Philip Meets the Eunuch

Tom: This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment, and we’re in the Book of Acts:8:26And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.
See All...: “And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down form Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. 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, was returning, and sitting in his chariot reading Esaias the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?”

Dave: Well, Tom, we’ve covered a lot of ground there in those verses. Let me go back to v. 26 just briefly: Philip is instructed to go on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, and there’s no Palestinians in charge of Gaza. They don’t control it. This is Israel, which it was from the days of David when they conquered the Philistines who lived in that area. 

So just a little side note for today: the Muslims, the Arabs, took Gaza -the Gaza Strip, so-called - in the 1940 War of Independence. They held it for 19 years until 1967. They used it as a base for terrorism against Israel, and finally Israel had to go in there and take control. It didn’t belong to the so-called Palestinians. 

But anyway, Tom, we talked about that earlier. I don’t want to get off the subject, but I find it interesting when you read the Bible…go back to Genesis: it’s talking about real people, real places, real events, historical events, and we can document it. This is true. This is not like the Bhagavad Gita, which is just nonsense.

Tom: The Book of Mormon.

Dave: The Book of Mormon is nonsense, yeah. Fiction. And there is a man from Ethiopia - he’s a man of great authority under Candace, and he had come to Jerusalem to worship. Well, that’s interesting! So he’s not a Jew, but he knows about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jews, they’re spreading everywhere. Of course, at the Babylonian dispersion, they went to many different countries, and apparently he has become a convert to Judaism. I find that interesting. 

Tom: Well, reading the prophets of Israel, we found that in Babylon, as well, these men who were the holy men read - they got hold of, somehow, the sacred writings of the Jews and read them.

Dave: Daniel had copies of the Scriptures. He had a copy of Jeremiah very shortly after it had been written, and I find that interesting, also, the availability of the Bible in those days. Some people say, “Oh, well, hardly anybody had it.” Not true! Bibles were apparently available…

For example, Psalm:119:9(BETH.) Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
See All... says, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word.” Now, how could he do that if it wasn’t available?

Tom: Dave, I’m really fascinated, because I’m trying to do a study of how the ancient peoples were taught their religion, and it’s only the Israelites who taught their children to read and write. Everybody else was into images or statues, idols, and so on and so forth. The very objective way that God has communicated His Word and then read by His children, the Israelites, as opposed to subjective idols in which they could come up with anything they wanted. There was no objective truth in the religions that were idolatrous. 

Dave: Tom, this is very important that we talk about it for a minute. Let me go back to Deuteronomy 6. This is what God says: “And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart. Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, when thou risest up, thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand. They shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, and thou shalt write them upon the doors of thy house and on thy gates,” and so forth. They’re to meditate on this. 

So if you went to Psalm 1, of course, “Blessed is the man that walkest not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” 

It doesn’t say, “Blessed is a rabbi;” this is just an ordinary man, an Israeli. And then what Jesus quoted in the wilderness - the temptation in the wilderness from Satan - Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” 

So apparently it was available to those who wanted it, copied by hand, however it happened. Nevertheless, they were to acquire this and to be diligent in their study of the Word of God.

Tom: And the most objective form of communication that you can have, no subjective imagery, all those kinds of things that we see the church moving in today. That’s what’s - as they said in the earlier segment, Dave - that’s what’s weaning us off the Word of God that we’ve got to get back to.

Dave: Yeah. Sadly, we are losing the Word of God. Then of course we have these paraphrases that we won’t get into, or The Message by Eugene Peterson - he dares to take God’s Word and shove it aside and put his own words in the place of it, even contradicting God and changing the meaning completely. But anyway…

Tom: And then telling us in the Renovare Bible - telling us that the Book of Romans is just metaphor. Paul was just writing metaphors…Dave! Please!

Dave: Well, I can’t remember whether we’ve talked about this, but the Renovare Bible - you’ve raised something now - it’s…

Tom: Well, those who get our newsletter, if they’d like to get more information about this, they can call us, write to us. It’s September’s newsletter.

Dave: You’ve got 50 so-called Bible scholars - some of these are men that you would have high regard for - and the Renovare Bible says the first 11 chapters of Genesis are myth, the rest of Genesis is hearsay, not even sure whether Moses wrote the Pentateuch, not sure whether Daniel wrote the Book of Daniel…Tom, I’m sorry, I’m getting off the subject. I’m getting a little hot under the collar here. 

But anyway, the Spirit says to Philip, “Go near, join yourself to this chariot.” Tom, I mean, I have experiences like…well, not quite like this. I’m not transported to a distant place, but just the other day, you know, we were coming back on the plane, and I’m sitting in 2B, and the man who’s sitting in 2C across the aisle asked me, “Would you mind changing places with me, because my wife is sitting in 2A.” So I traded places with him. I’m in 2C. Now, who is in 2D? A lady that just - she said to me several times, “How do I get saved?” 

So it’s like the Ethiopian here reading from Isaiah 53: he’s reading it, and he’s trying to understand it, but he doesn’t know. “Philip ran thither to him,” v. 30, “heard him reading the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.” 

Now, that’s interesting, Tom. That’s the attitude that a lot of people have: “You know, I can’t possibly understand the Bible.” Of course, you were raised a Catholic. Well, the Catholic Church will tell you that only the magisterium can interpret the Bible. And I don’t know why Catholics have Bible studies, because it’s very clear in their official documents - Vatican II, for example - only the magisterium…now, that is the pope in conjunction with the bishops. They must interpret the Bible, and you better not be running around coming up with some interpretation on your own, because you can’t understand it.

Tom: Well, it’s an encouragement to read it, but again, you can’t…you have…in many Bible studies they have a Catholic priest there to make sure that you stay according to the teachings of the church.

Dave: So the Ethiopian, he has the idea he needs the rabbis, some teacher, to explain it. Now, wait a minute! This is God’s Word. God said - we quoted it - Psalm:119:9(BETH.) Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
See All...: “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to thy word.” And Paul writes to Timothy - 2 Timothy:3:15And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
See All..., he says, “From a child you’ve know the holy scriptures. They will make you wise unto salvation.” He learned it from his mother and grandmother, so that was homechooling, okay? But why can’t the Ethiopian understand? He’s not indwelt by the Spirit of God. 

Tom: Right.

Dave: He is not saved, and so Philip proceeds to tell him, “Well, this is about Jesus.” Isn’t that something? Isaiah 53, the great prophet Isaiah, is talking about Jesus. He’s going to be led as a lamb to the slaughter, He’s going to be wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. God’s judgment will come upon Him so that we can be forgiven. This is in the Old Testament, and so it says that Philip begins right there, and he preaches Christ to him, and we can do the same today, and we should.