Acts 8:26 - Exposition

But an angel for and the angel, A.V.; the same is for which is, A.V. An angel. "The angel," as in A.V., is right, just as ὄνομα κυρίου ( Matthew 21:9 ; Matthew 23:1-39 . 39; Luke 19:38 , etc.) and הוָהֹיְ משֵׁ in Hebrew mean "the Name of the Lord," not "a Name" (see Acts 5:19 ; Acts 7:31 , notes). The south , meaning that part of Judaea which was called " the south country;" Hebrew בגֶנֶּהַ ( Genesis 20:1 ; Genesis 24:62 ; etc.). This is generally rendered in the LXX . by πρὸς λίβα or πρὸς νότον . But in 1 Samuel 20:41 , in Symraachus, μεσηνβρία stands as the rendering of בגֶנֶּחַ . As regards the words, the same is desert , it is observable that in Numbers 31:1 and Deuteronomy 34:3 ἔρημος is the LXX . rendering of מבֶנֶחַ , and that part of the country is called "the wilderness of Judaea." The words of the angel, therefore, mean, not that Gaza is desert, nor that the read itself is desert, but that the country to which he was directing Philip's journey was part of that known as the desert; αὕτη does not refer to ὁδός or to γάζα , but to χώρα , understood as contained in ἔρημος . The meaning of the whole sentence I take to be as follows:—"Take thy journey in [or, 'by'] the south [comp. Luke 15:14 ; Acts 5:15 ; Acts 11:1 ; Acts 13:1-52 . lids far as [ ἐπί , ' notans locum vel terminum ad quem ' (Schleusner)] the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza, where the country is desert." Philip was to proceed from Samaria along the south country till he came to where the Jerusalem road met his road. That district, he is reminded, was desert, part, i.e., or the desert of Judaea. The spot was probably selected for that very reason, as affording the privacy necessary for the eunuch to read in his chariot, and for Philip to join him and expound the Word of God to him. Chrysostom (followed by others) takes κατὰ μεσημβρίαν in the sense of "at noonday in the most violent heat," though he also renders it "southwards" (Hem., 19.).