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Noah's 3 sons: Shem, Ham, Japeth
Acts, Chapter 8(verse 37):"behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians..."(Ethiopia, a nation south of Egypt)*, representing a son of Ham
Acts, Chapter 9:Saul, representing a son of Shem
Acts, Chapter 10(verse 1):"There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, ...", representing a son of Japeth
*Ham, progenitor of "Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan."-Gen. 10:6, 1 Chron. 1:8
Cush: "And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan." Gen. 10:7
The descendents of Cush settled primarily in Africa and western Arabia. Two of Cush's descendants, Sheba and Dedan, settled in Southern Arabia. The territories of Sheba and Ethiopia were once part of this same kingdom. Thus, the direct descendants of Cush were the Ethiopians.
This may be worth further study. However, those who have studied this great Book know that the Holy Spirit is very careful, not only in His choice of words, but in the order He places them, and that He does it for a reason-no "accidentally's." It is up to us to study, and "dig", per Proverbs 25:2 , i.e., Acts 8-representative of Ham/Acts 9-representative of Shem/Acts 10-representative of Japeth.
That's pretty interesting. I don't think it would have ever occurred to me to notice that. Yeah, I agree that the Holy Spirit was careful with the words and their order. So you might be on to something. Thanks for pointing that out to us, giving me something else to think about.
Here's what I've been working through with the eunuch. Tell me if you think this has any merit...
It starts with me asking: Why in the world did God send Philip maybe 50 miles away to teach this one guy and then, suddenly, as soon as the eunuch is baptized, the Holy Spirit whisks Philip away? There's got to be something pretty significant about the story for the Holy Spirit to point it out.
Is. 56 and II Chr. 6:32-33 (Solomon's prayer) show us that Gentiles certainly were part of God's future plans...that if they kept His laws they would be accepted in His house of prayer (more to this, but just a quick summary). And we're also told in Gen. 12:1-3 (as STP has pointed out many times) that those who blessed the "great nation" (Israel...Abraham's descendants) would themselves be blessed (like the centurion in Luke 7:2-5, whom Jesus responded to because he loved the nation and built them a synagogue).
Could it be that this Ethiopian eunuch came to Jerusalem to worship and to bless the nation in some way, and God, therefore, sent Philip on a special mission to bless him in return?
According to the timeline as I understand it, Jesus (if things would have progressed as planned) would have begun his own personal judgments against the wicked very soon (recall that He stands in judgment at the end of Acts 7). So the time of Acts 8 would fit in the time that the judgments might have been expected to begin.
Isaiah 11 shows a prophecy about the "rod out of the stem of Jesse" that would come and judge the poor and the meek (sounds similar to Jesus' Matt. 5 sermon on the mount), and He would also judge and slay the wicked. This is obviously a foretelling of Jesus coming as Judge and then King, as His reign is described in terms of His judgments and also the peace that He will bring in the kingdom ("wolf also shall dwell with the lamb", etc.). And then the passage (beginning in verse 10) begins describing how He will stand as an ensign to the people and how He will set up an ensign for the nations and gather the dispersed of Israel and Judah.
The following chapters describe judgments against Assyria, Babylon, Moab, etc. in those days. And then we get to chapter 18, which talks about Ethiopia. Verse 7 says:
"In that time (when the Lord sets up an ensign to the nations; Is. 18:3, cf. Is. 11:12) shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion."
When the time came for Jesus to be born, wise men from the East had correctly discerned the times, according to what they had read in prophecy, and journeyed to Bethlehem to see. Could it be that perhaps some wise men in Ethiopia had discerned the times, according to prophecy, and sent a messenger (the very man who had great authority in Candace's kingdom, having charge over her treasury) to Jerusalem to take a "present" to the Lord (fulfilling Is. 18)? So the Ethiopian eunuch goes to Jerusalem to worship and deliver the gift to the Lord of hosts at mount Zion. He returns after worshipping, perplexed as he studies Isaiah because things were not as expected. And he doesn't understand what he desires to understand (Is. 53). So God sends Philip on a special mission to bless this man who had journeyed to Jerusalem to bless the nation with his gift.
Of course, this is a lot of speculation, because the scripture only tells us what it tells us. But this idea fits with prophecy, it fits with Gen. 12:1-3, it helps address the question of "Why did God send Philip on this special mission?". And it shows that per prophecy, even though the promise of the Seed of David was to the children of Israel, including the dispersion, Gentiles who blessed the nation would still be honored by God.
What do you think? Does this have any merit at all?
Thanks,
Randy