Acts 8:29-40 Bible Teaching

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Acts 8.29-end
July 3rd 2016
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So Philip, after going to Samaria we read last week in verse 26

26 And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.
27 And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,
28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.

That is where we left off. Verse 29.

29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.
30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?
31 And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
32 The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.
34 And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?
35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.
40 But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.

That wraps up chapter eight let’s see if we can work through it in our allotted time. So back to verse 29.

The Ethiopian Eunuch was sitting and reading from the Book of Isaiah . . .

29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, “Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.”

The Holy Spirit is here evidently intended. The thought in Philip’s mind is here traced to his suggestion. All good thoughts and designs have the same origin.

We have a mixed number of characters involved in Philips leaving and going to Gaza. Verse 26 says:

26 And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.

Then once he was there we read:

29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.

And then we will read at verse 39:

39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.

Angel of the Lord (angellos kurios)
Spirit (pneuma)
And Spirit of the Lord (pneuma kurios)

I may be wrong, but I am fairly certain these are all the same thing – the Spirit of the Lord giving Philip direction.

Because different words are used to describe each character they all seem to revolve around “the Spirit of the Lord.”

We may wonder because the word angellos is used if an actual angel came and told Phillip to go, but because I think all three descriptions speak of the The Spirit of the Lord that Philip was being lead by Christ in Him.

Paul writes in 2nd Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

The we also read Paul say in Galatians 2:20:

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”

So I tend to believe that Christ, by the Spirit, was directing Philip in verse 26, 29 and 39.

So Philip comes upon the Eunuch reading Isaiah and the Spirit of the Lord in him tells him to go and sit with the man – or as the King James puts it, “Go and join thyself to this chariot.” (verse 30)

30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?

It’s interesting but the Greek “pros-trekho” actually means to run (or truly hasten in the direction of) and I just find this such a great insight into the heart of Philip.

It has been said that one of the greatest disgraces for a man in the middle east is for him to run in public, something we have talked about in relation to the prodigal Son story, but here – move by the Spirit, Philip was without shame or guile in being on God’s errant and when the Spirit spoke, he reacted with urgency.

Additionally, it could be that had Philip hesitated, and thought about it, he could have come up with every reason to hold back from acting – I mean

The man was a stranger . . . and he was engaged in reading a book . . . and he was obviously one of authority and rank . . . to interrupt him would be rude.

You know how it goes.

But Philip moved without any hesitation causing Luke to say that he ran.

“. . . and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?”

Obviously the Eunuch was reading outloud, something that is a rarity in our culture but is said to have been more normative in that day and age.

And hearing that he was reading Isaiah Philip asked the man if he understood what he was reading.

Obviously Philip knew his scripture well – well enough to be able to know that what was being read was Isaiah.

So he says, Is what you are reading making sense to you?

Now from what I can tell, the way Philip asks the question, from the Greek, the Eunuch could have taken umbrage.

In other words it seems that the question would have come across more like:

“Do you really understand what you are reading?”

“are the words you are reading making sense to you?”

“Are you really capable of comprehending these words?”

I’m not saying that this is exactly what Philip asked him but it was close to something like this and the Eunuch could have taken umbrage to the query.

But, again, we have to remember that the Spirit of the Lord was working overtime in Philip and may have given him this very question to ask of this stranger.

31 And the Eunuch replied, “How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.”

Now, we have something really wonderful happening here. A man of power, sitting on his chariot, admitting to a total stranger that essentially he does not understand what he is reading and admits that he would not understand what he was reading unless some one helped him.

In other words he was humble and open to being lead to understanding the things of the Lord.

Something was moving him to search the Words of the Old Testament – but note, he was searching or seeking.

And though a man of power and influence he was humble and willing and wanting to learn.

We might say that he was like a sheep looking for a shepherd.

Now, we know that this Eunuch was in all probability a Jew – which is why he had come to Jerusalem – to celebrate the Holy days.

So we know he was in all probability familiar with the Torah. I mean, he seems to have one or at least possess the Book of Isaiah, right?

