Font Size
It takes divine intervention to extend the witness of Christian experience to a proselyte (8:26, 29). We can infer that the Ethiopian was a proselyte from the fact that he had been to the temple in Jerusalem to worship and possessed a copy of the Jewish Scriptures. But what a proselyte! Not only was he a high official of a pagan foreign government, but a eunuch. For any pious, observant Jew, this man would be excluded from the cultus and would be unclean in the community because he was physically impaired. With the Ethiopian eunuch, Luke portrays the Christian community extending itself to the utmost limit of what could possibly be considered Judaism.
Philip’s obedience to God indicates why God was able to use him so powerfully. Instead of raising questions about the sense of going out on a desert road, he went. Instead of discussing the wisdom of a strange, lone person approaching an undoubtedly well-protected caravan, he ran up to it. If we wonder why there seems an absence of direction by God in our day, perhaps we need to look at the quality of our obedience.
Seemingly strange events follow the baptism of the Ethiopian (8:39-40). Translation seems to be part of the problem. The idea of Philip being transported by the Spirit disappears when it is seen that the Greek text says, The Spirit of the Lord seized Philip, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing, and Philip was found in Azotus. It seems likely that just as the Spirit sent Philip into the desert to meet the Ethiopian, the Spirit sent Philip off on another assignment as soon as the task was completed.