led as a sheep to the slaughter... He is reading this aloud as he overtakes Philip on the road. It is as if he wanted to press on himself something that ought to have meaning for him, but has none. The cloud hangs over it, and to him it looks hopeless without some guide. He has none.
The excuse "I am not learned" sounds humble. But learning is not the missing piece.
Sadly, it was then as it is now in Christendom. The vision of Him who came to make God known, who otherwise cannot be known, passes from the learned to the unlearned. It is as if the divine answer to every riddle were itself the one riddle nobody can solve. Ask the learned man to read, and he says, I cannot, for it is sealed. Ask the unlearned man, and he excuses himself, I am not learned. Faith alone can understand: so it is, and so it ought to be.
The guide he asked for came on foot. But the teaching was not Philip's own.
But no one can understand these divine things unless the great and only teacher guides him — the Holy Spirit. This was the eunuch's difficulty; Philip was the Spirit's chosen instrument for teaching him.
He is not only the teacher behind Philip. He lives in the believer as well.
How well it will be to ask ourselves how far we realise in practice that a Divine Person lives in us. He is the perfect Judge of all doctrine, the Teacher of all teachers. It can never be humility to forget that He is with us. If we listen to Him, we shall never be deceived or led astray... This brings the conscience into exercise before God. It frees us from all indifference about teachers — for the Spirit uses His instruments with us as He pleases — and at the same time from all exaggerated deference to them.
A high official could easily have waved off a stranger on foot. Instead he made room on the seat.
Why should that plain man, with no escort, not even one attendant to mark his rank, presume to intrude on such a high official?... But when the Spirit prepares hearts, they are ready to welcome help; and the outward appearance of the person, or the strangeness of such a meeting, raises no objection in the mind of a true inquirer... He needed help. He confessed it. And believing Philip could give it, he begged him to come up and sit with him. The servant of Candace and the servant of the Lord were now together. The eunuch was probably used to people listening to him with respect. Now he sat as a pupil at the feet of the evangelist.
He said he had no one to guide him. God had already moved a preacher off a thriving work to walk that desert road.
One great charm of the passage before us is this — I see that God has His eye on an anxious man. He will, in a sense, interrupt the blessed work of His grace elsewhere, at least through one particular channel, to meet that anxious man... See what He does. He calls Philip away from his remarkable evangelistic work in Samaria and sends him down into the desert to meet one man. That is God.
- Admission. "How can I?" is the honest starting point: the unaided mind cannot grasp the truth of God, however learned it is.
- Obstacle. The educated and the uneducated both have a ready excuse: a sealed book, or no schooling. Neither is the real barrier. Faith alone understands.
- Guide. The Holy Spirit is the only teacher; Philip was the instrument He chose. So we neither scorn teachers nor lean on them too heavily.
- Posture. A man others obeyed sat down as a learner and invited the stranger up beside him. Prepared hearts don't weigh a helper's appearance.
- Provision. He thought he had no guide; God had already redirected Philip into the desert for him alone.
And the passage of the scripture which he read was this He was led as a sheep to slaughter, and as a lamb is dumb in presence of him that shears him, thus he opens not his mouth.
A court official from Ethiopia is riding home through the desert. His long trip to Jerusalem has left him empty. On his knees lies an open scroll of Isaiah, and the words in front of him describe a silent victim led away to die. Two questions sit on the page: who is this sufferer, and why does He not say a word?
The eunuch had reached Isaiah 53:7-8. It describes a trial where everything went wrong and the accused let it happen. One writer points to both halves of that: the injustice done to Him, and His quiet acceptance of it.
These verses emphasise the unjust and twisted judgement passed on the Lord Jesus. They also show how He received everything from God. He did not protest His innocence or argue against the sentence. He quietly accepted the injustice, knowing that a deeper purpose was in view.
The picture goes against everything we expect. A man accused of what he did not do argues back. Everyone does. One writer also marks the difference between the two pictures in the verse: shearing is not slaughter.
Verse 7 emphasises His silence before His accusers. When men are treated harshly and unjustly, they protest. That is natural and normal. So His silence went against all experience, and the Gospels record it — Matthew 27:11-14; Mark 15:3-4; Luke 23:9; John 19:9. A sheep really is silent before the shearers, as anyone can see today by watching shearers at work. But He was not like a sheep being sheared. He was like a lamb led to the slaughter. He was indeed "the Lamb of God," as John the Baptist announced, and yet no word of protest left His lips.
