Saul is a weak leader and weakness and fear will cause you
to do things that get you into trouble. Here,
he is faced with a formidable Philistine army of 30,000 men and his own people
are so frightened they are trembling and hiding in nooks and crannies. Samuel was apparently to come to Gilgal and
offer sacrifice and inquire of the Lord concerning the matter and was delayed
longer than expected. (Is there a similarity here between Moses tarrying coming
down the mountain and the people forcing Aaron to make a golden calf?) Saul, in order to appease the people and try
to keep them together, makes sacrifice even though he is neither prophet nor
priest. He has been presumptuous in
order to keep peace and maintain his leadership, he has not been steadfast but
allowed fear, his and theirs, to overcome him and Samuel says that his
disobedience has cost him the kingdom.
Pilate, too, is a weak and fearful leader. He wants to curry favor both with Rome, to
whom he owes his position, and with the Jews who threaten insurrection if he
does not accede to their wishes. He avers
that he has found no guilt in Jesus at all and neither, he says, has
Herod. That should have been enough to
release Jesus but he offers a sop, I will punish Him and release Him. The Jews aren't satisfied with this outcome,
however, demanding Jesus be crucified. Pilate
finds a potential loophole, at this time it was Roman custom during Passover to
actually pass over judgment against a Jewish criminal and Pilate offers them a
choice of whom he shall pardon and they choose an actual insurrectionist,
Barabbas. His hands aren't tied legally,
they are tied by his fear of an uprising which would cost him his
position.
This Ethiopian may have been a eunuch but he had a high
position, he was head of the treasury of his queen. Candace isn't a proper name but rather a
title more like Pharaoh. This queen
would have been quite wealthy and this eunuch would have been similar to a
Joseph figure in her kingdom. He was in
Jerusalem to worship which tells us that he was indeed Jewish or a proselyte
and he is reading the Hebrew scriptures but without understanding and without a
teacher until the Lord sends Philip along to guide him. As it happens, he is pondering the identity
of the Messiah figure from the book of Isaiah and his need is supplied by the
Lord sending Philip. He accepted Jesus,
was baptized, and then his rabbi in the matter is whisked away. This man would then have become an apostle to
his place, across the continent, the word was going forth, still to those who
were already connected with Israel in some fashion. Philip is simply available to the Lord for
whatever He commands. Position is no
longer a barrier to God's work.
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