Acts 8:36

ἰδοὺ ὕδωρ : “intus fides, foris aqua præsto erat” Bengel. According to Jerome (Epist., ciii.) and Eusebius (περὶ τόπων), the site of the baptism was placed at Bethsura (Bethzur, Joshua 15:28; 2 Chronicles 11:17; Nehemiah 3:16, etc.), about twenty miles from Jerusalem, and two from Hebron. Robinson (Biblical Researches, ii., 749) thinks that the place is more probably to be found on the road between Eleutheropolis (Beit Jibrin) and Gaza, whilst Professor G. A. Smith (see above on Acts 8:26) considers that the fact that Philip was found immediately after at Azotus suggests that the meeting and baptism took place, not where tradition has placed them, among the hills of Judæa, but on the Philistine plain (Hist. Geog. of the Holy Land, pp. 186, 240). But as he finds it impossible to apply the epithet “desert” to any route from Jerusalem to Gaza, whether that by Beit Jibrin, or the longer one by Hebron, he does not hesitate to apply the epithet to Gaza itself, and as the meeting (according to his view) took place in its neighbourhood, the town would naturally be mentioned. Gaza and Azotus, Acts 8:40, are the only two Philistine towns named in the N. T. τί κωλύει με βαπτισθῆναι; “mark the eager desire, mark the exact knowledge … see again his modesty; he does not say Baptise me, neither does he hold his peace, but he utters somewhat betwixt strong desire and reverent fear” Chrys., Hom., xix.