Silence here is not weakness or lack of an answer. He had a complete case and chose not to make it.
He could have thrown back every charge and cleared Himself against each accuser. But self-defence was not His aim. Full and unmistakable self-surrender was the business of His blessed life here on earth.
The man reading was doubly frustrated. He had gone to Jerusalem and come away empty. As a eunuch he had no place in the congregation of the Lord. Then the very page he turned to for comfort gave him a sorrow he could not explain.
He sits in his chariot, on his way back from the city of empty forms and lifeless ceremonies. He turns to the prophets, and most of all to Isaiah, to find comfort. But sorrow met him here too, and a sorrow he could not get to the bottom of — the sorrows of One from whom Israel, it seemed, had turned away, One led as a sheep to the slaughter, silent as a lamb before its shearers. He is reading this aloud as he catches up with Philip on the road. He reads as if to press on himself something that ought to mean much to him, but does not. The cloud hangs over it hopelessly, as it seems to him, without a guide; and he has none.
Who is the prophet speaking about? Isaiah 53 answers by telling one story about one Person, detail by detail.
The first verse foretold the Lord's rejection during His life (John 12:38). The fourth verse predicted His ways in grace and healing (Matthew 8:17). The fifth verse stated His bearing of our sins, and the blessed result of that for us (1 Peter 2:24). The ninth verse declared His spotless innocence (1 Peter 2:22). That same verse announced His burial in Joseph's tomb (Matthew 27:57-60). The last verse sets out God's appreciation of Him.
The passage did more than inform the traveller. It won him.
The meekness and gentleness of the Lord, His humiliation, His suffering and His death won the heart of the eunuch. They bound him with everlasting bonds to our great Saviour. He did not delay. He had to become His disciple at once and be identified with Him in His death.
Notice what the man who was shut out found in the end.
The eunuch finds that he too can have his place in the congregation of the Lord. He finds One who can do for him what Jerusalem and the law could not do.
- Silent — He kept quiet, and not for lack of a defence. Self-surrender, not self-defence, was His purpose.
- Slaughtered — the picture moves past shearing to killing. This is the Lamb of God going to death without one word of protest.
- Sealed — he had the right chapter and still sat under a cloud. Without a guide, Scripture left him asking who the sufferer was.
- Spoken — the answer to his question is a Person. Isaiah 53 tells of rejection, healing, sin-bearing, innocence and burial, all of Jesus.
- Shared — the man the law shut out found a place, and asked at once to be identified with the Lamb in His death.
In his humiliation his judgment has been taken away, and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.
The words the Ethiopian official was reading come from the Greek version of Isaiah 53. They describe a trial, a generation, and a life cut short. Three short clauses raise three questions. Whose trial is this? What does "generation" mean here? And why does a prophet speak of a life taken away?
Read as a unit, the verse moves from a courtroom, to the people who filled it, to the outcome on a cross.
The first clause of verse 33 seems to express how His trial made a mockery of all righteousness. The second expresses the unspeakable wickedness of that generation. The third expresses the violent end of His life on earth, which He bowed to — and that end proves their wickedness.
The Greek wording differs from the Hebrew of Isaiah, and it points to His trial.
He was doubtless reading from the Septuagint version in Greek, which renders it, "In his humiliation justice was denied him." And so it was. The trial of our Lord ended in His condemnation and crucifixion, and it was the most shocking miscarriage of justice the world has ever seen. A legal expert has gone through the evidence of the Gospels. He states that every step taken by His accusers and judges, Jews and Gentiles alike, was irregular and unjust.
A human court was not the last word for Him.
In condemning Him, men violated every principle of right judgment. But He was content to keep silent before His judges and to move His case to the highest Court in the universe. He knew that His vindication in the presence of Jehovah was sure.
Commentators differ over the word "generation." One reading takes it as the people alive then — the crowd that condemned Him.
