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. The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip - Perhaps this means no more than that the Holy Spirit suggested to the mind of Philip that he should withdraw abruptly from the eunuch, and thus leave him to pursue his journey, reflecting on the important incidents which had taken place. Some suppose that the angel of the Lord, and the Spirit of the Lord, are the same person throughout this chapter. There is a remarkable reading in the Codex Alexandrinus which exists thus in two lines: -
ΠΝΑΑΓΙΟΝΕΠΕΠΕΞΕΝΕΠΙΤΟΝΕΥΝΟΥΧΟΝ
The Spirit of the Lord fell upon the eunuch:
ΑΓΓΕΛΟΞΔΕΚΥΗΡΠΑΞΕΝΤΟΝΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΝ.
But the angel of the Lord snatched away Philip.
This reading is found in several other MSS. and in some versions. Many think that the Spirit or angel of God carried off Philip in some such manner as the Apocrypha represents the transportation of Habakkuk, who was taken up by the hair of the head, and carried from Judea to Babylon! For such an interposition there was no need. When Philip had baptized the eunuch, the Spirit of God showed him that it was not the will of God that he should accompany the eunuch to Meroe, but, on the contrary, that he should hasten away to Ashdod; as God had in that, and the neighboring places, work sufficient to employ him in.