Acts 8:39
And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.
And when they were come up out of the water,.... Which is another circumstance, showing that baptism was then performed by immersion; with this compare Matthew 3:16 and so it is said of the high priest, when he washed himself on the day of atonement,
hle lbjw dry, "he went down and dipped, and came up" {m}; and so any other person that was obliged to dipping on any account,
hlew lbjw dry, "went down and dipped, and came up" {n}. And again it is said {o}, it happened to a servant maid of Rabbi,
htlew hlbjv, "that she dipped herself and came up".
the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip; as soon as the ordinance was over; so that the eunuch had no opportunity of rewarding him for his instructions and labour; and this might be done on purpose to show that he had no mercenary end in joining himself to his chariot; and this sudden rapture and disappearance might be a confirmation to the eunuch that this whole affair was of God. The Spirit of the Lord took up Philip, just as he is said to lift up Ezekiel, between earth and heaven, Ezekiel 8:3 and carried him above the earth as far as Azotus. The Alexandrian copy, and one of Beza's, and some others, read the words thus, "the holy Spirit fall upon the eunuch, but the angel of the Lord caught away Philip"; the same angel, it may be, that bid him go toward the south:
that the eunuch saw him no more; neither at that time, nor perhaps ever after; for one went one way, and another way:
and he went on his way; towards Ethiopia; and, as the Ethiopic version reads, "into his own country"; which is one reason why he saw Philip no more: however, he went thither
rejoicing, as he had great reason to do; being blessed with the saving knowledge of Christ, and true faith in the Son of God, and admitted to the holy ordinance of baptism; having first received the baptism of the Spirit, or having the grace of the Spirit bestowed on him, and implanted in him: and, according to some copies just now mentioned, after his baptism the Spirit fell on him in an extraordinary manner, and that without imposition of hands; so that, upon the whole, he had great reason to rejoice.
{m} Misna Yoma, c. 3. sect. 4. 6. & 7. sect. 3. 4.
{n} T. Bab. Ceritot, fol. 13. 1.
{o} T. Bab. Nidda, fol. 66. 2.