Wicked King Herod

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Biographical Sketch

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The next four lessons have to do with King Herod Agrippa I. Herod was the "given" name of a family of kings that reigned over parts of Palestine from 55 BC. to 93 AD. The family name was Antipater. They were originally Edomites, descendants of Esau, the "hairy" son of Isaac, and were forced by the Maccabees to adopt Judaism. So actually none of the Herods were Jews by birth.

The first Herod became ruler of Palestine in 55 BC. by order of Julius Caesar. His son, Herod the Great, was ruler at the time of the birth of Jesus. His son, Herod Antipas, had John the Baptist beheaded and questioned Jesus when Pilate sent Him, as a prisoner, to him. He also clothed Jesus, mockingly, in a royal robe for His crucifixion. In all, there were 7 of these kings. Many were half brothers. Herod Agrippa I is the one referred to here in Acts 12. He was #6 and the grandson of Herod the Great.

He had gone to Rome to try his hand at finance only to go bankrupt. He then accepted a position as king over a very troublesome part of the Roman Empire. He was a Hellenists, spoke Greek, Roman and Hebrew. He had a zeal for Jewish Law and persecuted Christians because of it. He put James, the brother of John, to the sword and persecuted Peter but was himself ultimately killed by the hand of God. He had a notorious sister by the name of Herodias who married his stepson and a niece named Salome who danced and caused John the Baptist to loose his head.

There was, of all the seven, only one "good" Herod. He was Herod Philip II, son of Herod the Great and Cleopatra. He rebuilt Caesarea and died in 34 AD. without heirs. Many of the "Herods" had the same father, none had the same mother. It was a mixed up genealogy. So here in the 12th. chapter of Acts we are talking about Herod Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great. He received his power by a decree from Claudias who was Emperor of Rome. He resided mostly in Jerusalem.

Murder for Fun

Verses 2 thru 3a of Chapter 12, record what we have before mentioned concerning the activity of Herod at this time. Sense the conversion of Saul, the persecution of Christians by the religious authorities had all but ceased. Perhaps they had chose to take the advice of Gamaliel who said, "If it's (the Christian Movement) of God, you can do nothing, but if it is not, it will run it's course and die." Here we see the persecution being taken over by the civil authority, Herod.

Notice Luke says Herod laid "violent" hands upon some of the Christians. Actually he began as the King James version puts it, by "vexing" them. He created problems for them in all areas of their lives. He imprisoned them. He destroyed their homes and meeting places. He had them molested on the streets. Then, when this didn't work, he tried something else. He had James, the brother of John, killed by the sword, James, one of the Sons of Thunder, which may have made his preaching so provoking to Herod. His father was Zebedee and his mother was Salome.

Up till now, the Apostles had been able to stay in Jerusalem without being killed. But now it would appear that God was allowing this in order to get them to disperse. Why the sword? When kings had people killed it was usually done in their prisons, so James, like John the Baptist, was killed by the sword. Kings used two methods of beheading, one, by the sword and another by an axe. The axe was reserved for people of honor, the sword was used on common prisoners.

Now when Herod, who was totally disliked by the Jews because of his ancestry and Roman connections, saw that what he had done to James pleased the Jews, he arrested Peter. Matthew Henry says that we make ourselves an easy pray to Satan when we strive to please man.

Jail Again for Peter

Verses 3b thru 19 record for us the arrest of Peter and God's disposition of it. It was fitting that it would occur during the Feast of the Passover which celebrated God's deliverance of the Jews from Egypt. It was a time when Jews from all over the world came to Jerusalem to observe the feast. It was a particular irritating time for the Jewish authorities to see and hear these Christians preaching Christ in Jerusalem. So to do what he thought would ease the tensions in Jerusalem, Herod had Peter arrested.

Notice Herod had four squads of guards assigned to guard Peter. There were four men per squad and each squad had a six-hour tour of guard. So Peter had "round the clock" guards. This was the same prison that Peter and the other Apostles were in some 6 years before and were rescued by an Angel, so Herod didn't want that to happen again.

