seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Acts 8:1 And Saul approved of their killing him.
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.
4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.
9 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. 12 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
20 Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”
24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”
25 After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian[a] eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
32 This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:
“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”[b]
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” [37] [c] 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
Footnotes:- Acts 8:27 That is, from the southern Nile region
- Acts 8:33 Isaiah 53:7,8 (see Septuagint)
- Acts 8:37 Some manuscripts include here Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” The eunuch answered, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
This is from bible-studys.org.
“Philip” . The first missionary named in Scripture and the first to be given the title “evangelist”.
Philip was one of the seven chosen by the Jerusalem church to assist the apostles in the administration of daily affairs. Like Stephen, Philip was far more than an assistant helping with physical needs. He was a Spirit-filled evangelist.
“The city of Samaria”: The ancient capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, which eventually fell to the Assyrians (722 B.C.), after over 200 years of idolatry and rebellion against God. After resettling many of the people in other lands, the Assyrians located Gentiles from other areas into the region, resulting in a mix of Jews and Gentiles who became known as Samaritans.
When the Christians were scattered beyond Jerusalem due to the intense persecution by Saul, Philip was the first to take the gospel to non-Jewish people. God confirmed his message with miracles, so that many believed. God also sent Philip to a Gentile from Ethiopia, and so used Philip to expand the work into North Africa.
“Sorcery”: (also called magic). This word originally referred to the practices of the Medo-Persians: A mixture of science and superstition, including astrology, divination, and the occult.
Simon was a magician who practiced controlling other people's minds. He had a great number of these people believing he was Messiah, because he hypnotized them and told them this. Once he had them under his spell, he could tell them anything and they would believe it.
“Simon … believed”: His belief was motivated by purely selfish reasons and could never be considered genuine (John 2:23-24). He saw it as an external act useful to gain the power he believed Philip possessed. By following Philip, he also could maintain contact with his former audience.
This Simon the sorcerer, could not deny the miracles. He was wise enough to know that there was nothing fake about these miracles.
“Ethiopia”: In those days, Ethiopia was a large kingdom located south of Egypt.
“Eunuch”: This can refer to one who had been emasculated or generally, to a government official. It is likely he was both since Luke refers to him as a eunuch and as one who held a position of authority in the queen’s court, that of treasurer, much like a minister of finance or secretary of the treasury.
As a physical eunuch, he would have been denied access to the temple (Deut. 23:1), and the opportunity to become a full proselyte to Judaism.
“Azotus”: The first-century name for the ancient Philistine city of Ashdod, located 20 miles north of Gaza.
“Caesarea”: Where Philip and his family probably lived.
This was a miraculous transportation of Philip. God's power is unlimited. How Philip got to Azotus, I will allow you to guess. We see here, that Philip knew no fear, he preached everywhere he went.
I believe the transportation Philip used to get from the desert to Azotus was similar to the trip Elijah took in the whirlwind, and the trip the Lord Jesus took to heaven on a cloud. All I can say is, it was a miracle ride.
This is from enduringword.com.The Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more… Philip was found at Azotus: Suddenly, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away as he and the Ethiopian came out of the water. He was then transported supernaturally in some way to the former Philistine city of Azotus (also known as Ashdod).
This is a strange, perhaps unprecedented event in the Scriptures. But a similar thing happened when the disciples’ boat came immediately to its destination (John 6:15-21), and a similar thing will also happen when the church is caught up together with Him at the rapture.
There is a lot to think about in this chapter. It opened up with Saul on a rampage.... yep this is Saul of Tarsus who will become the new Apostle Paul [according to the preachers]..... and then it goes to a magician named Simon [no not Simon Peter, the Apostle.... just Simon the magician].... who wants to learn how to perform magic tricks like the Apostles perform..... and there there is the Eunich.... a guy with no working parts who hears the Gospel one on one from the Apostle Philip, believes and is Baptized right there and then.....But the big deal... the part that will make me scratch my head all day.... is the transport of Philip.....
The Bible says there has to be at least two witnesses claiming the same thing for the matter to even be considered to be true. So.... when I read this... and saw the immediate travel... I noted it.... and went to the commentaries.... and sure enough.... there it was in two commentaries too. Now I admit freely that not every commentary agrees the Philip was traveling with the eunuch on the road Jerusalem to Gaza and then right after the Baptism Philip was in Azotus.... a totally different place. I've found that most of the time... something as outlandish as time and space travel is ignored by the commentaries because it's just too unbelievable and might draw foul comments from critics.
Before I go further... no, the eunuch was not a transsexual..... a transsexual has had one organ removed and another put in its place.... the eunuch just doesn't have a sex organ. It's been cut off or crushed..... and since it's been cut off or crushed.... he's not welcome in the Jewish Temple.... where they don't even let anyone see them naked... let alone let someone cut their private parts off.
So.... this chapter is about Christians being jailed..... Magicians trying to learn the "tricks" the Apostles use.... a Eunuch who was Baptized..... and last but not least..... teletransport.
I never knew that the eunuch was a eunuch.... until I read the Bible for myself. The preachers always called him the "Ethiopian"..... the preachers didn't want to handle the fact a eunuch was Baptized..... That would not do.... it's just too hard to explain, I guess.
BUT.... the biggest surprise was the miraculous ride Philip took from a road to Gaza that dropped him in Ashdod..... that's not an easy walk.... and it happened instantly.... I bet some yellow preachers will say this was only a metaphor.
