Acts 12:1-2
He killed James the brother of John with the sword
One verse for the death of an apostle. The brevity is the point; Acts does not stop, and no other apostle’s death is recorded at all.
People of the Bible
Herod Agrippa
Killed one apostle, arranged the execution of a second, and did not survive his own applause.
He is the grandson of Herod the Great, raised in Rome, and given Judea by emperors he had befriended, which makes him the first Herod in a generation to hold the whole kingdom. Acts introduces him stretching forth his hands to vex certain of the church, and the reason given for the second arrest is entirely political: because he saw it pleased the Jews. The persecution is a popularity measure taken by a man who governs by measuring popularity.
Scroll down to the storyThe movements, in the order the text gives them.
The story of Herod Agrippa
- 01
- 02
Acts 12:3-4
Because he saw it pleased the Jews
The stated motive is approval. Peter is taken during the days of unleavened bread and held for a public trial after the feast.
- 03
Acts 12:5-11
Prayer was made without ceasing
Sixteen soldiers, two chains, an iron gate that opens of its own accord, and an angel who has to tell him to put his sandals on.
- 04
Acts 12:13-17
Thou art mad
Rhoda leaves Peter standing at the gate in her excitement, and the praying church tells her she is out of her mind. It is the funniest scene in the book.
- 05
Acts 12:21-23
He gave not God the glory
Arrayed in royal apparel on the throne, he takes the crowd’s verdict about his own voice. The chapter ends with the word of God growing instead.
Why it matters
James the brother of John is killed with the sword, the only apostle whose death the New Testament records. Peter is taken next, kept by four quaternions of soldiers, and the church holds a prayer meeting that does not believe its own answer when Rhoda reports it at the door. Then the chapter turns on Herod himself. At Caesarea, in royal apparel, he makes an oration and the people shout that it is the voice of a god and not of a man, and he does not give God the glory.
1 song
The music
Every song in the catalogue whose passage falls inside these chapters.