Now Herod had put James to death privately and the Jews complained, not because of the unjust nature of the execution, but because they had been denied the pleasure of seeing him put to death. So Herod was going to make up for that by bringing Peter out, after the feast, and have a big trial and execution of Peter for all to see. Why wait? Well this was the Feast of the Passover, the same time that Jesus was tried, and you recall that it was the custom at this time to release a prisoner and Herod was afraid, because of the popularity of Peter, that the people would call for his release. So, he would hold him over until after the feast.

But God had other plans for Peter. Why? Well for one reason, people were praying. Luke makes a point of telling us that "earnest prayer" for him was being made by the Church. They prayed without ceasing. The delay of Peter's trial gave them more time to pray. They prayed in shifts, some all day, some all night. God was testing the durability of these Christians.

Notice when Peter was delivered. It was the night before the day that Herod was to bring him out for trial. Notice how they had him secured. He was chained to two soldiers so that he could not move without them knowing it. The cell doors were locked and bolted and had two guards on the outside of these doors. Notice that Peter was fast asleep, not terrified for his life. Certainly Peter was aware of what had happened to Stephen and most recently, what had happened to James. Why wasn't Peter terrified? Matthew Henry says that Peter had committed his cause to the One who judges rightly and his soul was at ease.

Now notice how Peter was delivered. An Angel of the Lord appeared. In Psalms 34, we read, "They invisibly encamp around those that fear God to deliver them, therefore, they need not fear." There was also a "light" that shown in the cell. It is interesting to note that in the Old Testament, when Angels appeared, no light was seen, but with the coming of Christ, the light of the world, all appearances of Angels are accompanied by light.

Notice that the "light" and the presence of the Angel did not awake Peter. He needed to be "touched" by the Angel to be awakened. To Peter the Angel says, "Get up quickly." This was not because the Angel had limited time to work, it was because Peter needed to display faith by responding quickly. Notice his chains fell off immediately. These chains became the topic of much discussion in the early church.

Tradition has it that one of the soldiers that was guarding Peter kept the chains for a religious relic and they were passed along and eventually given to Eudoxia, the Empress of Rome, and subsequently many miracles were said to have been wrought by them. The Roman Church had a feast on the first of August each year in remembrance of these chains. Some have suggested that these chains did to the world what they could not do to Peter, "enslave them".

So Peter was ordered to rise and dress himself. Probably Peter was almost fully dressed needing only an outer cloak and his sandals which had been removed for comfort in sleeping. Notice Peter wasn't sure if he was dreaming or awake, He was familiar with visions and their reality was the same as what was happening to him now, so he could not tell the difference.

Then Peter followed the Angel out of the prison and past the two sets of guards. Notice what the guards were doing while all this was going on. Isaiah described it years before, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear." But there was still the iron gate. Matthew Henry says that they marched up to the gate and like the Red Sea, it opened up to them, and we might add, like the Red Sea, it closed behind them.

The gate led to the city street and Peter was free to go from there on his own, so the Angel departed from him. Now verse 11 says at this point, Peter came to himself. I'm sure we can appreciate this, being suddenly awaken from a deep sleep and to experience so many strange things in such a short time, certainly would be confusing, not knowing where you were nor what you had done, or whether it was real or a vision, but at length, Peter came to himself.

Then he realized what had happened. He knew that Jesus had sent an Angel and he had been rescued from the hand of Herod. Freedom is rarely appreciated until it is lost. Peter had lost his freedom and by the Grace of God, got it back. Being free, Peter goes to the home of Mary, the mother of Mark, the sister of Barnabas. A house used many times by Christians in Jerusalem. There he knocks on the door. Peter knocks very hard, believing them to be asleep, not knowing that they were inside praying for him.

A young lady by the name of Rhoda came to the door (gate), we are not told who she was, perhaps a servant or daughter, but certainly a member of the fellowship of Christians, one who had heard Peter preach and recognized his voice. Notice what she does. She did not open the door but ran in and told the others that Peter was outside. Wasn't that strange, Luke indicates that it was because of joy that she did that. Matthew Henry believes she was afraid that her ears were playing tricks on her, so she ran to where the others were praying to get someone older and perhaps more acquainted with Peter.

