About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”
Herod - "Herod Agrippa I, grandson of the Herod the Great who ruled at the birth of Jesus. Agrippa, at least on the surface, was a zealous practitioner of Jewish rites and a religious patriot." (Ryrie)
"Herod, the King, mentioned here is known in history as Herod Agrippa I. He was the grandson of Herod the Great. First he had the tetrarchy of Philip (Luke 3:1), then he received the territory of Herod Antipas, Galilee and Peraea; lastly through political intrigue he added to his Kingdom Judea and Samaria. Much of his time was spent in Rome, where he lived extravagantly. When he came to Jerusalem he tried in every possible way to gain the good will of the Jews by an outward observance of the law and defence of their customs. The persecution of the church was no doubt inspired by the desire to gain favour with the Jews. As far as the historical account goes, it seems his hatred was exclusively directed against the Apostles; James was killed by the sword." (Gaebelein)
"Four Herods are mentioned in the New Testament. All are types of the Anti-Christ and all were energized by Satan. Herod the Great who had the children of Bethlehem killed. The Herod who killed John the Baptist. The Herod who slew James, and the Herod Agrippa before whom Paul stood and preached." (Gaebelein)
"Mark well: Herod does not stretch forth his hands against the Jews; he stretches forth his hands against 'certain of the church' and, sad to say, Israel is pleased to have it so. She prefers the reign of this part Edomite to that of their own Messiah ... The Edomites, the descendants of Esau, were Israel's hereditary enemies. Indeed, Herod's right to the throne was forfeited by the mere fact that he was not of the royal Davidic line nor even a full Israelite (Deut 17:15)." (Stam)
James - the first of the Twelve to be martyred
"... an early tradition, cited by Eusebius, has it that James' accuser was himself coverted through the apostle's conduct at his trial and was led out to execution with him, asking and receiving James' forgiveness on the way." (Stam)
"... in Chapter 12, we have, next to the raising up of Paul himself, the greatest indication of all that the earthly establishment of the kingdom is to be held in abeyance, as the Apostle James is killed with the sword. (It was not the death of James, however, that, even partly, brought about the so-called 'postponement' of the kingdom, for our Lord had previously predicted the death of Peter, another of the twelve (Jn 21:18-19). But how fully this prediction was understood at the time is open to question, for our Lord did not actually say that Peter would die or be killed, though this is what He had in mind (v 19). The human reason for the postponement of the kingdom was Israel's unbelief; the divine reason, God's own purpose and grace.) We have seen how our Lord had promised the twelve apostles that they should occupy twelve thrones in the kingdom and should reign with Him over the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt 19:28). We have seen how the number was brought up to twelve again after Judas' fall, by the appointment of Matthias, and how God sanctioned the appointment (Acts 1:15-26; 2:4). We have further seen how, at Pentecost, 'Peter, standing up with the eleven,' appealed to Israel to repent and receive her Messiah (Acts 2) and how God protected and sustained the twelve in the midst of the most violent persecutions, so that even when all the other believers had to flee from Jerusalem for their lives, the twelve alone remained in the city, divinely protected. But now one of the twelve is slain; nor can any attempt be made to replace him by another, for he, unlike Judas, has a legitimate claim to one of the twelve thrones. Thus it becomes evident that the kingdom is not yet to be established on earth (though those of that day probably did not yet understand this) and that a new dispensation has already begun, as God removes His protecting hand from one of the twelve and allows Herod the king to slay him with the sword. Meanwhile the depth of Israel's declension in seen in the fact that the Jews are pleased with Herod for killing James. This is why Dr. Arno C. Gaebelein, in his book, The Gospel of Matthew, said: 'The testimony which was begun by the apostles up to the time when Israel rejected once more the offers of mercy from the risen Lord, when He was still waiting for their repentance as a nation, is an unfinished testimony' (Vol I, Pp. 209,210). And this is why Sir Robert Anderson, in his Silence of God, calls Acts 'a book which is primarily the record, not as commonly supposed, of the founding of the Christian Church, but of the apostasy of the favored nation' (P. 177). Little wonder that after this chapter Paul, the apostle of the new dispensation, dominates the scene completely." (Stam)
