Acts Chapter 12

It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 

1. Which Herod is this? 

“Herod the king” is Herod Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great (who attempted to put the Lord Jesus to death at the time of His birth). There never was a family more at enmity against God. As far as we know, not a single member of the Herod family ever really turned to God. J. Vernon McGee’s. Herod the King was Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great, who was king of all Palestine when Jesus was born. During our Lord’s ministry, Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, was ruler over Galilee, while Judea was governed by Roman procurators. Herod Agrippa grew up in Rome, where he wasted what fortune he had inherited in princely extravagance; but while doing so he acquired an intimacy with Caius Cæsar, afterward the famous Caligula of history. When the latter ascended the throne, at the death of Tiberius, he elevated his friend Agrippa, as this Herod was most usually called, to a kingdom, which was subsequently enlarged by Claudius until it embraced all the territory ruled by his grandfather Herod the Great. He was now in the zenith of his power, and living In the utmost magnificence Between 41 and 44 a.d. After his death in a.d. 44, the whole of Palestine again became a Roman province under Roman procurator he was nephew to Herod Antipas, who beheaded John they Baptist, —Adam Clarke’s Commentary ,Wycliffe Bible Commentary, J. Vernon McGee’s

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2. Which James was this?

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He killed James the brother of John with the sword—This was James the son of Zebedee, and he brother of John were those who requested to sit on the right and left hand of our Lord, see Matthew 20:23; and our Lord’s prediction was now fulfilled in one of them, who by his martyrdom drank of our Lord’s cup, and was baptized with his baptism. And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them “Boanerges” which is “The sons of thunder” Boanerges is a fiery preacher, the one with a powerful voice, the spiritual sons of Christ. By killing with the sword we are to understand beheading.

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Among the Jews there were four kinds of deaths:
1. Stoning; 2. burning; 3. killing with the sword, or beheading; and, 4. strangling.
The third was a Roman as well as a Jewish mode of punishment. Killing with the sword was the punishment which, according to the Talmud, was inflicted on those who drew away the people to any strange worship, Sanhedr. fol. iii. James was probably accused of this, and hence the punishment mentioned in the text. Adam Clarke’s Commentary
The death of James was the first martyrdom of an apostle and marked a new attitude of hostility on the part of the Jewish people toward the church. At first, the Jews held the Christians in high honor (5:13). Persecution by the Sanhedrin had been spearheaded by Saul. Now the king of the Jews; with popular support, directed persecution against the apostles. James thus fulfilled the prophecy of Jesus in Mk 10:39.The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.

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When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

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3. Why would Herod care about pleasing the Jews?

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Herod was king because the Roman government and legions supported him. It was his responsibility to keep the Jews as well as the Romans happy. He had to walk a fine line and be a politician as well as a ruler.

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4. Wasn’t Peter in jail before?

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They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. Acts 4:3 (NIV)

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After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them. Acts 4:21

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They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. Acts 5:18-19 (NIV)

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The four quaternions of soldiers who guarded Peter consisted of sixteen men, each quaternion consisting of four. It was enough to keep four men on guard during each of the four watches of the night. They, together with the strength of the prison doors, were deemed sufficient for the utmost security.

The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. 8 Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. 9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. 11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.”

5. Who are these angels who keep showing up?

According to Jewish superstition, each person had his own guardian angel who could assume that person’s form. Angels are ministering spirits, created by God to serve Him and do the work of the kingdom.

2 Peter 2:4 (KJV) 4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. 13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”15 ”You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.” 16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the brothers about this,” he said, and then he left for another place. 18 In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed.

6. What kind of commotion would develop among the soldiers? What would their story be?

According to Justinian’s Code (ix. 4:4), a guard who allowed a prisoner to escape would suffer the same fatal penalty that awaited the prisoner. 

Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there a while. 20 He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an audience with him. Having secured the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace, because they depended on the king’s country for their food supply. 21 On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22 They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.”

7. Where have we heard about Tyre and Sidon?

Two port cities N of Caesarea, in a region called Phoenicia. Mutual interdependence existed between these cities and Galilee, although Tyre and Sidon were more dependent on Galilee. They were dependent on the grainfields of Galilee for their food.. Blastus. The king’s “chamberlain,” or treasurer, acted as an intermediary between Herod and the representatives of Tyre and Sidon.

Matthew 11:21-22 (KJV) 
21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.

No miracles are recorded in the Gospels as having occurred in Chorazin or Bethsaida (not Bethsaida Julias). Probably these two villages were so close to the larger Capernaum that many of the miracles performed at Capernaum were witnessed by inhabitants of all three communities. Tyre and Sidon. Prominent Phoenician coastal cities, the objects of divine judgment under Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander (cf. Ezk 26-28). Sackcloth and ashes (cf. Jon 3:5-8). The common Eastern way of demonstrating grief. Had they been granted the opportunities of these Jewish cities, Jesus says, they would have repented. Why such opportunities were not granted must be left with the sovereign purposes of God, who sent Christ first to the house of Israel. Yet the greater spiritual privileges granted Chorazin and Bethsaida made their unbelief more culpable.

8. What’s wrong with a little praise?

Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

On the appointed day. A festival Herod was celebrating in honor of Claudius Caesar (Josephus, Antiquities, 19.8.2). wearing his royal robes. The historian Josephus describes a silver robe, dazzling bright, that Herod wore that day. When people acclaimed him a god, he did not deny it. He was seized with violent pains, was carried out and died five days later (Josephus, Antiquities, 19.8.2).

9. Eaten by worms? I thought God was a loving God?
“did not give God the glory.”
The crime for which Herod was executed by God (a.d. 44), who will eventually condemn and execute all who are guilty of this crime (Ro 1:18–23). eaten by worms. According to Josephus, Herod endured terrible pain for 5 days before he died. 

Exodus 20:5 (KJV) 
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

But the word of God continued to increase and spread. 25 When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.

10. Who is this Mark kid?

John … Mark. See v. 12. He was perhaps the young man who fled on the night of Jesus’ arrest (Mk 14:51–52). He wrote the second Gospel (see Introduction to Mark: Author; John Mark in the NT) and accompanied Barnabas and Saul on the first part of their first missionary journey

• ESVN………….ESV Study Bible Notes

• MSBN…….MacArthur NASB Study Notes
• NIVSN…..NIV Study Notes.
• JVM ….J Vernon McGee,
• ACC …. Adam Clarke’s Commentary
• BN …..Barnes Notes
• WBC……   Wycliffe Bible Commentary
• CN …… Constables Notes
• IC……….Ironside Commentary
• NET………Net Bible Study Notes.
• JFB…………..Jamieson  Fausset  Brown Commentary
• VWS……………..Vincent Word Studies
• CMM………….Commentary on Matthew and Mark
• BDB………….. Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)
• Darby………..John Darby’s Synopsis of the OT and NT
• Johnson………Johnson’s Notes on the New Testament.
• NTCMM…………..The New Testament Commentary:  Matthew and Mark.
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