How did they receive her message that Peter was outside? They were somewhat skeptical, not only of what she said but also of her. "Are you mad?" They had been praying for days for Peter's release and now that it had happened they could not believe it. When she insisted that it was true, they started to make excuses. "Surly it's an Angel, Peter's guardian Angel."

Two types of Angels were believed to have existed at that time. One, a "Guardian Angel" whom they believed had been sent to take Peter's place, one that looked like Peter, talked like Peter and could take Peter's place and no one would know the difference. A second belief was that an Angel appeared before the death of a person. This Angel would dress, look and talk like the condemned person. They were often seen just before that person died.

So some inside the house believed Peter would live, others believed that he would die, but none believed that he was outside. However, they do go to the door and open it, and boy, were they surprised. Isn't it sad that the iron gate at the prison opened without being touched but the door to his friend's house needed knocked and knocked upon. This whole thing must have been a humbling experience for Peter. When they see who it was they were amazed. Did this show lack of faith? Weren't they praying for his release?

Even in the age of miracles, these believers lived with reality. Stephen had been stoned to death and they had prayed for him. James had been beheaded and they had prayed for him. The reality was that they were still at the mercy of God and His will would be done. So when Peter showed up at the house in the middle of the night, they were amazed and certainly full of questions. Clambering for answers, verse 17 indicates that Peter motioned for them to be quiet so that he could relate to them the whole story.

When he had completed telling them what had happened, he instructed them to go tell James and the Brothern. Notice this is another James, one that apparently had become the leader in the Church at Jerusalem. The one that had just been killed was the brother of John and had been a Disciple of Jesus. This one was probably the half-brother of Jesus, the oldest of four brothers that Mary had by Joseph after the birth of Jesus. They were James, Joseph, Simon and Judas.

Then Peter left and went to a more secure place within the city. Matthew Henry, in his commentary, takes this opportunity to show the difference between "predestination" and "fatalism". He says, concerning Peters withdrawal to a more safe place, "Even the Christian law of self-denial and suffering for Christ, did not abrogate or repeal the natural law of self-preservation and care for your own safety."

Now Luke seems to understate the conditions at the prison the next morning. "There was no small stir among the soldiers." The law required that the guard of an escaped prisoner must stand trial for the offence of the prisoner and bear the penalty of his offence. So certainly there was more than a "small" stir among the guards that had been on duty that night. Notice they first examined the chains that had been on Peter and certainly there were locks on those chains. Then they examined the iron gate, looking at both to see any evidence of how Peter had escaped.

Then they tried to determine where he might have gone after he escaped. Houses in the area were searched. His known places of habitation was searched, all without result. Finally, they could not cover up the escape any longer. Word got out and the guards were called in and examined by Herod. Finding that they could give no satisfactory answer or explanation to the escape, he commanded that they be put to death.

Now lets go to the historian Josephus for some information on what followed. Herod had commanded that the guards be put to death to please the Jews who were very saddened by Peter's escape. But the guards were never executed because of Herod's death. Herod had thought to put on a show of power by putting Peter to death, but when Peter escaped, he was very humiliated. He left Jerusalem and went down to Caesarea and was there only a short time before he died.

He left Jerusalem in the third year of his reign and at Caesarea his brooding led ultimately to a mental condition that caused an untimely death.

The Death of Herod

Verses 20 thru 23 of Chapter 12, record Herod's death. It appears that it was Herod's pride that killed him. In Job we read, "It is the glory of God to look on every one that is proud and bring them low." Notice the final blow that brought God's judgment. The cities of Tyre and Sidon had offended Herod. These cities were under Roman rule and it seems, were guilty of some misdemeanor which Herod highly resented. It was probably some small provocation but it had hurt Herod's pride and when men were sent to Herod from these cities, to make peace and arrive at some agreement, he treated them very poorly.

