Act 12:1-4 | Clarke | STEP | Herod persecutes the Christians, . Kills James, . And casts Peter into prison, , . The Church makes incessant prayer for his deliverance, . An angel of God opens the prison doors and leads him out, . Peter rejoices, and comes to the house of Mary, where many were praying, and declares how he was delivered, . The soldiers who kept the prison are examined by Herod, and he commands them to be put to death, , . Herod is enraged against the people of Tyre, but is appeased by their submission, . He makes an oration to the people, receives idolatrous praises, and an angel of the Lord smites him, and he dies a miserable death, . The word of God increases, . Barnabas and Saul, having fulfilled their ministry, return from Jerusalem accompanied by John Mark, . Verse 1 Herod the king - This was Herod Agrippa, the son of Aristobulus, and grandson of Herod the Great; he was nephew to Herod Antipas, who beheaded John they Baptist, and brother to Herodias. He was made king by the Emperor Caligula, and was put in possession of all the territories formerly held by his uncle Philip and by Lysanias; viz. Iturea, Trachonitis, Abilene, with Gaulonitis, Batanaea, and Penias. To these the Emperor Claudius afterwards added Judea and Samaria; which were nearly all the dominions possessed by his grandfather, Herod the Great. See ; see also an account of the Herod family, in the note on (note). To vex certain of the Church - That is, to destroy its chief ornaments and supports.

Acts 12:1-4

Introduction

Herod persecutes the Christians, Act 12:1. Kills James, Act 12:2. And casts Peter into prison, Act 12:3, Act 12:4. The Church makes incessant prayer for his deliverance, Act 12:5. An angel of God opens the prison doors and leads him out, Act 12:6-10. Peter rejoices, and comes to the house of Mary, where many were praying, and declares how he was delivered, Act 12:11-17. The soldiers who kept the prison are examined by Herod, and he commands them to be put to death, Act 12:18, Act 12:19. Herod is enraged against the people of Tyre, but is appeased by their submission, Act 12:20. He makes an oration to the people, receives idolatrous praises, and an angel of the Lord smites him, and he dies a miserable death, Act 12:21-23. The word of God increases, Act 12:24. Barnabas and Saul, having fulfilled their ministry, return from Jerusalem accompanied by John Mark, Act 12:25.

Verse 1

Herod the king - This was Herod Agrippa, the son of Aristobulus, and grandson of Herod the Great; he was nephew to Herod Antipas, who beheaded John they Baptist, and brother to Herodias. He was made king by the Emperor Caligula, and was put in possession of all the territories formerly held by his uncle Philip and by Lysanias; viz. Iturea, Trachonitis, Abilene, with Gaulonitis, Batanaea, and Penias. To these the Emperor Claudius afterwards added Judea and Samaria; which were nearly all the dominions possessed by his grandfather, Herod the Great. See Luk 3:1; see also an account of the Herod family, in the note on Mat 2:1 (note).

To vex certain of the Church - That is, to destroy its chief ornaments and supports. Verse 2

He killed James the brother of John with the sword - This was James the greater, son of Zebedee, and must be distinguished from James the less, son of Alpheus. This latter was put to death by Ananias the high priest, during the reign of Nero. This James with his brother John were those who requested to sit on the right and left hand of our Lord, see Mat 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. By the death of James, the number of the apostles was reduced to eleven; and we do not find that ever it was filled up. The apostles never had any successors: God has continued their doctrine, but not their order.

By killing with the sword we are to understand beheading. 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. Verse 3

He proceeded - to take Peter also - He supposed that these two were pillars on which the infant cause rested; and that, if these were removed, the building must necessarily come down.

The days of unleavened bread - About the latter end of March or beginning of April; but whether in the third or fourth year of the Emperor Claudius, or earlier or later, cannot be determined. Verse 4

Four quaternions of soldiers - That is, sixteen, or four companies of four men each, who had the care of the prison, each company taking in turn one of the four watches of the night.

Intending after Easter to bring him forth - Μετα το πασχα, After the passover. Perhaps there never was a more unhappy, not to say absurd, translation than that in our text. But, before I come to explain the word, it is necessary to observe that our term called Easter is not exactly the same with the Jewish passover. This festival is always held on the fourteenth day of the first vernal full moon; but the Easter of the Christians, never till the next Sabbath after said full moon; and, to avoid all conformity with the Jews in this matter, if the fourteenth day of the first vernal full moon happen on a Sabbath, then the festival of Easter is deferred till the Sabbath following. The first vernal moon is that whose fourteenth day is either on the day of the vernal equinox, or the next fourteenth day after it. The vernal equinox, according to a decree of the council of Nice, is fixed to the 21st day of March; and therefore the first vernal moon is that whose fourteenth day falls upon the 21st of March, or the first fourteenth day after. Hence it appears that the next Sabbath after the fourteenth day of the vernal moon, which is called the Paschal term, is always Easter day. And, therefore, the earliest Paschal term being the 21st of March, the 22d of March is the earliest Easter possible; and the 18th of April being the latest Paschal term, the seventh day after, that is the 25th of April, is the latest Easter possible.

The term Easter, inserted here by our translators, they borrowed from the ancient Anglo-Saxon service-books, or from the version of the Gospels, which always translates the το πασχα of the Greek by this term; e.g. Mat 26:2 : Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover. Wite ye that aefter twam dagum beoth Eastro. Mat 16:19 : And they made ready the passover. And hig gegearwodon hym Easter thenunga (i.e. the paschal supper.) Prefixed to Mat 28:1, are these words: This part to be read on Easter even. And, before Mat 28:8, these words: Mar 14:12 : And the first day of unleavened bread when they killed the passover. And tham forman daegeazimorum, tha hi Eastron offrodon. Other examples occur in this version. Wiclif used the word paske, i.e. passover; but Tindal, Coverdale, Becke, and Cardmarden, following the old Saxon mode of translation, insert Easter: the Geneva Bible very properly renders it the passover. The Saxon Earten, Eartne, Eartno, Eartna, and Eartnon are different modes of spelling the name of the goddess Easter, whose festival was celebrated by our pagan forefathers on the month of April; hence that month, in the Saxon calendar, is called Easter month. Every view we can take of this subject shows the gross impropriety of retaining a name every way exceptionable, and palpably absurd.