Eunuch

How Nave’s arranged it

• General scriptures concerningMatthew 19:12
• Prohibited from certain privileges of the congregationDeuteronomy 23:1Isaiah 56:3–5
• Influential court officialsJeremiah 38:7–13Jeremiah 52:25Daniel 1:3
• Those who voluntarily became (continent, probably) for the kingdom of heaven's sakeMatthew 19:12
• Baptism of the EthiopianActs 8:26–29

The passages, in Bible order (7)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 7 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Deuteronomy 23:1

   No man with crushed or severed genitals may enter the assembly of the LORD.

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 23:12 voices

   “He that is wounded . . ., shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord--"To enter into the congregation of the Lord" means either admission to public honors and offices in the Church and State of Israel, or, in the case of foreigners, incorporation with that nation by marriage.

   “Compare Lev 21:17-24. Such persons, exhibiting a mutilation of that human nature which was made in God’s image, were rejected from the covenant entirely. However, they could be proselytes (compare Act 8:27). The Old Testament itself foretells Isa 56:3-5 the removal of this ban when under the kingdom of Messiah the outward and emblematic perfection and sanctity of Israel should be fulfilled in their inner meaning by the covenanted presence and work of the Holy Spirit in the Church.

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 23:1→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. Isaiah 56:3–5

   Let no foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will utterly exclude me from His people.” And let the eunuch not say, “I am but a dry tree.”

   ›Commentary on Isaiah 56:3–52 voices

   “The stranger - The stranger, the Gentile, who by birth is a stranger to God, that hath turned from dumb idols to the living God. The eunuch - Who is here joined with the stranger, because he was forbidden to enter into the congregation of the Lord, Deut. xxiii, 1.

   “This barrier between Jews and Gentiles was to be broken down (Eph 2:14-16). eunuch-- (Ac 8:27, &c.). Eunuchs were chamberlains over harems, or court ministers in general. dry tree--barren (compare Lu 23:31); not admissible into the congregation of Israel (De 23:1-3). Under the Gospel the eunuch and stranger should be released from religious and civil disabilities.

   Everything gathered on Isaiah 56:3–5→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. Jeremiah 38:7–13

   Now Ebed-melech the Cushite, a court official in the royal palace, heard that Jeremiah had been put into the cistern. While the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin,

   ›Commentary on Jeremiah 38:7–132 voices

   “Ebed-melech - i. e., the king’s slave. By “Ethiopian” or Cushite is meant the Cushite of Africa, or negro. It seems (compare 2Ki 23:11) as if such eunuchs (or, chamberlains) took their names from the king, while the royal family and the princes generally bore names compounded with the appellations of the Deity.

   “Ebed-melech was an Ethiopian, a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel, and yet had in him more humanity, and more divinity too, than native Israelites had. Christ found more faith among Gentiles than among Jews.

   Everything gathered on Jeremiah 38:7–13→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Jeremiah 52:25

   Of those still in the city, he took a court official who had been appointed over the men of war, as well as seven trusted royal advisers. He also took the scribe of the captain of the army, who had enlisted the people of the land, and sixty men who were found in the city.

   ›Commentary on Jeremiah 52:251 voice

   “An eunuch ... men of war - Or, who had charge of men of war. The King James Version makes him commander-in-chief; he was second in command, i. e., a lieutenant, possibly one among many others of equal rank.

   Everything gathered on Jeremiah 52:25→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. Daniel 1:3

   Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his court officials, to bring in some Israelites from the royal family and the nobility—

   ›Commentary on Daniel 1:32 voices

   “Of the eunuchs - These were chief among the king's servants; and they are called eunuchs, because many of them were such. And of the princes - Here was fulfilled what the prophet Isaiah had foretold, Isaiah xxxix, 7.

   “Verse 3. "And the king said to Ashpenaz the overseer of his eunuchs, that he should out of the number of the children of Israel and, of the royal seed and (the seed of) the rulers bring in some young lads who were free from all blemish." Instead of Ashpenaz ("Asphanez") I found Abriesdri written in the Vulgate edition. For the word phorlhommin which Theodotion uses, the Septuagint and Aquila translated "the chosen ones," whereas Symmachus rendered "Parthians," understanding it as the name of a nation instead of a common noun.

   Everything gathered on Daniel 1:3→

   Verse page →Original language →

6. Matthew 19:12

   For there are eunuchs who were born that way; others were made that way by men; and still others live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

   ›Commentary on Matthew 19:122 voices

   “He speaks of three kinds of eunuchs, of whom two are carnal, and one spiritual. One, those who are so born of their mother's womb; another, those whom enemies or courtly luxury has made so; a third, those who have made themselves so for the kingdom of heaven, and who might have been men, but become eunuchs for Christ. To them the reward is promised, for to the others whose continence was involuntary, nothing is due. (cf. Orig. in loc.) Or we may say otherwise.

   “Eunuchs - Ευνουχος, from ευνην εχειν, to have the care of the bed or bedchamber; this being the principal employment of eunuchs in the eastern countries, particularly in the apartments of queens and princesses. These are they whom our Lord says are made eunuchs by men, merely for the above purpose. So born from their mother’s womb - Such as are naturally incapable of marriage, and consequently should not contract any.

   Everything gathered on Matthew 19:12→

   Verse page →Original language →

7. Acts 8:26–29

   Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go south to the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”

   ›Commentary on Acts 8:26–292 voices

   “If Philip so "easily" baptized the chamberlain, let us reflect that a manifest and conspicuous evidence that the Lord deemed him worthy had been interposed. The Spirit had enjoined Philip to proceed to that road: the eunuch himself, too, was not found idle, nor as one who was suddenly seized with an eager desire to be baptized; but, after going up to the temple for prayer's sake, being intently engaged on the divine Scripture, was thus suitably discovered-to whom God had, unasked, sent an apostle, which one, again, the Spirit bade adjoin himself to the chamberlain's chariot.

   “Arise, and go toward the south - How circumstantially particular are these directions! Every thing is so precisely marked that there is no danger of the apostle missing his way. He is to perform some great duty; but what, he is not informed. The road which he is to take is marked out; but what he is to do in that road, or how far he is to proceed, he is not told! It is God who employs him, and requires of him implicit obedience.

   Everything gathered on Acts 8:26–29→

   Verse page →Original language →