Since this week's devotions focus on an Ethiopian eunuch I thought it would be a good idea to explain what a eunuch is. We talked a bit about it in the lesson today, and this is some more detail.
It is only really relevant when you consider that this person was not an average Joe on the street, but an important figure in Ethiopian society. In contrast he would have been considered a second-class citizen in Jewish culture and not allowed to become a full-fledged member of the Jewish community.
From Wikipedia:
A eunuch (pronounced /ˈjuːnək/) is a castrated man, in particular one castrated early enough to have major hormonal consequences; the term usually refers to those castrated in order to perform a specific social function, as was common in many societies of the past. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the twenty first century BC. Over the millennia since, they have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures such as: courtiers or equivalent domestics, treble singers, religious specialists, government officials, military commanders, and guardians of women or harem servants. In some translations of ancient texts, individuals identified as eunuchs sometimes historically included men who were impotent with women, as well as those who were celibate.
It is only really relevant when you consider that this person was not an average Joe on the street, but an important figure in Ethiopian society. In contrast he would have been considered a second-class citizen in Jewish culture and not allowed to become a full-fledged member of the Jewish community.
From Wikipedia:
A eunuch (pronounced /ˈjuːnək/) is a castrated man, in particular one castrated early enough to have major hormonal consequences; the term usually refers to those castrated in order to perform a specific social function, as was common in many societies of the past. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the twenty first century BC. Over the millennia since, they have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures such as: courtiers or equivalent domestics, treble singers, religious specialists, government officials, military commanders, and guardians of women or harem servants. In some translations of ancient texts, individuals identified as eunuchs sometimes historically included men who were impotent with women, as well as those who were celibate.
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