Acts 8:27

behold, a man of Ethiopia It is better to supply the substantive verb here, "behold there was, &c." otherwise the conjunction at the commencement of the next verse is left untranslated.

Ethiopia, like Cush in the O. T., is a general name given to the country which is now called Nubia and Abyssinia. Its northern portion was the great kingdom of Meroe, which we know was ruled over by queens for a long period (Plin. H. N. vi. 29), and it is from this kingdom, most probably, that the eunuch had come. Jews were abundant in Egypt, and this man had become a proselyte to their religion.

under Candace queen of the Ethiopians We are told by Pliny (l. c.) that this was the name of a series of queens of Meroe, just as Pharaoh at an early period and Ptolemy subsequently were general names for the kings of Egypt, and Cæsar for the Roman emperors.

and had come to Jerusalem for to worship As proselytes did, as well as Jews. This we learn from the enumeration of those who were present at the feast of Pentecost (Acts 2:10), among whom proselytes are expressly named. So (John 12:20) we find Greeks coming up to the feasts at Jerusalem.