To understand "posterity" here (even in a spiritual sense) seems to go against normal usage, and against this context too. The meaning is His contemporaries instead. How blind they were to His glory! And how blind to the wonderful work His humiliation was about to achieve by His atoning death on the cross! In their murderous hatred they were only hurrying on the very thing that would take away, in the grace of God, the transgression of His people.
The other reading takes "generation" as posterity. On that view, Jehovah Himself answers the question later in the same chapter of Isaiah.
And the prophetic declaration of the result is, "He was cut off out of the land of the living," or as the Ethiopian read it, "His life is taken from the earth." So the prophet asks, "Who shall declare His generation?" and to this question men would all reply that, His life being taken, no generation was possible. When we reach verse 10 of our chapter we shall find the answer Jehovah gives to this question, and it is a very different one, since He was cut off and stricken not for Himself but for the transgression of those whom Jehovah calls "My people."
Readers have tried to draw doctrines about Christ's eternal existence or His birth out of this line. One writer rules all of it out.
Some old interpreters used this to prove the eternal generation of the Word. They were not justified in it, any more than others who took it of His miraculous Incarnation. But no distortion seems worse than the conclusion that words like these promise Christ's life will last for ever. The whole passage refers only to His humiliation.
Two Old Testament offerings picture two sides of His death. Here the prophet gives one side, and John's Gospel the other.
In the burnt offering it is not a question of sin-bearing, or of enduring the wrath of God. It is wholly one of voluntary devotedness, shown in the death of the cross… "For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again" (John 10:17). Here we have the burnt offering side of the death of Christ. On the other hand, the prophet sees Him as the sin offering and says, "his life is taken away from the earth" (Acts 8:33, which is the Septuagint version of Isaiah 53:8).
The verse was a starting point for the gospel, not the whole of it.
The wording differs from the Old Testament we have because of the Septuagint, the Greek version in common use then… The sense stays much the same. But we should not conclude that Philip kept to this scripture alone. He "began" from it, and that word rather implies — and warrants — that he did not end there, but explained other scriptures too.
- Injustice. The first clause records a trial where men broke every principle of right judgment.
- Silence. He did not defend Himself; He transferred His case to God's court, certain of vindication there.
- Blindness. Commentators differ over "his generation." Some take it as the crowd who condemned Him and missed His glory. Others take it as posterity, and let Isaiah answer two verses on.
- Humiliation only. These clauses hold no hidden promise of glory; the whole passage speaks of His lowliness.
- Beginning. Philip started from this verse and did not stop there; he explained other scriptures too. Humiliation was the door in.
And the eunuch answering Philip said, I pray thee, concerning whom does the prophet say this? of himself or of some other?
An Ethiopian official rides home from Jerusalem, reading Isaiah aloud, when Philip catches up with his chariot. His question — who is the prophet talking about? — is the hinge, because the answer turns out to be a name.
He had already told Philip he could not understand the passage without help. Commentators see in that a confession that no one grasps God's truth alone:
Philip put an important question to the eunuch: "Do you understand what you are reading?" The eunuch's answer was just as solemn: "How can I, unless someone guides me?" He was admitting that he could not understand without a teacher. It was almost a confession of a great fact. Whatever the empty boasting of human learning, the mind of man on its own cannot grasp the truth of God at all.
He was a high official, and Philip was a stranger with nothing to mark his rank. He could have waved him away:
A stranger made bold to speak to that eunuch. It would have been natural for him to brush the man off. Why should this plain man dare to intrude on such a high official? He had no attendants, nothing to mark his rank. … But when the Spirit prepares hearts, they are ready to welcome help. The look of the person, or the strangeness of the meeting, raises no objection in the mind of a real inquirer.
The form of his question matters. He did not ask what the passage meant; he asked whom it described.
When Philip was sent to the eunuch, the question was mainly about the person. "About whom," asked the eunuch (not "about what"), "does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?" And Philip "began at that same scripture and preached to him Jesus."
His two options — the prophet himself, or someone else — open an old dispute. Some have read the suffering figure of Isaiah 53 as the nation of Israel. Commentators answer that the chapter itself separates the Sufferer from the people:
It is true, as we have often noticed in this prophet, that "my servant" sometimes applies to Israel. But the context always gives clear marks that make the decision neither difficult nor doubtful. Chapter 53 makes it plain and certain. There the Individual in question stands out clearly from the people who did not value Him. He bore their griefs and carried their sorrows. He was wounded for their transgressions, and His wounds brought them healing when He was crushed for their iniquities. He suffered from them and for them, and afterwards brings them remarkable blessing. To make this suffering One the same as those people is the grossest confusion.
