Acts 8:26-40
Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch… But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. (v. 40) My Study Bible points out that we do not hear from Philip again until Acts 21:8 when Paul and Luke stayed at his house in Caesarea around 57 AD. The Spirit had taken Philip to the south, toward Gaza where he met the Ethiopian eunuch. Then after the eunuch was baptized, the Spirit “snatched” Philip away and he “found himself at Azotus”, one of the five Philistine cities (from King David’s time). Then he preached along the way until he got to Caesarea. The Chronological Study Bible places Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch at 32AD, with Philip later in Caesarea in 57AD. So upon arriving at Caesarea, he stayed, evidently for a long period of time. What’s new to me here is that I’ve often connected Philip in Acts 21 with Philip in Acts 8, but I’ve never made the connection in Acts 8 that we ever heard from Philip again. Small item – interesting to me…
After being baptized the eunuch went on his way “rejoicing”. So I wonder what happened after that? The eunuch had come to Jerusalem to worship (Acts 8:27), so clearly he was familiar with Judaism. I’m guessing that there must have been a synagogue in the capital city where he lived and he might have been a regular there, one of those “God-fearing Gentiles” that we read about later. Now as he returns to Ethiopia “rejoicing” I’m sure that Philip’s teaching stayed with him and that he shared Jesus with others in his synagogue. No doubt many of the Jews at his synagogue had been in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, so they would have known about Jesus. Put it all together and I can see many conversions of the Jews there, maybe even a full-scale revival! We don’t know that, but the excitement that new believers exude can be infectious! So where does that leave us “old believers”? Are we rejoicing and sharing? I regularly go back to Peter and John in Acts 4:20: We can’t help but speak of the things we have seen and heard!
Slava Bohu
Very interesting! The Ethiopians claim to have the Ark of the Covenant in a church there, received after Solomon for safekeeping, so there were very old ties and as well as DNA links to Judaism from way back. (Most of the Jews were recognized as Jews and emigrated to Israel after Haillie Salassi, 1970s+). It was also a Christian kingdom as far back as the 4th century. The Holy Spirit through Philip and the official has done a mighty thing!