Wednesday, January 5, 2023

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 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.”

Acts 8:26-29

Though all eunuchs were not castrated, it was more than likely that this man was. That means his sexual organs were removed. It was common to castrate some men and make them, for lack of a better term, some “gender other” so that they could be used in powerful political roles. Why? Eunuchs were not a sexual threat to the royal women and were less likely to overthrow the king, because they had no son for future posterity. Many who were castrated died during the process. Sometimes these procedures were done without pain medication or anesthesia. Pretty barbaric and traumatizing. Physically painful and distorting, changing the way they urinate. Mutilated genitals. No sexual intimacy. No wife. No children. No legacy. No hope. Different from the status quo, broken. These socially isolated outsiders were not accepted in common circles. Emotionally traumatizing, castration caused great pain changing the course of the person’s life. Spiritually isolating, as noted in Deuteronomy 23:1, anyone who mutilates or crushes their genitalia would not be welcomed in the assembly. To paint the picture clearly, this man traveled for hundreds of miles to worship but was disallowed by the temple guards to even worship with everyone else. I would imagine he left worship more cognizant of his pain, his isolation, his brokenness.

PRAYER: Lord, I want the pain in my life to motivate my desire for you. Let me search for true answers to my problems written in your Word or carved out by your Spirit. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen