Acts 8:29-31

Philip felt compelled by the Holy Spirit’s leading to approach the wagon (cf. Acts 8:26). The Spirit’s leading is essential in evangelism; He sometimes directs us to people whom He has prepared to trust in Jesus Christ.

"An especial stress is placed throughout this narrative on God’s engineering of this conversation, and thus that it is part of God’s plan." [Note: Witherington, p. 293.]

Possibly this important official was part of a caravan that was heading to Africa, and Philip joined it temporarily. [Note: Blaiklock, p. 82.] Evidently the eunuch’s vehicle was either standing still or moving slowly down the road. Luke’s comment that Philip ran up to the wagon may reflect the evangelist’s willing compliance or simply the fact that he needed to run to catch up with it. There were probably other people besides Philip who were walking beside the various vehicles in this caravan. As he approached, Philip heard the Ethiopian reading aloud. This was the common method of reading in ancient times due to the difficulty of deciphering sentences with no spaces between words and no punctuation marks. [Note: See Henry J. Cadbury, The Book of Acts in History, p. 18.] Philip recognized what the Ethiopian was reading and struck up a conversation with him. The official was having difficulty understanding what he read so he invited Philip into his wagon to see if he could get some help.