four squads - "Four soldiers for each six-hour shift. Two were evidently chained to Peter and two stood guard (v 6)." (Ryrie)
"Now this present Herod, no less wily and wicked, slays James with the sword, evidently to please the Jews. And when he see that it does please the Jews, he proceeds further to take Peter also (Acts 12:3). He will increase his own popularity as king, he thinks, by bringing Peter to public trial and execution. Thus Herod had Peter arrested and put in prison; very possibly the same prison he had been committed to before. One would wonder why, in addition to being locked in a cell, four quarter-nions of soldiers were needed to guard him, but it was probably well known that on a previous occasion when Peter was supposed to have been in prison he was found in the temple preaching instead, while the officers who had been sent to bring him to court explained: 'The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors; but when we had opened, we found no man within'" (Stam)
Passover - "One of Israel's three great yearly festivals (the other two were Pentecost and Booths), commemorating their deliverance from Egypt on the night when God 'passed over' the homes of the Israelites during the slaughter of the firstborn. It was celebrated on the fourteenth of Nisan (March-April) and was followed immediately by the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which continued from the fifteenth to the twenty-first (see Ex 12)." (Ryrie)
but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church - "True, we are to 'pray with the understanding also' (1 Cor 14:15) and the miraculous demonstrations of the Pentecostal era have now passed away, but God is no less interested in us when we cry to Him in times of extremity, nor any less able to help us in time of need, even though He chooses to help in what we might call providential ways rather than by direct intervention in the affairs of men." (Stam)
Peter was sleeping - "He had Christ's promise that he would live to an old age (Jn 21:18)." (Ryrie)
When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” - "Thus Peter was spared for a time. He still had an important role to play in the purposes of God in the setting aside of Israel and the recognition of Paul as the apostle of the new dispensation." (Stam)
Herod - "Herod Agrippa I, grandson of the Herod the Great who ruled at the birth of Jesus. Agrippa, at least on the surface, was a zealous practitioner of Jewish rites and a religious patriot." (Ryrie)
"Herod, the King, mentioned here is known in history as Herod Agrippa I. He was the grandson of Herod the Great. First he had the tetrarchy of Philip (Luke 3:1), then he received the territory of Herod Antipas, Galilee and Peraea; lastly through political intrigue he added to his Kingdom Judea and Samaria. Much of his time was spent in Rome, where he lived extravagantly. When he came to Jerusalem he tried in every possible way to gain the good will of the Jews by an outward observance of the law and defence of their customs. The persecution of the church was no doubt inspired by the desire to gain favour with the Jews. As far as the historical account goes, it seems his hatred was exclusively directed against the Apostles; James was killed by the sword." (Gaebelein)
"Four Herods are mentioned in the New Testament. All are types of the Anti-Christ and all were energized by Satan. Herod the Great who had the children of Bethlehem killed. The Herod who killed John the Baptist. The Herod who slew James, and the Herod Agrippa before whom Paul stood and preached." (Gaebelein)
"Mark well: Herod does not stretch forth his hands against the Jews; he stretches forth his hands against 'certain of the church' and, sad to say, Israel is pleased to have it so. She prefers the reign of this part Edomite to that of their own Messiah ... The Edomites, the descendants of Esau, were Israel's hereditary enemies. Indeed, Herod's right to the throne was forfeited by the mere fact that he was not of the royal Davidic line nor even a full Israelite (Deut 17:15)." (Stam)
James - the first of the Twelve to be martyred
"... an early tradition, cited by Eusebius, has it that James' accuser was himself coverted through the apostle's conduct at his trial and was led out to execution with him, asking and receiving James' forgiveness on the way." (Stam)
