Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go south to the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official in charge of the entire treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his return was sitting in his chariot reading Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to that chariot and stay by it." So Philip ran up and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. "How can I," he said, "unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so He did not open His mouth. In His humiliation He was deprived of justice. Who can recount His descendants? For His life was removed from the earth." "Tell me," said the eunuch, "who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" Then Philip began with this very Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road and came to some water, the eunuch said, "Look, here is water! What is there to prevent me from being baptized?" And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing. But Philip appeared at Azotus and traveled through that region, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Envoys will arrive from Egypt; Cush will stretch out her hands to God.
Significance
Philip's meeting and baptism of the Ethiopian court official — on the road down toward Gaza (Zeph 2:4) — begins to fulfill the prophetic vision of the nations streaming to worship Israel's God: "From beyond the rivers of Cush My worshipers... shall bring My offering" (Zeph 3:10), and "Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God" (Ps 68:31). A Gentile from the ends of the earth, reading Isaiah's Servant song, goes home rejoicing with the gospel. Christ-terminus: the Servant "cut off out of the land of the living" (Isa 53:8), who seemed to have no posterity, is gathering a worldwide family — including the eunuch whom the Law once kept at a distance but whom Isaiah 56:3-8 welcomes. The risen Christ is the world's Savior, and the ingathering of the nations foreseen by the prophets has begun on a desert road.
Found via
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type
Allusion
Connection Method(s)
Promise-Fulfillment
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