Acts 12:18

Act 12:18-19. As soon as it was day — And they found their prisoner escaped; there was no small stir [Greek, ταραχος ουκ ολιγος, not a little tumult, or confusion] among the soldiers, what was become of Peter — Who was gone, and nobody knew how or which way. For the guards, awaking out of their sound sleep, could none of them give any account of what had passed, and were ready to suspect or accuse each other of negligence or treachery, in giving the prisoner an opportunity to make his escape. And indeed it was very fatal to them that he had escaped; for, when Herod had sought for him — Wherever there was any probability of his being concealed; and found him not, he examined the keepers — As strictly as possible, or rather, questioned them in a judicial manner; and as he could make nothing out by his inquiry, save that the prisoner was gone while they slept; and as he thought it by no means prudent to give any intimation that a miraculous interposition had taken place, in favour of a man whom he had devoted to destruction; he commanded that they should be put to death — Greek, απαχθηναι, led away to execution, for their negligence. He probably used this severity for another reason also, namely, lest if any apprehension of a miraculous deliverance should prevail, (an apprehension to which what had happened to all the apostles some time before could not but give countenance: see Act 5:19,) Christianity should thereby gain additional strength. Be this as it may, undoubtedly this seasonable interposition of Providence in its favour, contributed greatly to its further progress; as, it seems, it also, together with the death of Herod, which took place soon after, put a speedy end to this persecution. And he went down from Judea to Cesarea — With shame, for not having brought forth Peter, according to his promise; and abode there — Till, in the midst of all his pride and glory, the judgment of God overtook him, and avenged the death of James, and the intended murder of Peter, in a most awful manner. Thus have the persecutors of the gospel of Christ been often filled with vexation, to see its cause conquering, notwithstanding all their opposition to it; and have been terribly reckoned with for the cruelties exercised on God’s servants.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12:18-23 When Peter couldn’t be found after a careful search, Herod interrogated the guards and put them to death (cp. 16:27). However, Herod met his own painful end as a divine judgment on his conceit when he accepted the people’s worship. Josephus records the death of Herod Agrippa I in greater detail (Josephus, Antiquities 19.8.1-2).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Act 12:18. Ἐν τοῖς στρατιώταις, among the soldiers) These had seen the faith, patience, and prayers of Peter; and yet they had not ceased to attack (treat with unkindness) him.—τί ἄρα, what at all) The agitation of the soldiers is expressed by this peculiar phrase.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act_12:18-19. What had become of the (vanished) Peter (Luk_1:66; Joh_21:21), whether accordingly (under these circumstances, Klotz, ad Devar. p. 176, comp. Baeumlein, Partik. p. 34) the wonderful escape was capable of no explanationthis inquiry was the object of consternation (τάραχος) among the soldiers who belonged to the four τετραδία, Act_12:4, because they feared the vengeance of the king in respect to those who had served on that night-watch. And Herod actually caused those who had been the φύλακες of the prison at the time of the escape, after previous inquiry (ἀνακρίνας, Act_4:9; Luk_23:14), to be led to execution (ἀπαχθῆναι, the formal word for this, see Wakefield, Silv. crit. II. p. 131; Kypke, II. p. 61; and from Philo: Loesner, p. 204). After the completion of the punishment, he went down from Judaea to his residency, where he took up his abode.

εἰς τὴν Καισάρ.] depends, as well as ἀπὸ τ. ʼΙουδ., on κατελθών. The definition of the place of the διέτριβεν (Vulg.: ibi commoratus est) was obvious of itself.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 12:18 . τάραχος (generally ταραχή ): only in Act 19:23 , although several times in LXX. οὐκ ὀλίγος : only found in Acts, where it occurs eight times (litotes), cf. Act 19:11 , Act 20:12 , Act 27:14 , and for similar expressions Luk 15:13 (Act 1:5 ), Act 7:6 : see Klostermann, Vindiciæ Lucanæ , p. 52, and Page, in loco . The guards would answer for the escape of the prisoner by suffering a like penalty, cf. Cod. Just. , ix., 4, 4. τί ἄρα ( cf. Luk 1:66 ), Peter has disappeared, what, then , has become of him? (Grimm, sub υ . ἄρα (i.), and Winer-Moulton, liii. 8); it thus marks the perplexity of the soldier as to what had become of Peter. ἐγέν .: Blass, quid Petro (ablat.) factum sit .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Evil counsel falleth out in the end to the hurt of the devisers of it.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

as soon as it was day, &c.--His deliverance must have been during the fourth watch (three to six A.M.); else he must have been missed by the keepers at the change of the watch [WIES].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

18. When it was day. Luke returneth now unto Herod and the soldiers; and he saith that there was no small ado amongst them. For they could not suspect that Peter was taken from them by violence, or that he was escaped by some subtle shift. Herod examineth the matter afterward as a judge; but when as he perceived that the soldiers were in no fault, he himself is also enforced to be a witness of the deliverance wrought by God. Whereas he commandeth them to be carried out of his sight, or to be carried to prison, we may thereby gather, that their faithfulness and diligence were approved and seen; for if there had been any suspicion of negligence, there was punishment prepared for them; but the cause why he doth not let them go free was partly rage, mixed with tyrannous cruelty, and partly shamefacedness. Though some expound it otherwise, that he commanded that they should be punished forthwith. And whether, being angry, he delivered them to the hangman, or he was content to punish them with perpetual imprisonment, it is assuredly an excellent example of blindness, that whereas he ought to perceive the power of God, yea, though his eyes were shut, yet doth he not bend, neither doth he wax more meek, but proceedeth to resist God of obstinate malice. Thus doth Satan deprive the wicked of understanding, that in seeing they see not; and the Lord, by smiting them with this horrible amazedness, doth justly revenge himself and his Church.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

18. stir among the soldiers] For the guards who had been chained to the prisoner would discover as soon as they awoke, that he had escaped from between them, and they would know that their lives would probably answer for the life of Peter.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now as soon as it was day,.... When it was morning; as soon as there was any light in the prison, by which the guards could discern one another and their prisoners:

there was no small stir among the soldiers: the two between whom Peter slept, and the rest of the quaternions that were employed in the wards to keep watch; who were now all in an uproar, and in the utmost concern and fright:

what was become of Peter; whether he was in any other part of the prison, by what means he could escape, and whither he was gone.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

18 Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers, what was become of Peter.