The part he was reading described suffering only, not glory. That was the hard part for a Jewish reader, and it shaped the name Philip used.
It was not by chance but from God that the passage of Isaiah in front of him set out the holy suffering Messiah. Other parts of this same prophecy, before and after, testify to His exaltation. But here it is sufferings only. That was the main difficulty to a Jew, who thought only of His glorious kingdom. So the name "Jesus" fits Philip's use of the prophecy. It is all the more striking because the Spirit had said that Philip proclaimed "the Christ," the Messiah, to the Samaritans. … The Samaritans needed to hear that the Christ had come. The Ethiopian needed to know that the despised and suffering Jesus was beyond doubt the Messiah. … "Jesus" was the right word for this. It says what He became in manhood, so that rebellious creatures could despise Him. It also tells out His own glory — He who stooped so low for us. He was Jehovah the Saviour.
Philip started from the verses the man was reading. Writers note that he started there but did not stop there.
To the eunuch. He explained Isaiah 53. Philip began at that scripture; it goes on even to the glory, for you get "he shall divide the spoil with the strong."
The answer did more than satisfy his curiosity. It bound him to a Person, and he acted at once.
The meekness and gentleness of the Lord, His humiliation and suffering and death — these won the heart of the eunuch. They bound him with everlasting bonds to our great Saviour. He did not delay; he had to become His disciple at once and be identified with Him in His death. So he said, "See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?"
- Confessed — He admitted he could not understand without a guide. That opened the door to everything that followed.
- Person — He asked "about whom," not "about what." The answer is a Person, not a theme.
- Contested — Some read Isaiah 53 as a picture of the nation. Commentators answer that the chapter keeps the Sufferer apart from the people He suffered for.
- Named — Philip's answer was Jesus: the suffering One, under the name that fits His humiliation.
- Joined — Once he knew whom the passage was about, he asked for baptism at once.
And Philip, opening his mouth and beginning from that scripture, announced the glad tidings of Jesus to him.
The Ethiopian official had just asked Philip who the prophet was writing about. The answer was a name, and how Philip got there from one passage of Isaiah is what commentators explore here.
God brought two men onto the same desert road from opposite directions. The timing was not an accident.
He had come all the way from Ethiopia, a poor hungry man. He went to Jerusalem to find something, for that was where people learned to know the true God. Yet he was going back with an empty heart. Would the Lord let that be? Would He let a man who is seeking Him in that way go back empty? He takes Philip from the middle of the revival at Samaria and sends him into the desert. There He brings Philip and the eunuch together. The eunuch is holding the Bible, open at the very place where He wants Philip to preach from. Out of Isaiah 53, Philip preaches Jesus to him.
The phrase looks like a small detail. It sets a rule for anyone who speaks.
"He opened his mouth." This may seem a small matter, yet I think it has a practical lesson for us... Eloquence is certainly not needed, and neither are finely-polished sentences. But two other passages of Scripture show that the servant has a duty to speak clearly and simply. The truth he teaches may be precious. It still builds no one up if his hearers cannot hear or understand what he says.
Philip needed no time to choose a topic, because he already knew where every page of Scripture points.
He "preached to him Jesus" — not doctrines or theories, but a living, loving, personal Saviour. Philip has no difficulty about his text. He has learned that Christ is the spirit of Scripture. So from the passage the eunuch was reading he preaches Jesus, the theme of the good news of God.
Earlier in the same chapter Philip proclaimed "the Christ" in Samaria. Here the wording changes, and the change fits the passage in front of him.
So the name "Jesus" fits exactly where Philip applies the prophecy (v. 35). It is all the more striking because the Spirit who inspired the record had said in verse 5 that Philip proclaimed "the Christ," the Messiah, to the Samaritans... The Samaritans needed to hear that the Christ had come. The Ethiopian needed to know that the despised and suffering Jesus was beyond doubt the Messiah... Now "Jesus" was the right word for this. On one side, the name says what He became as a man — someone rebellious creatures could treat with contempt. On the other, it tells out the glory that belongs to the One who stooped so low for us.
