James Buchanan
The case of the Ethiopian Treasurer affords a beautiful example of the way in which the Spirit of God may lead an ignorant but sincere inquirer to a clear, saving knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, in spite of many unfavourable circumstances. It belongs to a different class of cases from the Philippian jailer, the dying thief and Saul the persecutor.2 While they differed from each other in many respects, each of them could be charged with some specific crime of a highly aggravated nature – the Jailer with the intention of suicide, the thief with robbery, and Saul with persecution and bloodshed. Yet nothing criminal is recorded of the Ethiopian, and much that is creditable to his character; his main defect was his ignorance of divine truth, and even that he was earnestly seeking to remove. His experience is therefore fitted to illustrate the case of such as have long been seeking the truth, but who still walk in darkness and have no light. When rightly understood, it must impart to them much instruction and encouragement.
1This is the first part of a chapter, reprinted with editing, from the “Illustrative Cases of Conversion” in The Office and Work of the Holy Spirit. It is based on Acts 8:26-40
2Buchanan’s accounts of their conversions appeared in previous issues of this Magazine.
1. His state before conversion.
There were many unfavourable circumstances which might seem to render his conversion very difficult. Yet there were some very hopeful symptoms.
Among the unfavourable circumstances, I may mention his birth and residence in Ethiopia – a land of heathen darkness – probably not less than 1000 miles from Jerusalem, the seat of the true religion; his elevated rank as “an eunuch of great authority under Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians”; and his worldly wealth, which is often a snare to the soul. “How hardly”, says our Lord Himself, “shall a rich man enter into the kingdom of God”; and again, “I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God”. Not only do the cares of the world choke the Word and render it unfruitful, but also the deceitfulness of riches and other lusts.
He belonged to a class of men who exercised almost unlimited power in some Eastern nations, and who were notoriously addicted to intrigue and the other arts of courtly ambition. This might have been a bar to his spiritual progress, for “ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen; yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence”. It is manifest that these, or some similar circumstances in his condition, had exerted an injurious influence over him, and had retarded his progress in religious knowledge; He was, as we shall immediately see, lamentably ignorant, notwithstanding all the efforts he had made.
But we cannot read the narrative without discovering some hopeful symptoms in the state of his mind. While he was by birth and residence an Ethiopian Gentile, he was, both in his creed and his profession, a proselyte to the Jewish faith, and a believer in the one living and true God. Although surrounded by the forms of polytheistic superstition and living in a land of gross spiritual darkness, he had in some way not described become acquainted with the revelation of divine truth in the Old Testament Scriptures. And his eye had been opened to discern the true light so far as to satisfy him that it was the light of heaven. Thus much is implied in the fact that “he had come to Jerusalem to worship” and that on his return he was reading the Scriptures.
And this instance exemplifies a delightful truth: the extensive influence which the Jewish dispensation exerted on the surrounding nations. While it was in some respects limited and local, being specially designed for the children of Israel, it was fitted to instruct other nations in the grand principles of religious truth. All the great nations of antiquity were successively brought into such near contact with the Jews that the knowledge of the one living and true God was imparted to many a thinking mind amongst them. Partly by their long captivity, partly by their dispersion to almost every city, they were intermingled with the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks and Romans, so that not only was the Old Testament translated into Greek for the Jews who spoke that language, but heathenism itself derived from it many useful hints.
And as the Old Testament dispensation was fitted to exert such an influence over the surrounding nations, provision was made for admitting proselytes to some, at least, of the privileges and services of the Jewish Church. There were two classes, the proselytes of righteousness and the proselytes of the gate; and they were in the habit of coming up to Jerusalem at the stated festivals, as well as the Jews who were scattered abroad. It is said that, on the day of Pentecost after the crucifixion of the Saviour, there were assembled “Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians,” speaking different languages but worshipping the same God.
The Ethiopian Treasurer was one of these proselytes. By coming from Ethiopia to Jerusalem, he was virtually declaring that his mind could not rest in the mythology of his own country – that he saw the error of polytheism and admitted the fundamental principle of the Divine unity. This was in itself a solemn, public testimony to the supremacy of the God of Israel.
“He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” What encouragement then had this Ethiopian to pray, or what was the ground and warrant of his faith? He was not by birth a Jew; he was an alien from the commonwealth of Israel, and a stranger to the covenants of promise; he had no natural or civil connection with those “to whom” (and as they supposed, to themselves alone) pertained “the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises”. He was a foreigner, a Gentile, a eunuch; how then could he hope to associate himself with the people of God, and dare to approach His temple?
He had a warrant for faith and hope – a warrant in the Old Testament Scriptures which was enough to embolden him to draw nigh. For, besides the prayer which Solomon uttered at the dedication of the Temple, he could have found in the very book of the Prophet Isaiah (56:3-7) which he read in his chariot, this precious promise: “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; neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep My Sabbaths, and choose the things that please Me, and take hold of My covenant; even unto them will I give in Mine house and within My walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant; even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer: their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon Mine altar; for Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.”
This man was both a eunuch and a stranger; and as such he could know that this promise comprehended him; accordingly he came to Jerusalem, and worshipped the God of Israel there. He had a spirit of diligent inquiry, combined with teachableness. He went up from Ethiopia to Jerusalem, passing from Africa to Asia and leaving for a time the cares of his honourable and responsible office, so that he might be present at the Feast of Pentecost.
Still more striking was the manner in which he was occupied in returning from Jerusalem: instead of casting aside his religion when the festival was over or allowing his mind to be diverted to other objects, he sat in his chariot reading the prophet Isaiah. Probably he read aloud for the benefit of his attendants; at all events he had this part of the Bible in his hand, and was engaged in reading it. He must have procured a roll which was written by himself or obtained at great expense.
But even this is not so remarkable as the humility and teachableness with which he received Philip, a stranger and one who perhaps, neither in his dress or his manners, was likely to attract the regard of a man of rank. Yet, when Philip joined himself to the chariot and ventured to ask, “Understandest thou what thou readest?” instead of spurning the question, he replied with childlike humility: “How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.”
While there were several hopeful symptoms in this state of mind, it is manifest that he was still extremely ignorant of the truth. He was not only destitute of all knowledge of Christ and the gospel, but he had no correct apprehension of the spiritual meaning of the Old Testament, in which he professed to believe and which, in the midst of much remaining darkness, he still continued to read. For when, after reading a part of Isaiah 53, he put the question, “I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? Of himself, or of some other man?” his language, if it indicates a spirit of sincere inquiry, betrays also a lamentable degree of ignorance, and makes it obvious that he was still in a condition like that of the Jews themselves. Of them the Apostle says, “Their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.”
His language seems to indicate that he had no acquaintance with the spiritual meaning of the Old Testament. If he was attached to the Jewish faith, he adhered to it chiefly as a sublime system of religion which taught his duty to the one living and true God, but he had no intelligent apprehension of its connection with the scheme of grace and redemption, or the work of Messiah who had been promised to the fathers.
Error never can supply the place of truth. As well might you expect the body to be nourished by poisons as the soul by error. Truth is sometimes mixed with error, in doctrines taught to the people; and if the errors are not fundamental, the truth which accompanies them may prove nourishing; but its efficacy will always be hindered or impaired by error, in proportion to its magnitude and prevalence in the system.
Two things are always implied in trusting; the first is a conviction of need, and [the second a] sense of dependence. He who needs nothing will, of course, not trust to another for what he has in himself; and he who, though destitute, is not sensible of his need will never be induced to trust in another.
Archibald Alexander