Acts 8:27 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Acts 8:27
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,
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular feminine
treasure
γάζηςgazēs
G1047
a treasure · noun — genitive singular feminine
come
ἐληλύθειelēluthei
G2064
to come or go (in a great variety of applications · verb — second pluperfect active indicative, 3rd person singular
to
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
Jerusalem
Ἰερουσαλήμ,Ierousalēm
G2419
Hierusalem (i.e. Jerushalem) · noun — accusative singular feminine, a place
worship
προσκυνήσωνproskunēsōn
G4352
to fawn or crouch to · verb — future active participle, nominative singular masculine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 68:31 Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.
Zephaniah 3:10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering.
Psalms 87:4 I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there.
Isaiah 56:3-8 Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people…
Jeremiah 38:7 Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the k…
1 Kings 8:41-43 Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name’s sake;
Matthew 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of th…
John 12:20 And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Acts 8:26–end
We have here the story of the conversion of an Ethiopian eunuch to the faith of Christ, by whom, we have reason to think, the knowledge of Christ was sent into that country where he lived, and that scripture fulfilled, Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands (one of the first of the nations) unto God, Psa 68:31.
I. Philip the evangelist is directed into the road where he would meet with this Ethiopian, Act 8:26. When the churches in Samaria were settled, and had ministers appointed them, the apostles went back to Jerusalem; but Philip stays, expecting to be employed in breaking up fresh ground in the country. And here we have, 1. Direction given him by an angel (probably in a dream or visi…
a man of Ethiopia--Upper Egypt, Meroe.
an eunuch of great authority--Eunuchs were generally employed for confidential offices in the East, and to some extent are still.
Candace--the family name of the queens of Upper Egypt, like Pharaoh, CÃ&brvbrsar, &c. (as appears from classic authors).
had come to Jerusalem to worship--that is, to keep the recent feast of Pentecost, as a Gentile proselyte to the Jewish faith. (See Isa 56:3-8, and Joh 12:20).
Adam Clarke on Acts 8:27
A man of Ethiopia - Ανηρ Αιθιοψ should be translated an Ethiopian, for the reasons given on Act 7:2.
An eunuch - See this word interpreted, on Mat 19:12 (note). The term eunuch was given to persons in authority at court, to whom its literal meaning did not apply. Potiphar was probably an eunuch only as to his office; for he was a married man. See Gen 37:36; Gen 39:1. And it is likely that this Ethiopian was of the same sort.
Of great authority - ΔυναϚης, A perfect lord chamberlain of the royal household; or, rather, her treasurer, for it is here said, he had charge of all her treasure, ην επι πασης της γαζης αυτης. The apparent Greek word Γαζα, Gaza, is generally allowed to be Persian, from…
High encomiums for the man, that he, residing in Ethiopia and beset with so much business, and when there was no festival going on, and living in that superstitious city, came to Jerusalem for to worship.
An eunuch, it says, a man of great authority, under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. For there women bore rule of old, and this was the law among them. Philip did not yet know for whose sake he had come into the desert.
The queen of the Ethiopians, Candace. And in the Book of Kings, we read that the Queen of the South came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. For, indeed, it was the custom of that nation always to be ruled by women, and to call them Candace.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Candace — The queen of the Ethiopians whose “eunuch” or chamberlain was converted to Christianity by the instrumentality of Philip the evangelist (Acts 8:27). The country which she ruled was called by the…
Candace, Or Candace — (prince of servants), a queen of Ethiopia (Meroe), mentioned (Acts 8:27) (A.D. 38.) The name was not a proper name of an individual, but that of a dynasty of Ethiopian queens.
Chance — (Luke 10:31). “It was not by chance that the priest came down by that road at that time, but by a specific arrangement and in exact fulfilment of a plan; not the plan of the priest, nor the plan of…
Ethiopia — Country of burnt faces; the Greek word by which the Hebrew Cush is rendered (Gen. 2:13; 2 Kings 19:9; Esther 1:1; Job 28:19; Ps. 68:31; 87:4), a country which lay to the south of Egypt, beginning at…
Ethiopian eunuch — The chief officer or prime minister of state of Candace (q.v.), queen of Ethiopia. He was converted to Christianity through the instrumentality of Philip (Act 8:27). The northern portion of Ethiopia…
Naphtuhim — A Hamitic tribe descended from Mizraim (Gen. 10:13). Others identify this word with Napata, the name of the city and territory on the southern frontier of Mizraim, the modern Meroe, at the great bend…
Philip The Evangelist — is first mentioned in the account of the dispute between the Hebrew and Hellenistic disciples in Acts 6. He is one of the deacons appointed to superintend the daily distribution of food and alms, and…
Queen — No explicit mention of queens is made till we read of the “queen of Sheba.” The wives of the kings of Israel are not so designated. In Ps. 45:9, the Hebrew for “queen” is not malkah, one actually…
Candace · Queen of Ethiopia — Queen of Ethiopia
Ethiopia · General references — General references
on Acts 8:27
And he arose and went,.... As soon as he had his orders, he immediately obeyed them; he made no dispute about the matter, though he was directed only part of his way, and had no account of what he went about, or was to do;
and behold, a man of Ethiopia; or "a man, an Ethiopian"; an Hebraism, such as "a man a Jew", Zechariah 8:23 wherefore his being called a man, is no contradiction to his being an eunuch; for the word "man" does not regard his sex, but with the other the country of which he was; and it is the same as if he had only been called an Ethiopian, which signifies one of a black countenance; for Ethiopia was not so called from Ethiops, the son of Vulcan, who is said to reign over i…
Acts 8:26-31
26. And an angel of the Lord spake to Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south, to the way which goeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza; it is waste. 27. And when he arose, he went. And, behold, a man, an Ethiopian, an eunuch, a man of great authority with Candace, queen of Ethiopia, which had the rule of all her treasure, which carne [had come] to Jerusalem to worship 28. And as he returned, and sat in his chariot, he read Esaias the prophet. 29. And the Spirit said to Philip, Draw near, and be thou joined to this chariot. 30. And as Philip ran unto it, he heard him reading the prophet Esaias, and he said, Understandest thou what thou readest? 31. He said, How can I, unless s…
In the ancient world, a eunuch was an official, typically castrated, who served in a royal court (see 2 Kgs 9:30-32; Esth 1:10; 2:3, 14-15, 21; 4:4-5). Eunuchs were often scorned by Jews because they could not perpetuate the covenant family, and the law of Moses excluded men who had damaged genitals from the assembly of Israel (Deut 23:1; cp. Lev 21:17-23), but Isaiah spoke of God’s acceptance of Gentiles and eunuchs (Isa 56:3-8; see also Matt 19:12). In the new covenant, all who have genuine faith have a place among the people of God. • The eunuch had traveled from Africa to Jerusalem to worship in the Temple, probably for one of the great Jewish festivals.
Eunuch · Baptism of the Ethiopian — Baptism of the Ethiopian
Feasts, The Anniversary · Were seasons of: The Jews dispersed in distant parts often attended — Were seasons of: The Jews dispersed in distant parts often attended
Gaza · . — .
Philip · .Expounds the Scriptures to the Ethiopian eu — .Expounds the Scriptures to the Ethiopian eu
Preaching · .By Philip — .By Philip
Proselytes · Went up to the feasts — Went up to the feasts
Queen · General references — General references
Travellers · Of distinction: Rode in chariots — Of distinction: Rode in chariots
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
