The Sunday School

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 18, 1897

The Sunday School

International Series.

LESSON X.—SUNDAY, MARCH 7, 1897.

THE ETHIOPIAN CONVERT.

NOTE.—Here is an illustration of the way in which God led the workers in the early church, as it is also of what God is willing to do for those who with honest, humble hearts seek for his truth. This is but one of the incidents resulting from the dispersion of the Christians. The place of this incident is the uncultivated region of Judea, southwest of Jerusalem, and the time was the early summer of A.D. 37.

Lesson Scripture, Acts 8:26-40, R. V.

26 “But an angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza; the same is desert. And he arose and went; and behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem for to worship; and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some one shall guide me? And he besought Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the place of the scripture which he was reading was this.

He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before his shearer is dumb, So he openeth not his mouth; 33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away; His generation who shall declare? 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? And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this scripture, preached unto him Jesus. 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? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still; and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip; and the eunuch saw him no more, for he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus; and passing through he preached the Gospel to all the cities, till he came to Cæsarea.”

Golden Text.—“Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.” Acts 8:35.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

(1) What message came to Philip? Verse 26. (2) Who bore the message? Ib. Note 1. (3) How explicit were the directions? Ib. Note 2. (4) In obeying the command, whom did Philip see? Verse 27. (5) What is said of the position which he held? Ib. Note 3. (6) For what purpose had he come to Jerusalem? Ib. Note 4. (7) What did Philip find him doing? Verse 28. (8) What message came to Philip? Verse 29. (9) What did Philip do? Verse 30. (10) What question did he ask the eunuch? Ib. Note 5. (11) What reply did he receive? Verse 31, first part. (12) What invitation did Philip receive? Ib., last part. (13) What passages of Scripture was he reading? Verses 32 and 33. (14) What question did the eunuch ask? Verse 34. (15) Concerning whom was this prophecy written? Verse 34. Note 6. (16) As they proceeded, what exclamation did the eunuch make? Verse 36, first part. Note 7. (17) What question did the eunuch ask which showed his belief in Philip’s teaching? Verse 36, last clause. (18) How did Philip reply? Verse 37, first part. (19) What profession of faith did the Ethiopian make? Ib., last part. (20) What command did he give? Verse 38, first clause. (21) What did they do? Ib., last part. Note 8. (22) What happened as they came up out of the water? Verse 39, first part. (23) How was the Ethiopian affected by all that had transpired? Ib., last clause. (24) Where was Philip next seen? Verse 40, first clause? (25) What did he continue to do? Ib., last clause.

NOTES.

1. Angel of the Lord.—We have many records of messages delivered by angels to men; and in the work of God in the earth they have occupied no insignificant part. In fact, the occupation of the angels as respects this earth is ministering for those who shall be heirs of salvation. Heb. 1:14. In the following references will be found a few of the many messages with which angels were commissioned. Gen. 21:17; 22:15; Judges 2:4; 2 Kings 1:15; 1 Kings 13:18; Matt. 1:20; 2:13, 19; 28:5; Luke 2:10, 13, 14; Acts 10:22; 12:8; Rev. 14:6, 8, 9. In the result of this angelic message to Philip we see a verification of the saying that “God works in a mysterious way his wonders to perform.” Philip obeyed the command without knowing, or stopping to question, why he should go. In this we are reminded of Abraham’s call and his unquestioning obedience, as recorded in Gen. 12:1-5.

2. Go toward the south.—The directions given by the angel are very explicit. He was to go toward the south; to go till he came to the road leading from Jerusalem to Gaza; and as there were a number of roads between the two places, the particular one meant is designated by the phrase “which is desert.” This road passed through Hebron, and was the only one along which a chariot could be driven.

3. Of great authority.—He was secretary of the treasury, or head of the financial department of the ancient Ethiopian Kingdom. Such an officer in the English Government is called chancellor of the exchequer. This kingdom was governed by queens as late as three hundred years after Christ, and is identified as the ancient kingdom of Meroë, which is identical with the present Abyssinian Kingdom, whose ruler, Menelik, claims direct descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The Abyssinians are descendants of Abraham through Ishmael, and therefore of Semitic extraction. The language is also Semitic. The Abyssinians are Christians, and observe the seventh day as the Sabbath.

4. Had come to Jerusalem for to worship.—The Ethiopian was probably one who had become acquainted with the Jewish worship in Ethiopia through association with one of the Jewish “communities of the dispersion,” who were found in various countries, and who usually had a following of “God-fearing Gentiles.” The light he had seen in Ethiopia had only increased his desire for more light—a characteristic of the true child of God of every color and every clime—and thus he had sought what should have been the fountainhead of light; and God so overruled that he received that for which he had journeyed so far, even tho the Shekinah had left the sanctuary of Israel and her lamp had gone out. The journey undertaken by this truth-seeker was a very long and very expensive one for those days.

5. Understandest thou?—The question implies on the part of Philip a readiness to explain. The scripture the eunuch was reading was the very Gospel the dispersed Christians were bearing to the world. And yet the passage was an exceedingly difficult one for a Jew to understand. It was incompatible with the ideas which they had of their Deliverer; and it was their failure to understand this and other such scriptures that led them to fulfil what is predicted in those passages. Their blindness in regard to Christ’s first coming, and their expectation of a temporal ruler and deliverer, led them to put to death him whom they should have welcomed. Just so a blindness in regard to his second coming, and the attempt to usher in his kingdom through the “gateway of politics,” will bring disaster to those who engage in it, and persecution to those who seek to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, keeping his Father’s commandments, even as he did.

6. Began at the same scripture.—By beginning at this scripture to teach Jesus, Philip tells us to whom the scripture refers. When Christ was explaining to two of his disciples the scriptures relating to himself, he began “at Moses and all the prophets.” Luke 24:27. We also find Apollos “mightily” convincing the Jews, from the Scriptures (Old Testament), “that Jesus was Christ.” The only Scriptures used by the apostles and by our Lord were what we call the Old Testament.

7. See, here is water.—The water here referred to was a river by the name of Wady Surar. The name Marubah was also applied to it locally. One writer speaks of it as being “deep enough in some places even in June to satisfy the utmost wishes of our Baptist friends.”

8. Went down both into the water.—There seems to be no room for doubt in regard to the manner in which Philip performed the ceremony of baptism. The literal meaning of the Greek word baptizein is a sufficient explanation of the manner in which it was done. It means to dip or plunge in or under water; to whelm.