Acts 8:26

The angel. Rather, “an angel.” Luke is observant of angel ministry (cf. Luke 1:38 and Acts 10:7; Luke 2:9 and Acts 12:7; Luke 24:4 and Acts 1:10; 10:30). The Greek construction suggests that an angel spoke to Philip while Peter and John were doing their work of evangelism. The supernatural call may well have come in a vision (cf. Cornelius, Acts 10:3).

South. Greek mesembria, generally rendered “midday” or “noon.” However, in the Northern Hemisphere, the sun is in the south when it reaches its meridian; hence the word also came to signify locality, that is, “the south.” Some authorities prefer the translation “noon.”

Unto the way. Rather, “on the way,” or “along the road.”

Gaza. This name is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew ‘Azzah, which means “strong.” Gaza (also called Azzah in Deut. 2:23; 1 Kings 4:24; Jer. 25:20) was a southern border city of the early Canaanites (Gen. 10:19). It was occupied first by the Avim, and then by the Caphtorim (Deut. 2:23). Joshua failed to subdue it (Joshua 10:41; 11:22). Judah held it for a brief period (Judges 1:18), but soon lost it to the Philistines (Joshua 13:3; Judges 3:3), who made it the southernmost of their five great cities. The city was the scene of Samson’s humiliation and death (Judges 16), and continued to be held by the Philistines during the time of Samuel and onward (1 Sam. 6:17). Solomon (1 Kings 4:21, 24), and later Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:8), attacked it. It resisted Alexander the Great for five months, but was eventually captured and became an important military post during the struggles between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids, and in the wars of the Maccabees (1 Maccabees 11:61).

About 96 B.C. Gaza was destroyed and its people massacred by Alexander Jannaeus (Josephus Antiquities xiii. 13. 3), but it was rebuilt by the proconsul Gabinius, though it is said that the restored city was nearer the sea than the ancient one. There was more than one road from Jerusalem to Gaza, some 50 miles to the southwest. A northern route passed near Lydda, then ran parallel with the coast southward through Azotus to Gaza. Another went southward to Hebron, then due west through desert country to the city of Gaza. The latter is the more likely route of the narrative, especially if mesembria is translated “south.”

Desert. The clause literally reads, as if a separate sentence, “This is desert.” There is nothing to show whether these were the angel’s words or an explanatory note added by Luke. Neither is it clear whether “this” refers to the “way” or to the “city,” although it is unlikely that Luke would name a city and then describe it as “desert.” The RSV translates it, “This is a desert road.” In simple faith Philip was to go to the less frequented, less promising route from Jerusalem to Gaza, and without knowing that on the road he would meet a traveler whose conversion was to become so memorable.