Ver. 18. There was no small stir] Huddle or hubbub, ταραχος, with fear and care how they should answer it; but this was but part of their punishment, and the least part too; there was a worse matter followed, Act 12:19. Lo, so it fareth with all graceless persons. They are not without their crosses here, but the worst is behind. What they feel here is but a typical hell, a foretaste of eternal torment. All their present sufferings are but as drops of wrath forerunning the great storm, a crack foregoing the ruin of the whole house. The leaves only of the tree fall upon them here; the tree itself will shortly fall upon them, and crush them to pieces.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

No small stir - Amazement that he had escaped, and apprehension of the consequences. The punishment which they had reason to expect, for having suffered his escape, was death.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The soldiers, who were bound with Peter in the same chains, could not but miss him as soon as they did awake, and with admiration find the chains still holding them, thought loosened from Peter. What strange imaginations they might have, is not to be expressed, though some guess at it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Observe here, 1. How wicked persecutors are mightily enraged, when their bloody purposes are disappointed. Herod having lost his prize, is so incensed, that he caused the keepers first to be examined, (and possibly by tortures) and then to be put to death.

Observe, 2. The justice of God, and the great injustice of Herod: It was just in God to suffer the soldiers, who were Herod’s instruments in persecution, to die by the bloody hand of Herod, whose tools they were. Instruments in persecution God oft-times meets with in this world, and sometimes they fall by the hands of persecutors themselves; yet was it notorious injustice in Herod to put to death those innocent soldiers, who could not help what was done, and were not ways accessary to the prisoner’s escape.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18, 19. At day-dawn the soldiers missed Peter, to their infinite consternation, and submit to their awful fate-the merciless penalty of the cruel tyrant-for letting their prisoner escape. Herod has them all hung.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18, 19. The escape of Peter had been altogether unobserved by the soldiers who guarded him. The two who were chained to him in the prison slept on till day, and those guarding the outside changed their watches at the regular hours without suspecting any thing wrong within. (18) " Now when it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers, what was become of Peter. (19) And when Herod had sought for him and found him not, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Cæsarea, and abode there. " The military law of the Romans required that guards who allowed the escape of a prisoner, and rendered no satisfactory account of it, should be put to death. But it is impossible to believe that on this occasion Herod was governed by an honest sense of military duty. He must have known that the escape of Peter was miraculous, and the execution of the guards was an act of insane fury. A conscience stained by the blood of an apostle and of sixteen faithful soldiers could not find rest in the place where the deeds were done; and doubtless this had much to do with the removal of his residence to Cæsarea.

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

18, 19. As soon as it was day. The sleeping soldiers did not discover that the prisoner was gone until morning. They were answerable for him.

Examined the keepers. Tried them for neglect of duty. Commanded. That those on guard, the four, should be executed. Went down from Judaea to Cæsarea. In this city by the sea, the Roman capital of Palestine, he made his abode a part of the time, though Jerusalem was his usual residence. Josephus says that he went now to Cæsarea to conduct games in honor of the Emperor Claudius.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

General Information:

The word "him" here refers to Peter. The word "he" refers to Herod.

Now

This word is used to mark a break in the story-line. Time has passed; it is now the next day.

when it became day

"in the morning"

there was no small disturbance among the soldiers over what had happened to Peter

This phrase is used to emphasize what really happened. This could be said in a positive way. AT: "there was a great disturbance among the soldiers over what had happened to Peter" (See: Litotes)

there was no small disturbance among the soldiers over what had happened to Peter

The abstract noun "disturbance" can be expressed with the words "disturbed" or "upset." AT: "the soldiers were very disturbed about what had happened to Peter" (See: Abstract Nouns)

After Herod had searched for him and could not find him

"After Herod searched for Peter and could not find him"

After Herod had searched for him

Possible meanings are that 1) "when Herod heard Peter was missing, he went himself to search the prison" or 2) "when Herod heard Peter was missing, he sent other soldiers to search the prison."

he questioned the guards and ordered them to be put to death

It was the normal punishment for the Roman government to kill the guards if their prisoner escaped.

Then he went down

The phrase "went down" is used here because Caesarea is lower in elevation than Judea.

translationWords

Herod Antipas

Judea

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

18. τάραχος οὐκ ὀλίγος ἐν τοῖς στρατιώταις, no small stir among the soldiers. For the guards who had been chained to the prisoner would discover as soon as they awoke that he had escaped from between them, and they would know that their life would probably answer for the life of Peter.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. γενομένης ἡμέρας] Wieseler argues from this, and I think rightly, that the deliverance of Peter must have taken place in the last watch of the night (3-6 a.m. in April), for otherwise his escape would have been perceived before the break of day, viz. at the next change of the watch.

τί … ἐγένετο] So Theocr. Id. xiv. 51, ἁδίστα Γοργοῖ‚ τί γενοίμεθα;

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.