One word in the verse hints at how much more Philip said.
We are not to conclude that Philip limited himself to this scripture. The word "began" points the other way: he did not end there, but explained other scriptures too.
The passage Philip started from does not stop at the suffering.
Philip began at that scripture, and it goes on even to the glory, for you get "he shall divide the spoil with the strong."
The law had shut this man out of the congregation of the Lord. The meeting on that road changed where he belonged.
The Shepherd's eye was on him, and the Spirit directed Philip to speak to him. Then it became clear that he was one of the sheep for whom the Good Shepherd had given His life. In earlier days the law never let a eunuch enter the congregation of the Lord (Deut. 23:1). Now he could enter the assembly of God and of Christ — and he did.
- Arranged — God moved Philip out of a thriving work in Samaria to reach one man. The Bible lay open at the right page when he arrived.
- Opened — "He opened his mouth" sets the standard for every servant: speak clearly and simply. Truth nobody can follow builds nobody up.
- Jesus — the man asked who the prophet was writing about. The answer was not a doctrine but a living, loving, personal Saviour. Christ is the spirit of Scripture, so Philip's text was already chosen.
- The name — Philip told Samaria that "the Christ" had come. This man needed the name "Jesus." It speaks of the contempt He accepted as a man, and of the glory of the One who stooped that low.
- Began — Philip started at Isaiah 53 and went on to other scriptures. The prophecy runs past the suffering to the glory. A man the old law shut out found his place in the assembly of God.
And as they went along the way, they came upon a certain water, and the eunuch says, Behold water; what hinders my being baptised?
The man from Ethiopia has just heard Philip preach Jesus to him. Now water appears beside the road, and his new faith turns straight into a question.
The story Philip told began at a line about a life taken away from the earth. That line stayed with the eunuch, and his call for water was his answer to it.
It is sweet to see the effect on the man listening to that wonderful story. The story started at the point that seems to have impressed his soul most deeply: "His life is taken away from the earth." So he exclaimed, "See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?" If the One who had won his heart was gone from the earth, then from now on he would live under the shadow of His death in this world.
The account never records Philip raising the subject. The eunuch himself sees the water and speaks first.
I do not read that Philip said anything about baptism, but the eunuch says, "See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?" Now, what did he mean by this? He had heard of the life and death of the Lord, and he learned that Jesus had gone into the grave and risen again. He seems to say, "He came into this scene for me, and He has died out of it. Now I would like to identify myself with Him, even if only in the figure of baptism. In this water I would like to put on His name."
The eunuch's question can be read as asking for burial. He had just heard that One died for him, and in the water he could put away everything he had been.
So the eunuch says, Here is water, why not let me own the judgment of God? Let me be buried here at once, on the spot. In this he justified God. He owned the full redemption in the precious death of Jesus for him. Then he gave himself up as entirely dead with Him. Think of all that he was: an Ethiopian, a religious man who had been to Jerusalem to worship, a child of the first Adam. He committed all of it to the grave, buried with Christ.
The wording of his question carries weight. A man asking permission is not a man carrying out an order.
Where is His command to the person to be baptised or to take the Lord's Supper? A command puts things in an altogether wrong light. Christian baptism is a favour conferred on the soul on the authority of the Lord Jesus. The Ethiopian asks, "What prevents me from being baptized?" And Peter, in the case of Cornelius, says, "Can anyone withhold water?" It would be strange to talk this way if it were a command. Who would think of hindering or forbidding a command of the Lord?
Faith came first, then the water. Some give baptism credit for more than it carries.
Baptism follows the hearing of faith. So when they come upon some water, the stranger asks what prevents his being baptized, and receives the privilege on the spot… Without the heart's subjection to the Lord and His grace, the outward mark is worse than worthless. Yet its importance is neither small nor slight. Those who despise it lose the truth it stands for as plainly as those who make an idol of it. They fail to see that life is never attributed to baptism. Salvation is what baptism sets forth — the washing away of sins, and death to sin, the blessed portion the gospel bears witness to in Christ dead and risen for the believer.
