Acts 8:26 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip,— It gives us a very high idea of the gospel, to see the ministers of it receiving immediate direction from celestial spirits, in the particular discharge of their office. The construction of the Greek leaves it dubious whether the clause which is desart, refers to Gaza, or the way that led to it. Those who are of the former opinion observe, that the ancient city of thisname was demolished byAlexander the Great, and afterwards rebuilt with great magnificence, though at some distance from the spot on which the old city stood, which was left in ruins, and therefore called Gaza the deserted, or Desolate. But they who question the truth of this assertion think, that Philip was directed to take that road to Gaza, which lay through the wilderness, and which, though perhaps it might not be the shortest, was chosen by the eunuch as the more retired; and the Greek seems to favour this interpretation. The Ethiopic version renders it, into the way which leads through the desart from Jerusalem to Gaza.