What does Acts 8:39 mean?

Philip is one of the first deacons of the Christian church in Jerusalem (Acts 6:5). He is a Jew, but he grew up outside of Judea, in the Greco-Roman culture. An angel led him to travel south to a road that connected Jerusalem with Gaza to meet a single Ethiopian court official and tell him the good news about Jesus. The reasons for this are not explicitly given, but the results are impressive (Acts 8:26–38).

We do know that Ethiopians and the Jews have had contact since at least the time of Solomon when the Queen of Sheba visited (1 Kings 10). Possibly longer, since "Ethiopia" then was in the territory that spans our southern Egypt and northern Sudan—it's possible the Jews first came in contact with Ethiopians during the four hundred years of slavery, or even earlier, when Abraham went to Egypt during the famine (Genesis 12:10–20).

But we don't know why this Ethiopian was so important to God's plan. Undoubtedly, he spread the gospel at home. Christianity became a state religion in Ethiopia about 300 years later. Egypt and Libya were home to several important Christian scholars in the first centuries of the church. Sometimes it's important for European and American Christians to realize that Africa's history with Christianity is significantly longer than theirs.

Philip and the Ethiopian official had been on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. The Holy Spirit takes Philip to Azotus, also known as Ashdod, which is twenty miles north of Gaza and just south of Tel Aviv. Why the sudden transport, we are not told. From there, he makes his way north along the coast to Caesarea, the headquarters of the Roman governor of Judea (Acts 8:40). Many years later, after he is settled as a church leader and has four daughters who prophesy, Philip will meet Paul on Paul's last recorded trip to Jerusalem (Acts 21:8–9).