PHILIP SPEAKS TO THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH ON THE ROAD TO GAZA

ACTS 8:26–40

With persecution raging in Jerusalem, followers of Jesus “were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria” (Acts 8:1). The Lord led Philip to speak first with Samaritans and then with a eunuch, whom many Jews considered unfit for the Kingdom of God. After being with the Samaritans, Philip was given new instructions that sent him not to a city nor to a region but to a roadway. “Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza’” (Acts 8:26). Philip was sent to this roadway for a very specific reason.

The book of Acts refers to this roadway as “the desert road” not necessarily because it traveled through the wilderness but because it led to the wilderness that began at Gaza. Gaza was the portal city at which one could obtain supplies for the trip across the Sinai Wilderness en route to points south, including Africa.11 That is why the eunuch, a high-ranking official in the Ethiopian royal court, was on this road. It led him homeward after his pilgrimage to Jerusalem’s Temple, which he could only see from a distance because eunuchs were not allowed to enter. Along the way he was reading aloud the words of Isaiah 53, which speaks of the coming Messiah. As Philip met the chariot, he asked the Ethiopian if he understood what he was reading. That question opened a conversation between the two men. Philip started with the very passage the Ethiopian was reading, Isaiah 53:7–8, in order to explain that Jesus had come because the Kingdom of God was open to all nations. Reading forward, Philip would have arrived at the words of Isaiah 56:3–7, which note that even foreigners and eunuchs were welcome in God’s Kingdom.12 Before long the Spirit led the Ethiopian to faith in Jesus and baptism (Acts 8:26–39).

Ethiopian monk at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
© Direct Design

Ethiopian Bible manuscript (eighteenth century AD).
© Dr. James C. Martin. Sola Scriptura. The Van Kampen Collection.

The Ethiopian was using the road as a way to get home, but the Spirit of God used the roadway to proclaim the Good News of Jesus in Ethiopia through this man. In earlier Scriptures we find evidence of a growing Jewish community associated with Ethiopia.13 Some were Ethiopians who lived in the Promised Land while others were Jews who lived in Ethiopia. For example, Ebed-Melech was an Ethiopian eunuch who served as an official in Jerusalem’s royal court. He advocated for Jeremiah and secured his release when Jeremiah was taken captive and thrown into a cistern (Jer. 38:7–13). Jeremiah notes that this African man was a fellow believer in the Lord (Jer. 39:15–18). We also know that some Jews had left the Promised Land and resided in exile within Ethiopia because the Lord spoke words of comfort and encouragement to them, assuring them that they would one day return from their exile (Isa. 11:11; Zeph. 3:10). The Ethiopian eunuch represents a community in Africa, outside the Promised Land, that was connected to the promises of Abraham.

Philip spoke to the Ethiopian eunuch on the road to Gaza for a reason. In Acts 2 Luke tells us that pilgrims from fifteen different international regions experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, came to know Jesus as the promised Messiah, and returned with the news to their family and friends (Acts 2:9–11). But when we inspect that list carefully, we find that no region south of Egypt is mentioned.14 Perhaps this is why the Holy Spirit led Philip to the desert road that goes down to Gaza for an encounter that would do for Africa what Pentecost did for the other international regions.

Philip met the Ethiopian eunuch along the road to Gaza

Ethiopian worshipers in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Section of a Roman road foundation that connected Jerusalem to Gaza.