"... in Chapter 12, we have, next to the raising up of Paul himself, the greatest indication of all that the earthly establishment of the kingdom is to be held in abeyance, as the Apostle James is killed with the sword. (It was not the death of James, however, that, even partly, brought about the so-called 'postponement' of the kingdom, for our Lord had previously predicted the death of Peter, another of the twelve (Jn 21:18-19). But how fully this prediction was understood at the time is open to question, for our Lord did not actually say that Peter would die or be killed, though this is what He had in mind (v 19). The human reason for the postponement of the kingdom was Israel's unbelief; the divine reason, God's own purpose and grace.) We have seen how our Lord had promised the twelve apostles that they should occupy twelve thrones in the kingdom and should reign with Him over the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt 19:28). We have seen how the number was brought up to twelve again after Judas' fall, by the appointment of Matthias, and how God sanctioned the appointment (Acts 1:15-26; 2:4). We have further seen how, at Pentecost, 'Peter, standing up with the eleven,' appealed to Israel to repent and receive her Messiah (Acts 2) and how God protected and sustained the twelve in the midst of the most violent persecutions, so that even when all the other believers had to flee from Jerusalem for their lives, the twelve alone remained in the city, divinely protected. But now one of the twelve is slain; nor can any attempt be made to replace him by another, for he, unlike Judas, has a legitimate claim to one of the twelve thrones. Thus it becomes evident that the kingdom is not yet to be established on earth (though those of that day probably did not yet understand this) and that a new dispensation has already begun, as God removes His protecting hand from one of the twelve and allows Herod the king to slay him with the sword. Meanwhile the depth of Israel's declension in seen in the fact that the Jews are pleased with Herod for killing James. This is why Dr. Arno C. Gaebelein, in his book, The Gospel of Matthew, said: 'The testimony which was begun by the apostles up to the time when Israel rejected once more the offers of mercy from the risen Lord, when He was still waiting for their repentance as a nation, is an unfinished testimony' (Vol I, Pp. 209,210). And this is why Sir Robert Anderson, in his Silence of God, calls Acts 'a book which is primarily the record, not as commonly supposed, of the founding of the Christian Church, but of the apostasy of the favored nation' (P. 177). Little wonder that after this chapter Paul, the apostle of the new dispensation, dominates the scene completely." (Stam)
four squads - "Four soldiers for each six-hour shift. Two were evidently chained to Peter and two stood guard (v 6)." (Ryrie)
"Now this present Herod, no less wily and wicked, slays James with the sword, evidently to please the Jews. And when he see that it does please the Jews, he proceeds further to take Peter also (Acts 12:3). He will increase his own popularity as king, he thinks, by bringing Peter to public trial and execution. Thus Herod had Peter arrested and put in prison; very possibly the same prison he had been committed to before. One would wonder why, in addition to being locked in a cell, four quarter-nions of soldiers were needed to guard him, but it was probably well known that on a previous occasion when Peter was supposed to have been in prison he was found in the temple preaching instead, while the officers who had been sent to bring him to court explained: 'The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors; but when we had opened, we found no man within'" (Stam)
Passover - "One of Israel's three great yearly festivals (the other two were Pentecost and Booths), commemorating their deliverance from Egypt on the night when God 'passed over' the homes of the Israelites during the slaughter of the firstborn. It was celebrated on the fourteenth of Nisan (March-April) and was followed immediately by the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which continued from the fifteenth to the twenty-first (see Ex 12)." (Ryrie)
but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church - "True, we are to 'pray with the understanding also' (1 Cor 14:15) and the miraculous demonstrations of the Pentecostal era have now passed away, but God is no less interested in us when we cry to Him in times of extremity, nor any less able to help us in time of need, even though He chooses to help in what we might call providential ways rather than by direct intervention in the affairs of men." (Stam)
Peter was sleeping - "He had Christ's promise that he would live to an old age (Jn 21:18)." (Ryrie)
When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” - "Thus Peter was spared for a time. He still had an important role to play in the purposes of God in the setting aside of Israel and the recognition of Paul as the apostle of the new dispensation." (Stam)
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