The Ethiopian Eunuch
A reflection on one text from the Lectionary for the Fifth Sunday of Easter
In the tradition of my youth, the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch was used as a proof text, specially to show that Baptism must be done by immersion, since Phillip and the Eunuch “went down into the water.” While I don’t believe that this interpretation is wrong, it misses what the story is truly trying to teach us.
The story of the Ethiopian Eunuch is significant for multiple reasons: it helps to explain the quick and massive spread of Christianity after the resurrection, and it also opens up a series of questions about the Torah, Judaism, Christianity, and sexuality.
In Acts 8, we find the Ethiopian Eunuch in a chariot, reading the Book of Isaiah. We are told that he was “a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury.” Notice the use of the definite article in front of “Candace.” This term was how Roman’s referred to the Queen of Kush, regardless of her name, and is redundant with the word queen. We are also told that he was returning from Jerusalem, where he had gone to worship. So, why is an Ethiopian going to Jerusalem to worship? and why is he reading from the Prophet Isaiah?
There was, in fact, a sizeable Jewish diaspora in the area of Ethiopia. This group calls itself “Beta Israel,” and follows a non-Talmudic form of Judaism. There are various legends and religious traditions of how Beta Israel came to be, including one built upon the text of the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew Bible records in 1 Kings 10 that the Queen of Sheba traveled from Africa to Israel during the reign of Solomon to meet him, hear his wisdom for herself, and see the splendor of his riches. After witnessing these things, she returned to her own country. Tradition records that she and her officials, impressed by the fact that Yahweh had so blessed Solomon, brought Yahweh worship back to Africa with them, creating Beta Israel. Some traditions claim that instead, soldiers from Judah fled to Northern Africa after the exile, and created Beta Israel. Still others claim that the Queen of Sheba and Soloman had a son, and that this son, Menelik I, travelled to Israel to meet Solomon, and brought the Ark of the Covenant back with him.
Regardless of which of these traditions is correct, we can see by the time that Luke wrote Acts that the ancient world was also aware of the fact that there were Jewish Christians in Africa, hence why the Ethiopian Eunuch had travelled to Israel to worship and why he was reading the Scroll of Isaiah. The Spirit of God directed Phillip to him because, as a Jew, Phillip might have the opportunity to spread the gospel to Africa via the Eunuch. The fact that the Eunuch was reading from the Isaiah Scroll, specifically about Jesus, also signals the intent of this visit by Luke. This story, then, helps to explain why one of the oldest Christian communities in the world is the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. In fact, the Ethiopian Kingdom was the second Kingdom to proclaim Christianity as its state religion (333 AD), after Edessa (later, Armenia, in 204 AD). Rome did not convert to Christianity until 381!
But besides this fascinating information, what else does the story of the Eunuch tell us? It serves to show an inclusive gospel of Christ, and reminds us that the Levitical commentary on purity among Jews was not as straight forward as many would like us to believe. Deuteronomy 23:1 specifically bars Eunuchs from entrance into the Temple of Yahweh, or in the Congregation of Yahweh. On its face, then, it is curious why the Eunuch would have travelled to Jerusalem to worship, since according to the second telling of the law (what the word Deuteronomy actually means), he clearly would not be allowed to participate.
However, Biblical prohibitions (and especially those of the law), aren’t always particularly telling on their face. Take as an example the fact that simply two verses down from the prohibition of Eunuchs is also the prohibition of Moabites from entering the Congregation of the Yahweh, up to the case of ten generations from a mixed marriage. Yet, no less of a man of Moabite descent (the third generation) than King David himself entered the Congregation of Yahweh, and of course, we know, that the Hebrew Bible declares David a man after Yahweh’s own heart. David’s grandmother was Ruth, who was an immigrant to Israel from Moab, and who David’s grandfather, Boaz, married (AFTER having sexual relations with her, I might add). No where in the Book of Ruth do we see Ruth being condemned for being a Moabite, for Ruth and Boaz being condemned for extra-marital sex, or Boaz for marrying a non-Israelite woman. In fact, what we see in the text is nothing but praise for both of them. And, lest we forget, this also means that Jesus had a detestable Moabite within his own line of descent.
Returning to the Eunuch, he was, in fact, a sexual minority. He was a man unable to perpetuate his own line, a man who had been mutilated (most likely against his will) in order to serve the Candace without being a sexual threat to her Kingdom. Yahweh used this man, who would have been prohibited from Temple worship in Deuteronomy, to spread the good news of Jesus to Africa. This is, of course, similar how the good news of Jesus was also spread in Samaria, by the Canaanite woman that Jesus met at the well. Normal male Jews of the time would have never spoken to this woman, who while a Yahweh worshipper, would have been considered a foreign heretic who worshipped Yahweh in a heterodox way. Yahweh used both of these outsiders to spread the message of Jesus.
The story of the Ethiopian Eunuch, then, is a story of radical inclusion. According to the Torah, he had no place within Israelite society. Yet, he was a part of Beta Israel, and he travelled to Jerusalem to worship Yahweh. In an act of faith, he was used by Yahweh to do so much more than simply worship. A man who most would have thought was unworthy to approach Yahweh at all, let alone enter into worship of him, was used by God to spread the Good News. The takeaway: we as Christians should never exclude others from the Kingdom of God. When we do so, we risk excluding those who Yahweh himself has invited into his story.