In the courts of oriental monarchs, the charge of the female and interior apartments is committed to eunuchs. Hence the word came to signify merely a court officer. Such were Potiphar, Joseph's master, Genesis 39:17 , and the treasurer of Queen Candace, Acts 8:27 . Our Savior speaks of some who "have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake;" that is, who have voluntarily abstained from marriage, in order more effectually to labor for the kingdom of God, Matthew 19:12; and the apostle Paul commends the same abstinence in certain exceptional cases in time of persecution, 1 Corinthians 7:26,27 . See GAZA.