Atos 8:27

A man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority. — Literally, a eunuch, a potentate. The Ethiopia from which the traveller came was the region so named by the geographers of St. Luke’s time in the upper valley of the Nile. Its connection with the Jewish people presents many points of interest. There seems reason to believe that in the time of Manasseh, who (according to the statement in the narrative of Aristeas as to the LXX. translation) formed an alliance with Psammetichus king of Egypt, a considerable body of Jews were sent off to protect the outposts of his kingdom, and it is in reference, probably, to these that Zephaniah speaks of the suppliants of “the daughter of my dispersed beyond the rivers of Ethiopia” (Sofonias 3:10). Jewish influences had accordingly been at work there for some centuries. They may probably be traced in the piety of the Ethiopian eunuch, Ebed-melech, in the time of Jeremiah (Jeremias 38:7; Jeremias 39:16). Even at an earlier period the hopes of Israel had looked forward to, perhaps had actually seen, the admission of Ethiopians among the citizens of Zion (Salmos 87:4), Ethiopia stretching forth her hands unto God (Salmos 68:31). The fact that the traveller had come as a pilgrim or a proselyte, shows (if, as the narrative implies, the latter) that he was a circumcised “proselyte of righteousness.” His baptism was not, like that of Cornelius, the admission of a Gentile as such. The word “eunuch” has been taken by some commentators as meaning only “chamberlain,” which is, indeed, the strict etymological sense of the word. Its use in Mateus 19:12, and indeed in later Greek writers generally, is, however, in favour of the literal sense of the word. The strict letter of Deuteronômio 23:1, forbidding the admission of such persons into the congregation of the Lord, had been already modified (probably on the assumption that the state was not one which they had brought about by their own act) in favour of the sons of the stranger, the eunuchs “who keep my Sabbaths,” by Isaiah (Isaías 56:4); and we may well think of St. Luke, as glad to record a proof that the discipline of the Church of Christ was as liberal on this point as the teaching of the Evangelical prophet. It is interesting to note that the first act of the first (Ecumenical Council was to formulate a like rule in dealing with such cases of the kind as then presented themselves (Conc. Nic. Song of Cântico dos Cânticos 1), admitting those who were not self-mutilated even into the ranks of the clergy.

Under Candace queen of the Ethiopians. — The quantity of the second syllable is uncertain, but the analogy of Canăce is in favour of its being short. The knowledge of the student of Strabo (Strabo, xvii. p. 820) may, perhaps, be traced in the description. He mentions a Queen of Meroè, in Ethiopia, bearing the name of Candace. The occurrence of the same name in Plin. iv. 35, Dion.-Cass. liv. 5, indicates that it was, like Pharaoh, a dynastic name or title. Eusebius (Hist. ii. 1) states that in his time (circ. A.D. 430) the region was still under the rule of a queen, according to the custom of the country.

Who had the charge of all her treasure. — The Greek word for treasure is Gaza, a word of Persian origin, which about this time had come into use both among Greek and Latin writers (Cicero, de Off. ii. 22). The LXX. translators employ it in Esdras 5:17; Esdras 6:1; Esdras 7:21; Isaías 39:2. Aristotle (Hist. Plant. viii. 11) is the first Greek writer in whom we find it naturalised. It is not found elsewhere in the New Testament, but a compound form appears as denoting the treasury of the Temple in Lucas 21:1. The coincidence between this Gaza and the name of the town is at least suggestive of the thought that St. Luke saw in it a nomen et omen. The man came from one Gaza, and was going to another; and he, like the man in the parable of Mateus 13:44, found a treasure which he had not looked for, but which came to him as the reward of his diligently seeking.

Had come to Jerusalem for to worship. — The act itself, even prior to the eunuch’s conversion by Philip, was a fulfilment of the hope of the prophet Zephaniah cited above. Whether of Jewish origin or incorporated as a “proselyte of righteousness,” he belonged to “the daughter of the dispersed,” and so long a journey by a man in so high a position was in itself a notable event. He came seeking, we must believe, for light and wisdom, and they were given him beyond his expectations.