Acts 8:40
From Azotus to Caesarea
- The gospel’s word εὐαγγελίζομαι euangelizomai · to speak good news
Original
Translations
But Philip appeared at Azotus and traveled through that region, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Cæsarea.
and Philip was found at Azotus, and passing through, he was proclaiming good news to all the cities, until his coming to Caesarea.
빌립은 아소도에 나타나 여러 성을 지나 다니며 복음을 전하고 가이사랴에 이르니라
빌립은 아소도에 나타나 모든 도시를 두루 지나가며 선포하고 마침내 가이사랴에 이르니라.
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on Acts 8:26-40 as a whole
Philip was directed to go to a desert. Sometimes God opens a door of opportunity to his ministers in very unlikely places. We should study to do good to those we come into company with by travelling. We should not be so shy of all strangers as some affect to be. …
Read the whole commentary →Wesley Acts 8:40
But Philip was found at Azotus - Probably none saw him, from his leaving the eunuch, till he was there.
Read the whole commentary →
Note
The eunuch has been baptized, the Spirit of the Lord has carried Philip away, and the Ethiopian has gone on his way rejoicing (Acts 8:39). Philip turns up somewhere else and goes on doing what he does.
But Philip appeared at Azotus and traveled through that region, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Acts 8:40Azotus is the Greek name of Ashdod, one of the old Philistine cities on the coast. From there to Caesarea is a coastal road of more than eighty kilometres. Lydda and Joppa lay near that route, and when Peter goes down to Lydda in the next chapter, he finds saints already living there (Acts 9:32). Luke does not say who brought them the gospel, though some have thought of this journey of Philip's. Caesarea became his home. Some twenty years later Paul's company will stay in his house there (Acts 21:8).
The verb is in the imperfect, euēngelizeto, and its object is "all the towns" (tas poleis pasas): word for word, "passing through, he was gospelling all the towns." The present participle dierchomenos, "passing through," and the imperfect together picture a ministry on the move, one town and then the next. "Appeared" translates heurethē, an aorist passive, "he was found." Philip vanishes from the Gaza road and is found at Azotus.
The KJV says, "But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Cæsarea." It keeps the passive "was found," but its "preached" has no object, and the good news drops out of sight. The BSB has the smoother "appeared" and "preaching the gospel in all the towns," which brings the gospel word back. The LSV joins the two strengths: "Philip was found at Azotus, and passing through, he was proclaiming good news to all the cities." "All" is in every version. Philip passed over none of them.
Wesley comments on the strange arrival: "Probably none saw him, from his leaving the eunuch, till he was there" Wesley. Matthew Henry, closing the passage, writes: "When the inquirer after salvation becomes acquainted with Jesus and his gospel, he will go on his way rejoicing" Matthew Henry. The eunuch goes south rejoicing; Philip goes north preaching.
Ashdod had an old memory. When Israel was routed by the Philistines in Eli's day and the ark of God was captured, "they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod" (1 Samuel 5:1). The news of that defeat was carried to Shiloh by a runner, and the Hebrew word for his errand, basar, "to bring news," appears there for the first time in the Bible (1 Samuel 4:17). More than a thousand years later, in the same city, Philip brings good news.
Philip's story has no grand stage: one man on a desert road, then town after town along the coast. This is how the gospel spread: one hearer, then one town, and then the next.