Acts 8:40

εὑρέθη εἰς Ἄ.: constructio prægnans = was borne to and found at, cf. Acts 21:13; or, as εἰς means more than ἐν, implying that he had come into the city and was staying there, cf. Esther 1:5; marg. Hebrew “found,” A. V., εὑρίσκω, מָצָא, is very often found in the LXX in similar phrases, e.g., 1Ch 29:17, 2 Chronicles 31:1; 1 Samuel 13:15, etc. The word may imply, however, much more than the fact that Philip was present at Azotus, and Alford sees in it a probable reference to 2 Kings 2:17 (cf. passages in O.T. above), where the same word is used, εὑρέθη. Blass takes it to mean “vento quasi ibi dejectus,” but see above on Acts 8:39. Ἄζωτον, אַשְׁדּוֹד : only mentioned here in N.T., but in LXX Ashdod, Joshua 11:22; Joshua 13:3; Joshua 15:46; 1 Samuel 5:5; 2 Chronicles 26:6; Nehemiah 4:7; Nehemiah 13:20; Jeremiah 25:20; Jeremiah 47:5; Amos 1:8; Zephaniah 2:4; Zechariah 9:6; Azotus in 1Ma 5:18; 1Ma 10:84; Herod., ii., 157: Herod, speaks of the siege of the twenty-nine years under Psammetichus as the longest in history (ζ = σδ, as in Ὠρομάζης, Ahuramazda, Blass, in loco). An old Philistine town, and one of the five chief cities it might be regarded as the half-way station on the great road between Gaza and Joppa. Schürer holds that the population was Jewish to a considerable extent, as we find that Vespasian was obliged to place a garrison there (Jos., B. J., iv., 3, 2); it is now a mere village of no importance, and still bearing the name Esdûd. Schürer, Jewish People, div. ii., vol. i., pp. 62, 67 ff., E.T.; G. A. Smith, Hist. Geog. of the Holy Land, pp. 192, 193; Hamburger, Real-Encyclopädie des Judentums, i., 1, 124, “Ashdod,” B.D. 2, “Azotus,” and also Col. Conder sub v., Hastings' B.D. διερχόμενος εὐηγγελ., see above on Acts 8:4 and also Acts 13:6, and cf. Luke 9:6 for a similar combination of the two verbs. τὰς πόλεις πάσας : from their position between Azotus and Cæsarea, Lydda and Joppa may well have been included, cf. Acts 9:32; Acts 9:36, in which we may see something of the effects of St. Philip's preaching, “hic quoque, uti in urbe Samariæ, Apostolis auditores præparavit,” Bengel. Καισαρείαν (mentioned no less than fifteen times in Acts): its full name was Καισαρεία Σεβαστή, so named by Herod the Great in honour of Augustus (Jos., Ant., xvi., 5, 1); sometimes also παράλιος or ἡ ἐπὶ θαλάττῃ (Jos., B. J., iii., 9, 1; vii., 1, 3); it was also called “Straton's Tower” (cf. Κ. ἡ Στράτωνος, Apost. Const., vi., 12), although it was virtually a fresh site. Schürer derives this latter name from Straton, the name of one or more of the last kings of Sidon, who towards the end of the Persian period were probably in possession of the strip of coast upon which the tower was built (Schürer, u. s., div. ii., vol. i., p. 84 ff.). Herod's lavish expenditure and enlargement gave it such importance that it came to be called Caput Judaeæ, Tacitus, Hist., ii. 79, i.e., of the Roman Province, for it never could be called truly Judæan. For its magnificence, see Jos., Ant., xv., 9; B. J., i., 21, cf. Ant., xvi., 5. It was a seaport suited to his taste, which Herod wanted, and in Cæsarea he found it “Joppa, Jerusalem's port, was Jewish, national, patriotic; Cæsarea, Herodian, Roman in obedience, Greek in culture”. The buildings were magnificent a temple with its two statues of Augustus and of Rome, a theatre, an amphitheatre; but above all, the haven was the chief work of art, Sebastos Limen, so large and important that the name of the city was even dwarfed beside it (see especially Dr. G. A. Smith, u. s., p. 140). Here the Roman procurators had their abode, both before and after Agrippa's reign; here, too, was the chief garrison of the troops of the province. The population was chiefly heathen, but with a considerable mixture of Jews, and so both Gentile and Jew had equal rights, while each claimed exclusive powers. In the time of Felix things came to such a pass that bloodshed ensued, and Felix exasperated the Jews by leaving the sole direction of the town in the hands of the heathen party. It was this which in the first place provoked the great rising of the Jews, A.D. 66 (Jos., Ant., xx., 8, 7, 9; B. J., ii., 13, 7; 14, 4, 5). The war broke out, and, according to Josephus, all the Jewish inhabitants, habitants, twenty thousand in number, were massacred in an hour. Here the famous Rabbi Akiba met a martyr's death, here Eusebius of Cæsarea and Procopius were born, and hither Origen fled. See Schürer, u. s.; Hamburger, Real-Encyclopädie des Judentums, ii., 1, 123; G. A. Smith, u. s., pp. 138, 143 ff., B.D. 2; Edersheim, History of the Jewish Nation, pp. 21, 23, 156, 199, 251, 265, etc. Among the Jews Cæsarea was called by the same name by which we know it, but sometimes from its fortifications, Migdal Shur, or after its harbour, Migdal Shina, or after both, and once by its ancient name, “Straton's Tower” (cf. also Strabo, xvi., p. 758), but as the seat of the Roman power, and for its preponderating heathen population, it was specially hated; and so it was designated “the daughter of Edom,” although the district, so rich and fertile, was still called “the land of life”. Edersheim, Jewish Social Life, pp. 24, 72, 202, and Hamburger, u. s. Cæsarea is mentioned in the verse before us not because of its political and commercial importance, but because it became the after home of Philip, Acts 21:8. But it also might be named here as marking a further and interesting stage in the progress of the Gospel (see also below on chap. 10). We cannot say whether at the time of the narrative in chap. 10. Philip had already settled and worked in Cæsarea.