by
Damien F. Mackey
“A severe pain also arose in [King Agrippa’s] belly,
and began in a most violent manner…
And when he had been quite worn out by the
pain in his belly for five days, he departed this life”.
Josephus (Antiquities)
Poor King Herod. Just as he was turning into a god right before his adoring people, he suffered severe intestinal pain and began to be eaten away by worms (Acts 12:21-23).
Thereby was fulfilled, once again - as it had been with king Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’ - the pronouncement made by Judith the Simeonite more than half a millennium earlier (conventional reckoning) (Judith 16:17): ‘Woe to [those] that rise up against my people. The Lord Almighty will punish them on the day of judgment. He will send fire and worms into their flesh; they shall weep with pain forever’.
But about which King Herod are we talking here?
The Jewish historian, Josephus, who gave an account of the king’s spectacular demise somewhat akin to that which we find recorded in Acts 12, called the ill-fated king, “Agrippa”, not “Herod”.
Luke Wayne has written of it:
https://carm.org/evidence-and-answers/the-historicity-of-acts-12-and-the-death-of-herod-agrippa-i/
The Historicity of Acts 12 and the Death of Herod Agrippa I
by Luke Wayne | Feb 26, 2021 | Evidence and Answers, Apologetics
The Ancient Jewish historian Josephus, also writing in the first century AD, reported a strikingly similar account of Herod Agrippa’s demise:
“Now when Agrippa had reigned three years over all Judea, he came to the city Cesarea, which was formerly called Strato’s Tower; and there he exhibited shows in honor of Caesar, upon his being informed that there was a certain festival celebrated to make vows for his safety. At which festival a great multitude was gotten together of the principal persons, and such as were of dignity through his province. On the second day of which shows he put on a garment made wholly of silver, and of a contexture truly wonderful, and came into the theater early in the morning; at which time the silver of his garment being illuminated by the fresh reflection of the sun’s rays upon it, shone out after a surprising manner, and was so resplendent as to spread a horror over those that looked intently upon him; and presently his flatterers cried out, one from one place, and another from another, (though not for his good,) that he was a god; and they added, “Be thou merciful to us; for although we have hitherto reverenced thee only as a man, yet shall we henceforth own thee as superior to mortal nature.” Upon this the king did neither rebuke them, nor reject their impious flattery. But as he presently afterward looked up, he saw an owl sitting on a certain rope over his head, and immediately understood that this bird was the messenger of ill tidings, as it had once been the messenger of good tidings to him; and fell into the deepest sorrow. A severe pain also arose in his belly, and began in a most violent manner…And when he had been quite worn out by the pain in his belly for five days, he departed this life,” (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Chapter 19, Chapter 8, Section 2).3
The overall outline between these two accounts is precisely the same. During his reign as king in Judea, Herod Agrippa came to Caesarea. While there, he made a planned public appearance during which the crowd praised him as a god. He accepted this worshipful praise and, as a result, the true God struck him down by inflicting him with an internal condition that was immediately obvious to the lauding crowd and that ultimately killed him. Josephus and Acts both agree on this order of events.
[End of quotes]
Josephus, I suspect, may have confused the one called “King Agrippa” (but not Herod), who turned up later at Caesarea, at the trial of Paul (Acts 25:13-26:32), with the “Herod” who, in Acts 12:21-23, met his humiliating public demise.
For, according to Luke Wayne again:
The Jewish leaders had a favorable view of Herod Agrippa I and that he was apt to show favor to them is attested in Rabbinic sources as well.
Indeed, the Mishna even records that Herod Agrippa not only participated in the Jewish feasts at Jerusalem1 but even publically [sic] read from the Torah and delivered a blessing during them.
And Josephus, of course, shared this Mishnaïc view:
As with the Rabbinic writings, Josephus consistently presents a positive view of Herod Agrippa I.4 Even while reluctantly reporting the above account, Josephus also claims that Herod was repentant before his death and waxes eloquently on how all the people wept and mourned for him. Josephus includes the story not because he had an interest in discrediting and shaming Herod Agrippa but rather because this really is how Herod actually died. That such an end is contrary to Josephus’ overall view of the man gives us all the more reason to conclude that Josephus reported this event only because it was a known fact of history and he thus could not do otherwise.
These descriptions, however, read to me more like what one might have expected from the King Agrippa of later Acts, to whom Paul had said (Acts 26:2-3): “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense against all the accusations of the Jews, and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies”.
Following through Luke, also the author of Acts, from late Luke 3 into Acts 12, we first encounter “Herod the Tetrarch” at the time of the Baptism of Jesus (Luke 3:1) and, soon afterwards, the imprisonment of John the Baptist. There we learn that Herod was already an inveterate evil-doer (Luke 3:19-20): “But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison”.
By Luke 9, the befuddled Herod is hearing about Jesus (vv. 7-9):
Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was going on. And he was perplexed because some were saying that John had been raised from the dead, others that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had come back to life. But Herod said, ‘I beheaded John. Who, then, is this I hear such things about?’ And he tried to see him.
By Luke 13, Herod, who had previously “tried to see” Jesus, is now wanting to kill him (vv. 31-33):
At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, ‘Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you’.
He replied, ‘Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!’
Luke 23 becomes Herod’s chance to meet Jesus face to face.
It happened like this (vv. 4-12):
Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, ‘I find no basis for a charge against this man’.
But they insisted, ‘He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here’.
On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort. He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.
That is all that we read about King Herod in Luke.
The author now passes seamlessly into Acts, with mention of Herod and Pilate in Acts 4:27-28: ‘Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen’.
Following hard upon the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 7:60), we read (8:1): “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria”.
King Herod will soon join in on this, Acts 12, and this chapter will be the very last that we shall read of him.
Firstly vv. 1-4:
It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 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.
Peter is miraculously freed by an angel. Herod will search for him (vv. 6-18):
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. 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.
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. 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. 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.
Then Peter came to himself and said, ‘Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen’.
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. Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, ‘Peter is at the door!’
‘You’re out of your mind’, they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, ‘It must be his angel’.
But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 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 other brothers and sisters about this’, he said, and then he left for another place.
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.
This wondrous narrative is immediately followed by the account of the death of Herod, the same King Herod, I believe, who slew John the Baptist, who mocked Jesus Christ, and who had Peter imprisoned. A man in whom wickedness was now full (vv. 19-24):
Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an audience with him. After securing 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.
On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, ‘This is the voice of a god, not of a man’. 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.
But the word of God continued to spread and flourish.
‘He will send fire and worms into their flesh; they shall weep with pain forever’.
It is fitting that the death of the great persecutor of the Jews-Christians should be mentioned in the Scriptures just as were those of other evil persecutors and blasphemers such as kings Antiochus Epiphanes and Sennacherib of Assyria.
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