Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 12:1

"Now about that time Herod the king put forth his hands to afflict certain of the church." — Acts 12:1 (ASV)

The narrative of Peter’s miraculous deliverance from prison and death really begins at v.5. The narrative is introduced as having taken place “about this time,” which refers to the events of the famine visit to Jerusalem of 11:27–30. But if the famine visit occurred about A. D. 46 and Herod Agrippa I died in A. D. 44 (as will be seen below), 11:27–30 and the material of 12:1–23 are chronologically reversed. Yet we must remember that ancient historians frequently grouped their materials without always being concerned about chronology (see introduction). So Luke, having begun his account of Christianity in Antioch by speaking of the founding of the church, tied into that narrative a further vignette about the famine relief Antiochean believers sent to Jerusalem. As a result, his full account of the church at Antioch (11:19–30) reaches back behind Peter’s ministries at Lydda, Joppa, and Caesarea at its start (cf. 11:19) and goes beyond the accounts of Peter’s deliverance and Herod Agrippa I’s death at its close (the events of ch. 12 coming between those of 11:19–26 and 11:27–30). Luke seems to have wanted to close his portrayals of the Christian mission within the Jewish world (2:42–12:24) with two vignettes having to do with God’s continued activity on behalf of the Jerusalem church. The Herod of Ac 12 is Agrippa I (born in 10 B. C.), the grandson of Herod the Great and the son of Aristobulus. After his father’s execution in 7 B. C., he was sent with his mother Bernice to Rome, where he grew up on intimate terms with the imperial family. In his youth he was something of a playboy, and in A. D. 23 he went so heavily into debt that he had to flee to Idumea to escape his creditors. Later he received asylum at Tiberias and a pension from his uncle Herod Antipas, with whom, however, he eventually quarreled. In 36 he returned to Rome but offended the emperor Tiberius and was imprisoned. At the death of Tiberius in 37, he was released by the new emperor Caligula and received from him the northernmost Palestinian tetrarchies of Philip and Lysanius (cf. Lk 3:1) and the title of king. When Herod Antipas was banished in 39, Agrippa received his tetrarchy as well. And at the death of Caligula in 41, Claudius, who succeeded Caligula and was Agrippa’s friend from youth, added Judea and Samaria to his territory, thus reconstituting for him the entire kingdom of his grandfather Herod the Great, over which he ruled till his death in 44. Knowing how profoundly the masses hated his family, Herod Agrippa I took every opportunity during his administration in Palestine to win their affection. When in Rome he was a cosmopolitan Roman. But when in Jerusalem, he acted the part of an observant Jew. In A. D. 40 Agrippa cajoled Caligula not to carry out his insane plan of erecting a statue to himself as a god in the Jerusalem temple and intervened on behalf of the Jews in Alexandria for their more humane treatment. When Judea came under his jurisdiction, he moved the seat of government from Caesarea to Jerusalem. This established the holy city in Jewish eyes as the political capital of the country. He also began to rebuild the city’s northern wall and fortifications, thus enhancing both its security and its prestige. Many Jews viewed these days as the inauguration of a better era—perhaps even the Messianic Age. Agrippa himself, however, seems to have been primarily interested in a successful reign through the cooperation of loyal subjects, and his expressions of concern for the people and their religion were probably more pragmatically based than sincere. Agrippa’s policy was preserving the Roman peace through preserving the status quo. He supported the majority within the land and ruthlessly suppressed minorities when they became disruptive. He viewed Jewish Christians as divisive and felt their activities could only disturb the people and inflame antagonisms. So he arrested some of the believers in Jesus and had James, one of Jesus’ original disciples, beheaded by the sword (a form of execution supported by Jewish tradition). Finding that this pleased the Jewish leaders, he then took Peter during Passover Week and imprisoned him till he could bring him out for public trial after the Jewish holy days. While in prison, the apostle was guarded by “four squads of four soldiers each,” with two soldiers chained to him on either side and two standing guard at the inner entrance to the prison (cf. v.6). Evidently Agrippa planned to make of Peter a spectacle and warning at a forthcoming show trial. And he did not want to be embarrassed by Peter’s escape.