Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

EUNUCH

Typically a castrated official in the royal courts of ancient Israel and surrounding kingdoms who is appropriate to serve the queen (2 Kgs. 9:30-32; Esth. 4:4-5; Acts 8:27) or the king’s harem (Esth. 2:14-15). The term (Heb. sārîs) can also apply to a married official (e.g., Potiphar; Gen. 39:1).

Despite the high political standing enjoyed by some eunuchs, their peculiar impairment usually rendered them among the most scorned and stigmatized members of society. In a patriarchal culture where honor was tied to male domination, the effeminate, impotent eunuch was viewed with shame and as a threatening social deviant (Lucian Eunuch 6-11; cf. Josephus Ant. 4.190-91). In the Jewish world the eunuch’s alien status was compounded by his lack of wholeness (holiness) and inability to perpetuate the covenant line through circumcision and procreation. Biblical law excluded men with damaged genitals from the covenant community (Deut. 23:1) and the holy priesthood (Lev. 21:17-21; cf. Philo Spec. leg. 1.324-25).

Other traditions, however, offer a favored place for pious eunuchs within the Lord’s house (Isa. 56:3-8; Wis. 3:14-15). In the NT a prominent, God-fearing eunuch (Gk. eunoúchos) from Ethiopia is baptized at the hands of Philip the Evangelist (Acts 8:26-40). Jesus’ unique statement concerning self-made eunuchs “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:12) represents a metaphor for the discipline of celibacy, reflecting either a lifelong vow or a commitment not to remarry after divorcing an unfaithful wife (cf. vv. 3-12).

F. Scott Spencer

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

EUNUCH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)