From all appearances he was trying to understand the scripture and how it spoke of the promised Messiah.

In other words it seems like he had been to Jerusalem, heard of the news of the crucified Lord, and was trying to read the scriptures he had known as a Jew in light of them predicting and describing the Messiah.

In so doing, and reading Isaiah, he was having trouble reconciling what he read with all he had believed and been taught the Messiah to be.

In other words, being a Jew he probably believed that the Messiah was to be a political powerhouse, and one that would liberate Israel from Roman rule.

But maybe he was in Jerusalem and was told that the only true Messiah had come, and His name was Yeshua, and that scripture really did speak of Him?

What scripture? The Eunuch may has asked.

Isaiah 53 came the reply.

And so on his travels back to Ethiopia the Eunuch opens to Isaiah and starts to read.
And in light of all he had been taught about the promised Messiah he faced a disconnect – but he really longed to know and understand.

So the Holy Spirit tells Philip, “Philip, go to Gaza. You will find someone there that once converted, will take the Gospel to Ethiopia.” So Philip goes and approaches the Eunuch, who, like an open trusting, seeking lamb, humbly invites him to join him – and teach him.

Luke adds:

32 The place of the scripture which he read was this . . .

(And he cites Isaiah 53)

. . . He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

Now, we have a line of citation here that we have to consider. First of all, we don’t know how Luke even knows this story – since only Philip and the Eunuch were there.

That’s no problem – Philip could have told it or Paul may have heard it and shared it or the Holy Spirit could have given it to Luke to record.

But that is the first segment to consider.

Then, Luke is quoting what Philip heard the Eunuch read – so in terms of actual quote it could be verbatim.

Having said this, Luke cites the Greek Septuagint Translation of the Old Testament (which was written in Hebrew).

Again, Luke does not have the Eunuch reading from the Hebrew but from the Greek. We don’t know if this was the case (though it is probable because in Ethiopia it is likely that they read the Septuagint translation rather than the Hebrew.

Why does this matter? Because what we read in the Hebrew of Isaiah 53 and what we read in the Septuagint are different – not much, but they are different.

Let me show you how. Luke says the Eunuch was reading this:

. . . He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: in his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

This is what the Hebrew translation of Isaiah 53: 7-8 says:

Isaiah 53:7 he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
Isa 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living:

Side by side and line by line in a comparative between what Luke says the Eunuch read and what the Old Testament in Hebrew says it looks like this:

(LXX). . . He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; (HEB) he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter,

(LXX) and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: (HEB) and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

(LXX) in his humiliation his judgment was taken away: (HEB) He was taken from prison and from judgment

(LXX) and who shall declare his generation?
(HEB) and who shall declare his generation?

(LXX) for his life is taken from the earth.
(HEB) for he was cut off out of the land of the living:

In reality the meanings are quite similar, but I point this out to show that word perfect translational insistence is a waste of time and it’s the spirit of the words, not the words themselves that we have to use to guide us.

The Eunuch was reading words and understanding them from where he had been as a Jew.

The words have almost universally been applied since Christ, to describing Him.

I realize that here Luke only has the Eunuch reading two passages from Isaiah 53 but I want to take a minute and read the chapter – it’s not long (12 verses) – but it is perhaps one of the most poignant Old Testament Chapters the speak clearly to His life and death.

Isaiah writes:

1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Admittedly, Orthodox Jews tend to read the message contained here as pertaining to their sufferings in captivity but that is really a stretch. It is also a stretch to believe, as some critics suggest, that the New Testament writers crafted the New Testament gospels to meet and match this and other Old Testament passages that tend to speak of the Messiah.

It was take a Herculean effort of tremendous collusion to pull it off – and for what benefit – martyrdom?

In any case our Eunuch seems to have only asked Philip to explain two of the twelve verses:

. . . He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

(And afterward verse 34)

34 And the eunuch answered (or asked Philip), “I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?

“Who is Isaiah talking about here?” he asks, “himself or someone else?”

I believe – I am actually convinced that there is much more to this story of the Eunuch.