Now it was beneficial to all that trade be maintained between Judeah and these coastal cities, and even though these arbitrators felt that they had done nothing that deserved the kind of treatment that they were getting, they swallowed their pride in an effort to keep the arbitrations going on. These cities had very little land for cultivation so they relied upon Judeah for corn, honey and oil. If Herod made it unlawful for Judeah to trade these items it would put these cities in dire need. So they humbled themselves before him.

Notice the maneuvering that was going on behind the scenes. The arbitrators bribed Blastus, Herod's chamberlain. Now the chamberlain was the chief officer in the household of the king. He was trusted with the king's life and often his money. So, therefore, was quite influential with the king. These men had "bought" Blastus with gifts. In return, Blastus was to tone down the king's resentment and get a date set for them to come and publicly beg the king's pardon and throw themselves on his mercy. That should feed his pride and cool his passion.

Josephus, the first century historian, gives an account of this meeting when it finally took place. Herod appeared in a robe of cloth made of woven silver. When the sun shined upon it, the reflected light dazzled the eyes. He says that Herod tried to make up for the lack of a royal heart with royal apparel. When Herod appeared, he made a speech. He exaggerated their faults, but commended their submission and after what must have been hours, concluded by assuring them that they were forgiven.

The people, who had gathered for this event, thought he was great. They applauded him and shouted, "The voice of a god, and not of a man." Whether it was the speech or his appearance or because they were so glad at the kings decision, the people fed the king's pride. What was Herod's sin? He took the phrases to himself. He said nothing to disown their flattery, he did nothing to disown the title that they gave him. He did not give God the glory but took the glory himself. This was the conduct of a man who claimed to be a follower of the one true and living God.

Now, how was Herod punished? "Immediately, an Angel of the Lord killed him." The story is that Herod lost his mind and became filled with worms like a person who had been dead for days. Before he could be buried, he was eaten up by the worms. He died at the age of 54 having reigned for 7 years.

The Church Marches On

Verses 24 and 25 relate to the growth of the Church. After the death of James and the arrest of Peter, the Church grew and multiplied. With Peter's miraculous escape came the undeniable truth that God was with them.

Matthew Henry says that God's owning of Peter did more to invite people to Christ then the persecution did to deter them.

Back in Chapter 11 verse 29, we read where Barnabas and Paul were sent back to Jerusalem with food for the Christians there and now we see that when they returned to Antioch, they brought back with them a young man by the name of John Mark. It was the home of John Mark's mother, Mary, that the group met to pray for Peter and it was there that Peter went when the Angel released him from prison. This Mary was Barnabas' sister and it was probably here that Barnabas and Paul stayed while in Jerusalem and this is where they met John Mark.

We are going to hear a great deal about this young man later, so perhaps now would be a good time to get acquainted. His mother, Mary, is believed to have housed the first Christian Church. He was a nephew of Barnabas. It is believed that Peter led Mark to Christ. Peter often referred to him as "son". He returned to Antioch with Barnabas and Paul as a young men entering the ministry. He served as an attendant to Barnabas and Paul on their first missionary journey, but for some reason, he deserted them at Perga and went home. Because of this, Paul thought it unwise to take him on their second missionary journey. This caused a disagreement between Barnabas and Paul and ended their missionary efforts together.

Barnabas then took Mark with him to Cyprus, then nothing is heard of him for 10 years, when he shows up with Paul who had evidently forgiven him. Mark did well in the city of Colossae where he apparently stayed for some time. He was there when Paul was imprisoned in Rome and Paul wrote and asked him to come there. Mark was an interpreter for Peter who did not know Greek. Mark eventually went to Rome where he assisted Paul and Peter.

Mark wrote the Gospel of Mark to Gentile believers and is believed to have been the first written. Much of his information came from Peter. Tradition has it that Mark founded the Church at Alexander where it is believed that he died and was buried there. Somehow his bones got to Egypt and were moved to Venice in 832 AD. The Church in Venice is called St. Marks and his bones are believed to be resting under the alter.

So that's the man that Barnabas and Paul are bringing back to Antioch.

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