Some Bibles carry a verse 37 where Philip replies about believing with the whole heart. Others leave it out or drop it into a footnote.
The next passage omitted of any importance is Acts 8:37: "And Philip said, If you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." The context shows that this verse is in no way needed for the story. For many years, people on all sides have agreed that it is an addition with no warrant. To believe with the heart is a divine condition (Rom. 10:9-10), but let us thank God — for who could stand the test? — that we are not required to work out whether we believe with our whole heart.
- Word first. Philip preached Jesus to him. His call for water grew out of what he had heard, not out of a ritual someone pressed on him.
- Water next. He asked for it himself, on the spot, wanting to put on the name of the One whose life was taken away from the earth.
- Grave next. The water pictured a grave: Christ's death put away his sins, and burial with Christ put away the man he had been.
- A favour, not an order. "What prevents me?" is the language of a man seeking a privilege; nobody asks permission to obey a command.
- Road after. Nothing hindered him. He went into the water to put on Christ's name, and lived from then on under the shadow of His death.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And he commanded the chariot to stop. And they went down both to the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptised him.
The Ethiopian official had just asked what stood in the way of his being baptized. Nothing did. This verse shows what baptism pictures, who carries it out, and what it cost this man.
The traveller called the halt, not the preacher. He had just heard that the life of the One who suffered was taken from the earth, and he drew his own conclusion.
From that Scripture Philip preached Jesus to him. As he listened to the story of the utter humiliation, the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus, the glory of this world lost its shine and faded from his eyes. Another Object filled his vision — Jesus, whose life was taken from the earth. He cried, "See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?" He would follow Him. He would turn his back on the world that had rejected Him. He would be identified with Him in His death as far as this world was concerned. Even self and all its former hopes must go in death. He was eager for it, nothing must stand in his way.
Both men stepped down into the water. The action itself carries the meaning: a burial, not a washing.
He had learnt he was a dead sinner, and what should hinder his burial? This is how it was done: "they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him." That is, he buried him in water as a dead sinner. It was a figure of the death and burial of Christ the adorable Substitute. And then he was raised out of the water, and went on his way rejoicing. He did not go down into the water to wash the man clean; no, it was to bury him. The water of baptism does not pour some virtue or grace into the dead sinner. And do not for a moment suppose it can wash away his sins and their stain. It is simply the figure or expression of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
The order here is fixed: he heard, he believed, and then he asked for water. Kelly warns against two errors: throwing the sign away, or making everything of it.
Baptism follows the hearing of faith. And so, when they come upon a certain water, the stranger asks what hinders his being baptized, and receives the privilege on the spot… The outer mark is worse than worthless without the heart's subjection to the Lord and His grace. Yet it has its importance in ways neither few nor small. The loss of the truth it represents is as clear in those who despise it as in those who idolise it. They fail to see that life is never attributed to baptism. Salvation is set forth in it: the washing away of sins, and death to sin. This is the blessed portion the gospel testifies to in Christ dead and risen for the believer.
No congregation, no committee, no ceremony. Philip did it himself, and that shows where the responsibility for baptizing lies.
With the Ethiopian all was simple and assured. There was no thought of going before the assembly in Samaria. Baptism is individual, no matter how many souls are baptized. The church has nothing to do with it. The Lord directed His servants — not the church as such — to baptize. They are responsible to Him for this, as they are for the preaching of the word. The church does not baptize, any more than it preaches and teaches; the evangelist does, though he may ask another to do it for him.
This man held rank in the world. Baptism would settle what he could still be there.
He saw the conclusion. If the only One who had a perfect title to live here had His life taken from the earth, then it was time for him to be associated with that One in the place of death and burial. Baptism sets that out in figure. That would close the record of his life as a man of the world. The eunuch was also a man of marked distinction in the world's affairs. Baptism for him would mean that he could never again be recognised as one of the world's great men.
Others were watching from the chariot.
That man was not driving his own chariot that day; somebody else was driving it. He had a fine carriage, and I expect there were a good many servants looking on. It is a fine thing when the master takes a stand for Christ; you will generally find that a blessing then comes to the servants as well.
- Hearing — Baptism follows the hearing of faith. It is never credited with giving life; it sets salvation forth.
