
Remember a week or so ago I posted about Tabitha? Tabitha doesn’t sound like a biblical name, does it?
Well, Candace is another name you might be surprised is in the Bible.
Here are 10 facts about her.
- You can read about her treasurer (the man who took care of her money) in Acts 8:27-40.
- She was queen of Ethiopia.
- She might have been the only queen named Candace or maybe Candace was the name of many queens – kind of like Pharaoh was the name of several kings.
- Her treasurer (a court official who was in charge of all her wealth) traveled to Jerusalem to worship though he didn’t know much about Christ.
- While there someone gave him a copy of the book of Isaiah.
- The treasurer was traveling home on the road between Jerusalem and Gaza and stopped in the desert and was reading Isaiah.
- Philip, an apostle, who was one of the ones who had to flee because of the persecution, saw the treasurer. (An angel had given him a message from God that directed him to go to this deserted place and he obeyed.)
- Philip asked the treasurer if he understood what he was reading and the treasurer said “How can I understand unless someone explains?”
- The treasurer invited Philip to join him in the chariot.
- The treasurer was reading this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth.
- Philip explained what the verses meant and told him about Christ. The treasurer believed and was baptized.
- We don’t know if the treasurer told Candace about what happened, but it said that he went on his way, so we can guess that he told his queen the good news.