Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 123 · May 3
Understandest Thou
“And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?”
Understandest thou what thou readest? A rude question to put to a stranger through the side of a moving carriage, and Philip ran to catch up in order to ask it.
Consider who is asked. A man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure. Senior enough for a chariot and a private scroll of Isaiah, an expensive and rare object. He had come to Jerusalem for to worship, and the law he travelled to obey held a line about men like him: He that is wounded in the stones shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD. He made the whole journey to a house he could not go into.
His answer is not defensive. How can I, except some man should guide me? Then his question, the best in the chapter: of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? He was on the passage about the sheep led to the slaughter, and Philip began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. Further along that scroll, had he read on, was this: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
Whoever does the running gets the warning here. Philip asked before he explained, and started where the man already was. And the question has a sharper edge than it looks: a man alone with a scroll could have said yes, understood nothing, and gone home unbothered for life. So could you, this morning, on a passage you have known since you were nine.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 123 is Known Days (Psalm 37:18).