- Halting — The eunuch stopped the chariot, not Philip. He was eager, and nothing must stand in his way.
- Burial — The water buries a dead sinner. It is a figure of Christ's death and burial, not a washing that makes him clean.
- Charge — The Lord told His servants, not the church, to baptize. Baptism is individual, whatever the numbers.
- Cost — For a man of rank, it closed the record of his life as a man of the world. His servants watched him take that stand, and blessing tends to reach them too.
But when they came up out of the water [the] Spirit of [the] Lord caught away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no longer, for he went on his way rejoicing.
The baptism is over, and Philip vanishes from the desert road. Two questions follow. Who took him away? And why does the man he just baptised travel on rejoicing instead of searching for him?
Philip did not choose to leave. One writer weighs the exact wording of the removal.
Verse 39 calls for special notice. And here I have no doubt the wording is deliberate. Its speed and abruptness are meant to drop the idea of the person. It is not as if the Holy Spirit as a person came and took him. He was caught away, not by man, nor by human means, but by the sovereign power of the Holy Spirit. The definite article is left out of the phrase on purpose.
Philip neither asked for this nor arranged it.
The miracle only established the new convert's faith, which is no doubt what God worked it to do. There is not a hint that Philip wished it, still less that he asked for it in prayer. It was God acting for the honour of His Son, by that Spirit's power at work on earth. And surely there was a wise and gracious purpose in the witness of it — and he was not alone — for the man returning to his native land with the gospel of salvation.
One writer's answer turns on a single connecting word.
Philip's mission to him had now ended. He had preached Jesus to him. He had baptised him at his own request. Then "the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away." He disappeared as suddenly as he had come, or even more so. The two who had met in the desert never met again on earth. The eunuch continued his homeward journey without turning aside to try to find Philip. "He saw him no more" is the writer's statement, and he gives the reason. The word should be read "for," not "and": "he went on his way rejoicing."
Losing the preacher cost the eunuch nothing. The preacher was never the supply.
Philip is caught away; the mere human teacher is not to take the place of the Divine. His coming and his going are both well suited to assure the new disciple. He may safely rest in the all-sufficiency that has now met him and ministered to him.
The same hand that sent the preacher took him away, and left something behind that could not be taken.
"He went on his way rejoicing." The Spirit of the Lord catches Philip away. Yet the eunuch's heart is so full of the truth that we may be sure everything that happened confirmed it in his eyes. How could anything seem too great and good to him whose heart had just made the acquaintance of Jesus? Did he not feel all the more settled in Jesus because there was now no other object before his soul? It was the Lord who had brought Philip, and it was His Spirit that had taken him away; but it was He too who had given him, and left him, Jesus for ever.
He had travelled a long way to Jerusalem and found nothing there. Grace met him on an empty road instead.
The Queen's treasurer is received among the disciples of the Lord by baptism, which sealed his faith in the testimony of the prophet Isaiah. He had made a hard journey from a far country to Jerusalem, to seek salvation in legal duties and ceremonies, but with faith in God's word. Now he goes on his way, rejoicing in that salvation. A beautiful picture of the grace of the gospel! He carries home with him what grace had given him in the wilderness — what his tiring journey to Jerusalem had not obtained for him.
The chariot was not empty. One writer notes who else was on the road that day.
As they came up out of the water, we read that "the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away." No doubt God stepped in here with a miracle. And notice: the eunuch was not the only one who saw it. That man was not driving his own chariot that day; someone else was driving it. He had a fine carriage, and I expect there were a good many servants looking on. It is a fine thing when the master takes a stand for Christ; you will generally find that a blessing then comes to the servants as well.
- Carried by God. Philip's removal was no human arrangement. Sovereign power moved him, and he never asked for it.
- Carried, then confirmed. The miracle served the new believer. It strengthened a faith just formed on the testimony of the prophet Isaiah.
- Carried away, not bereaved. The human teacher steps aside so he cannot take the place of the Divine. The new disciple rests on an all-sufficiency that has already met him.
- Carried by joy. He did not search for Philip because he was rejoicing. With no other object before his soul, he was more settled in Jesus, not less.
- Carried home. Jerusalem's ceremonies never gave him what he came for. Grace handed it to him in the wilderness, and he carried it home to a far country.