Imprisonment And Deliverance

12:1-11 About this time Herod the king began to take hostile action to inflict injury on certain men of the Church. He killed James, John's brother, with the sword. When he saw that this gave pleasure to the Jews he went to arrest Peter too. (These were the days of unleavened bread). When he had seized Peter, he put him under arrest. He handed him over to four squads of soldiers to guard, for he wished to bring him before the people after the Passover Feast. So Peter was continuously guarded in prison. Prayer to God for him was earnestly offered by the Church. On the night before Herod was going to bring him before the people, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound by two chains; and guards kept continuous watch before the door. Now, look you, the Angel of the Lord stood by and a light shone in the house. He struck Peter's side and wakened him and said, "Rise quickly." The chains fell from his hands. The angel said to him, "Gird yourself and put on your sandals." He did so. He said to him, "Wrap your cloak round about you and follow me." So he went out and followed him. And he did not know that what was happening through the angel was real but thought that he was seeing a vision, They went through the first and the second guard and they came to the iron door that led into the city and it opened to them of its own accord. They went out and proceeded along one street; and thereupon the angel left him. When Peter had recovered his faculties he said, "Now I know for sure that the Lord sent his angel and delivered me from the hand of Herod and rescued me from the fate that the people of the Jews looked forward to for me."

There now broke out upon the Church, and especially upon its leaders, a new wave of persecution instigated by King Herod. Let us see briefly the various ramifications of the family of the Herods in their New Testament connections.

The first of the New Testament Herods (see Herodes Greek #2264 ) is Herod the Great who reigned from about 41 B.C. to 1 B.C. He is the Herod of Matthew 2:1-23 , who was in power when Jesus was born, who received the Wise Men from the East and who massacred the children. Herod the Great was married ten times. Those of his family who cross the pages of the New Testament are as follows.

(i) Herod Philip the First. He was the first husband of the Herodias ( Greek #2266 ) who was responsible for the death of John the Baptist. He is mentioned, under the name of Philip ( Greek #5376 ), in Matthew 14:3 ; Mark 6:17 ; Luke 3:19 . He had no official office. He was the father of Salome (see Greek #4539 ).

(ii) Herod Antipas (see Greek #493 ). He was the ruler of Galilee and Peraea. He was the second husband of Herodias (see Greek #2266 ) and consented to the death of John the Baptist. He was also the Herod to whom Pilate sent Jesus for trial ( Luke 23:7 ff.).

(iii) Archelaus ( Greek #745 ). He was ruler of Judaea, Samaria and Idumaea. He was a thoroughly bad ruler and was deposed and banished. He is mentioned in Matthew 2:22 .

(iv) Herod Philip the Second. He was ruler of Ituraea and Trachonitis. He was the founder of Caesarea Philippi which was called after him. In the New Testament he is called Philip and is mentioned in Luke 3:1 .

(v) Herod the Great had another son called Aristobulus (see Aristoboulos Greek #711 ); his mother was Mariamne, a princess who was descended from the great Maccabaean heroes. He was murdered by his own father but he had a son called Herod Agrippa. This is the Herod of our present passage in Acts 12:1-25 .

(vi) To complete the list we may note that Herod Agrippa ( Greek #67 ), was the father of (a) Agrippa the Second, before whom Paul was examined and before whom he made his famous speech ( Acts 25:1-27 ; Acts 26:1-32 ). (b) Bernice (see Bernike Greek #959 ), who appeared with him when Paul was under examination. (c) Drusilla (see Drousilla Greek #1409 ), who was the wife of Felix, the governor before whom Paul was tried ( Acts 24:24 ).

From this family history it may be seen that Herod Agrippa of this chapter was a direct descendant of the Maccabees through his mother Mariamne. He had been educated at Rome, but he sedulously cultivated the good graces of the Jewish people by meticulously keeping the Law and all Jewish observances. For these reasons he was popular with the people; and it was no doubt in order to achieve further popularity with the orthodox Jews that he decided to attack the Christian Church and its leaders. Even his conduct in the arrest of Peter shows his desire to conciliate the Jews. The Passover Feast was on 14th Nisan; for that day and the seven following no leaven must be used and the week was called the days of unleavened bread. During that time no trial or execution could be carried out and that is why Herod purposed to defer Peter's execution until the week was finished. The great tragedy of this particular wave of persecution was that it was not due to any man's principles, however misguided; it was due simply to Herod's bid to gain popular favour with the people.