Upon reading the passages we jump right on in on him sitting on his chariot and reading and that’s it.

But I can’t help but remember that since he had just been to Jerusalem, he could have heard that the Sanhedrim had put a man to death many considered the Messiah, and that upon news of His resurrection the leaders were saying that Isaiah 53 in no way spoke of the Messiah but of Jeremiah (or of Isaiah) himself.

And seeking, the man had the Holy Spirit drawing him as he reflected upon his travels back to Ethiopia, and so he decided to open the Tanahk I read for himself.

There are always men with agendas who are willing to tell you how to understand the Word – how to interpret it with certainty – the Jews had a group of men that that is all they did – they were called scribes and Rabbis.

But by the time Jesus was crucified the leaders were doing all they could to kill the rumors of His Messiahship.

But seekers – like this Eunuch – would find then – and they continue to find now.

As a pertinent aside, I pray and hope and petition all of you to discover things for yourselves through the two witnesses of the Spirit and the Word.

I do that and do NOT allow any man to demand I accept his or her interpretation of things.

We teach each other but as Paul said:

1st Thessalonians 5:21 “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”

And he adds in 1st Corinthians 2:15

“But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.”

John said in 1st John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Add in another “admonition” of Paul, who said in Philippians 4:8:

“Brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

And that the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self control . . .

And God has given each one of His children the tools, the means and the right (by the shed blood of Jesus) to seek (and find) to knock (and receive His answer.

Notice something cool here. That the very attributes of Messiah described by Isaiah (which we could summarize as utter meekness and humility) were also manifested here in the Eunuch seeking to know Him?

In other word Isaiah says this about the very Messiah who would save the world:

. . . He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: in his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

And I would say that the very same spirit was present in the seeking Eunuch and which enabled him to find – and then actually have these very same words applied to what he would experience.

That the Eunuch was “led as a sheep to the slaughter (of his flesh); and like a lamb dumb (he claimed ignorance) before his shearer (Philip, who was going to sheer him but not fleece him), so opened he not his mouth (he had no answers):
33 In his humiliation (in the Eunuch’s humility) his judgment was taken away (by faith on Jesus Christ’s shed blood): and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. (Yes, the Eunuch’s very life was taken from this earth as he was now to become a New man of the Spirit).

Wild huh?

So the Eunuch, in his humility, asks Philip, “Who is Isaiah talking about?”
(verse 35)

35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him . . Jesus.

Can you imagine the teaching? He opens the book, reads to the Eunuch:

. . . He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: in his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

And then he preaches the life, ministry, miracles, death and resurrection of the Lord – to a man who wanted answers.

Very few things more rewarding on earth – if any.

How much detail Philip went into is unknown but he must have said something in his rehearsal about water baptism and we know this because of the next verse.

36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, “See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?”

The Greek for a “certain” water means a type of water – and we do not know if it was a swimming pool, a mist, a river, an Ocean or a lake.

As a result we don’t know how the Eunuch was baptized – it could have been a mist, sprinkle, dip, slosh, dunk or total immersion.

What we do know is that geographically they were a long way from any sort of large body of water or deep rive or even substantial stream.

All we know is that there was enough water to perform the some rite of baptism.

One more point. The historian Eusebius is quoted as saying:

That they came “to a fountain which was in the neighborhood of Bethsora, in the tribe of Juda, at the twentieth milestone from AElia (Jerusalem) to Hebron.”

This is the tradition but cannot be substantiated.

Anyway, coming to some form of water, the Eunuch says,

“See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?”

He wanted to follow all he had learned and been taught. He was convinced that Jesus was the Messiah and wanted to take part in the spiritual revival that was taking place in his heart.

And then VERSE 37.

(beat)

Verse 37?

Hello?

See, I have a verse 37 in my King James – it says:

37 And Philip said, “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

But folks, it is not in most manuscripts and it is almost unanimously agreed that a scribe in the fifth or sixth century believed that adding this clarifying verse was of utmost importance – and did.

