[The posts which follow make extensive use of The Acts of the Apostles, by Madame Cecilia, (Religious of St Andrew's Convent, Streatham), with an Imprimi potest dated 16 October 1907 (Westminster); Burns, Oates & Washbourne Ltd. (London). With grateful prayers for the author and her team:
REQUIEM æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen.ETERNAL rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.]
Acts XII : 18-25
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| The Herodian family tree. |
[19] And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not; having examined the keepers, he commanded they should be put to death; and going down from Judea to Caesarea, he abode there.
[20] And he was angry with the Tyrians and the Sidonians. But they with one accord came to him, and having gained Blastus, who was the king's chamberlain, they desired peace, because their countries were nourished by him.
[21] And upon a day appointed, Herod being arrayed in kingly apparel, sat in the judgment seat, and made an oration to them.
[22] And the people made acclamation, saying: It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.
[23] And forthwith an angel of the Lord struck him, because he had not given the honour to God: and being eaten up by worms, he gave up the ghost.
[24] But the word of the Lord increased and multiplied.
[25] And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, having fulfilled their ministry, taking with them John, who was surnamed Mark.
[18] Facta autem die, erat non parva turbatio inter milites, quidnam factum esset de Petro. [19] Herodes autem cum requisisset eum, et non invenisset, inquisitione facta de custodibus, jussit eos duci : descendensque a Judaea in Caesaream, ibi commoratus est. [20] Erat autem iratus Tyriis et Sidonis. At illi unanimes venerunt ad eum, et persuaso Blasto, qui erat super cubiculum regis, postulabant pacem, eo quod alerentur regiones eorum ab illo.
[21] Statuto autem die Herodes vestitus veste regia, sedit pro tribunali, et concionabatur ad eos. [22] Populus autem acclamabat : Dei voces, et non hominis. [23] Confestim autem percussit eum angelus Domini, eo quod non dedisset honorem Deo : et consumptus a vermibus, expiravit. [24] Verbum autem Domini crescebat, et multiplicabatur. [25] Barnabas autem et Saulus reversi sunt ab Jerosolymis expleto ministerio assumpto Joanne, qui cognominatus est Marcus.
Notes
18. when day was come. On the morrow of St Peter’s deliverance, or the dawn of the same day.
no small stir. The guards knew that their lives were in danger, as their prisoner had escaped.
19. they should he put to death. Lit. “ that they should be led away ” (ἀπαχθηναι), as a prelude to being executed. Cf. They led him away to crucify him (St Matt, xxvii. 31).
to Cesarea. Herod usually dwelt here ; he had probably only gone up to Jerusalem to keep the Paschal festivities.
20. he was angry. Better, “he was greatly displeased” (ἡν δε θυμομακων).
Tyrians and the Sidonians. Natives of Tyre and Sidon, two maritime cities, about twenty miles apart, on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. Tyre stands partly on the mainland and partly on an island.
These cities had certain independent civic rights, but were under the protection of Rome.
gained Blastus. Lit. “persuaded” (πεισαντες) by bribing him. As Blastius was the king’s chamberlain, he would have opportunities of speaking with the king.
desired peace, — i.e. friendly relations. Herod had no power to make war. The difficulty touched the commerce of the two seaports.
their countries were nourished. As early as King Solomon’s days, Tyre and Sidon drew their supplies of corn and oil from Galilee and other parts of Palestine. Herod, who had greatly enlarged Cesarea, was endeavouring to make it the great commercial city of Palestine, and, ill consequence, some of the trade must have been diverted from the other Phoenician seaports. It has also been suggested that the scarcity, which developed into a dearth, had led to a falling off of the import trade.
21. a day appointed. According to Josephus, Herod was “ exhibiting shows,” i.e. games, in order “to make vows for the emperor’s safety” (Antiq., xix., viii. 2). It has been suggested that these festive and votive games were in honour of Claudius’ return from Britain after having conquered the Britons and taken Colchester. Claudius returned to Rome early in A.D. 44, the year of Herod’s death.
