Acts 8:26-40

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch. Philip appears again; we are not told where, but the instruction given him by the angel shows that he was not at Jerusalem; he is to go southward (mg. at noon; not suitable for a long journey) to the Jerusalem-Gaza road. That the road was forsaken was in its favour in this instance. Arrived at the junction of the two roads, from Tyre and from Jerusalem, Philip sees a chariot; it contains an Ethiopian eunuch, the treasurer at an African court under Candace (a dynastic title rather than a name). He is returning home from Jerusalem, where he had gone to worship; whether he was a Jew or a proselyte we are not told. An angel suggested Philip's journey; the Spirit now bids him approach the chariot. He hears the eunuch reading aloud from Isaiah words which have recently received a new interpretation among followers of Jesus. The eunuch is a modest man; he cannot understand without guidance what he is reading, and he invites Philip to sit beside him. In the Church the passage, here quoted from the LXX, had been applied to Jesus (Acts 3:13, his Servant; Acts 3:18; Luke 24:25). The doctrine of atonement through Christ was absent from the preaching of Peter, but 1 Corinthians 15:3 shows that a beginning was early made with it, no doubt connected with Isaiah 53. The eunuch's question (Acts 8:34) was a natural one; it is still asked, and answered in various ways. Philip makes the passage his text for a sermon about Jesus, which proves convincing; and the baptism follows. Philip is carried northward and found at Azotus, i.e. Ashdod (p. 28). He continues his missionary activity in the west of Palestine, and his journey ends at Cæ sarea (p. 28), where it may have begun. Cæ sarea was a new town built by Herod and supplied with a good harbour. It was the residence of the Roman procurator, and the most important town of Palestine.

Acts 8:37. Only mg. gives this verse, in which Philip asks for a confession of faith before baptizing, and a very short one is made. This verse was known to Irenæ us and Cyprian, but the MSS are against it, and it could easily be inserted, while it would not readily be removed, once there.