For example I checked the ESV, the RSV, the WNT, the TCNT, the WEB, the BBE and the Darby – nothing – it goes from verse 36-38

Almost all Greek mss omit it as do the Syriac and Ethiopic versions. Bottom line – the passage is NOT in the best or major majority of all manuscripts – but it is in the Latin Vulgate.

It is said to first show up in 600 AD mss and was added to keep people from being baptized in water impetuously or hastily.

Admittedly it does summarize other passages so doctrinally its not spurious but it freaking ticks me off that its here, and that we have to (once again) explain the actions of someone who thinks zeal ought to overtake truth.

So, in my (and most other people’s opinions (except King James Onliests) the passages should be read like this:

36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, “See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?”
38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.

Where it says, “and they went down both into the water” many immersionists claim this is proof that the baptism was by full submersion.

I hope it was. To me that is the most symbolic form of water baptism.

But this passage, from the Greek, does NOT prove either submersion baptism NOR does it prove that both Philip and the Eunuch went into a body of water large enough to hold them.

And even if they did it still does not prove immersion.

But to the Greek, ein, translated here in the King James as “into,” does not always mean this.

It could also be translated to “they went to” “they went unto,” or “they went to the water.”

It does NOT tell us that they both went into the water or not.

In John 11:38: we read the following “Jesus therefore groaning in himself, cometh to (eiv) the grave ” – an example of ein being translated to “to.” because we know that He assuredly did not go into the grave (because it was still sealed).

In Luke 11:49: we read, “I send them prophets.” But the Greek is, I send to eiv them prophets” –to them, not into them prophets.

Jesus says in Matthew 12:41: “They repented at (eiv) the preaching of Jonas”—(not into his the preaching of Jonas),

So these passages show that the Greek word does not necessarily mean that they entered into the water but could just as easily suggest they just went “TO” the water. (verse 39)

39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.

Now, over the course of Christian history – out even till today, there are those who believe that what is being said here is that as soon as Philip had baptized the Eunuch that he was forcibly and miraculously carried away to another place.

Borne across the sky by an angel, etc.

I would suggest that this is entirely possible – but not probable.

For me the meaning is that the Spirit of the Lord that had directed Philip to go to the Eunuch directed him in a similar manner to move along.

Part of the reason some believe that Philip was forcibly removed by an angel is the Greek word translated in the King James to “caught away.”

It’s “harpadzo” and it does mean to seized and bear away (like a thief would steal a purse).

But it does not imply that there was a miracle just that the spirit was forceful in its operation on the man. In other words, the Spirit strongly admonished Philip to go to some other place – there was more work to be done.

Because of how this verse ends more ammunition is given to the idea that Philp was whisked away by an angel.
Listen to it again>

And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.

Because of the sentence structure it sounds like because the Spirit whisked Philip away so abruptly that the Eunuch say him no more and witnessing this miracle went on his way rejoicing.

But we could read the passage this way:

And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip (and he departed) that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing (over having received baptism in the name of the Lord).

Last verse of chapter 8

40 But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.

I believe that this is saying “and Philip came to Azotus” or “he was not heard of again until he reached Azotus.” Or even that, He found himself in Azotus.”

But the Greek term for found is used in places that concurs with this interpretation.

In other words, after leaving the eunuch, Philip came to or was in Azotus.

It’s a city the Hebrews called Ashdod and it was a city not taken by Joshua and the COI so it remained in the control of the Philistines. There’s some real history that occurred in Azotus and it was about thirty miles from Gaza on the coast of the Mediterranean.

“ . . . and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.”

These cities would have included Joppa, Lydda, Askelon, Arimathea, and others that lay along the coast of the Mediterranean.

Until he came to Caesarea, a place formerly called, Strato’s Tower that was situated on the coast of the Mediterranean.

It was rebuilt by Herod the Great, and named “Caesarea” in honor of Augustus Caesar and a temple of Caesar was erected by Herod there as well.

We will learn in Acts 21 that Philip will later live here.

Next week, chapter 9 – a biggie too.

Comments, insights, questions?

Prayer