Other commentators suggest that on this occasion Herod Agrippa was celebrating the quinquennial games established by Herod the Great in memory of the dedication of Cesarea in B.C. 10, but these games could not fall in A.D. 44. Nor could he have been celebrating the birthday of Claudius, which fell on August 1, since Herod died soon after the Passover of A.D. 44. (For further information on this subject see Lewin's Life and Epintles of St Paul, vol. i. p. 111.)
in the judgment-seat. The king sat in the public theatre, upon a high platform (Βημα ), whence he could command a good view of the games and be seen by all the people.
22. It is the voice etc. Rackham remarks on this passage : “ This did not mean much. Orientals were quite accustomed to the deification of their monarchs.”
23. an Angel of the Lord struck him. This is the ordinary Scriptural expression, signifying that the primary cause of death was a divine judgment. Cf. And when the angel of the Lord had stretched out his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord had pity on the affliction, and said to the angel that slew the people: It is enough; now hold thy hand (2 Kings xxiv. 16).
The messenger of death did not shew himself either to Herod or the people. The judgment of God was the primary cause of Herod’s death, the terrible disease of which he died was the secondary cause. Note the antithesis in the two narrations given in this twelfth chapter. To St Peter, the angel of the Lord appears us a messenger of life ; to Herod, there is no apparition, the angel of death accomplishes his mission of death unseen.
eaten up by worms. Whatever disease this may have been of which Herod died, it seems to have been inflicted as a punishment of pride. The same death overtook the tyrant Antiochus, and the symptoms which the sacred historian records are mentioned by Josephus in his account of Herod’s sufferings. Cf. But the Lord the God of Israel, that seeth all things, struck him with an incurable and an invisible plague. For as soon as he had ended these words, a dreadful pain in his bowels came upon him, and bitter torments of the inner parts. So that worms swarmed out of the body of this man, and whilst he lived in sorrow and pain, his flesh fell off, and the filthiness of his smell was noisome to the army (2 Mach. ix. 6,9).
Tertullian, in his epistle to Scapula, speaks of this punishment being inflicted on Claudius Lucius Herminianus, who had cruelly persecuted the Christians.
he gave up the ghost. See Annot. on v. 5.
24. the word of the Lord, etc. The persecutor was struck down in his pride and eaten up by worms, but the Church of Christ pursued her triumphal march. The “ seed,” which is “ the word of God,” had been watered by the blood of the martyr St James the Great.
25. Barnabas and Saul, etc. St Luke resumes here the thread of the history from ch. xi. 30. Barnabas and Saul had been sent to Jerusalem with the alms of the faithful.
It is probable that they kept the Pasch there, and that afterwards they returned to Antioch. If this supposition be correct, then they were in the house of Mary when St Peter visited the Christians who were there praying for him. The mention of their having taken John Mark back with them shews that Saul met him in Jerusalem. Barrnabas would naturally dwell with his companions under his sister’s roof during his stay in Jerusalem. It is not stated that they remained there until after Herod’s death.
Note. — From the thirteenth chapter to the end of the Acts, with the exception of the narration of the First Assembly in Jerusalem, St Luke treats only of the “ Acts of St Paul ” and of his first three missionary journeys. Hitherto, the sacred historian had confined himself to the “ Acts of St Peter” and of the deacons, and to the progress of the Gospel in the sphere first allotted to the apostles by Jesus Christ Himself : in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and in Samaria. The apostles left Jerusalem some twelve years after the Ascension, and St Luke does not mention any of the Twelve again except incidentally. He proceeds to relate solely what concerns Saul and Barnabas, and more particularly he details the work of the former, who was called by God to evangelize the Gentiles. In the last sixteen chapters of the Acts we have a relation of St Paul’s missionary journeys even to the uttermost parts of the civilized world, and St Luke brings out clearly into relief the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit in inspiring and directing the missionary labours of St Paul and Barnabas.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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