Acts 12:19

Act_12:19-25

And … Herod … went down from Judea to Caesarea.

The death of Herod

This journey of Herod is described by Josephus. It would seem that he left Judaea in disgust and spleen because Peter had escaped from his hands. We are next informed that Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon, etc. Judaea being an agricultural and a pastoral country, and Tyre and Sidon being mercantile countries, the latter were dependent on the inland trade for their support, and therefore it would have been almost ruin to them if Herod had carried his thoughts into execution; for the expression highly displeased means that he contemplated war. They, therefore, came to him in the most submissive manner, and bribed Blastus to use his influence. Herod having acceded to their request, and being a vainglorious man, determined to receive the ambassadors of Tyre and Sidon with a display of royal splendour. He also made an eloquent oration, probably reminding them of his own great condescension in receiving their ambassadors and granting them peace; and then the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him. And when the tyrant was dead, it is added, in striking and beautiful contrast, But the Word of God grew and multiplied. Note--

I. The miserable end of Herod. Observe--

1. The extreme emptiness of earthly splendour. How wonderful it is, that with such a lesson as this continually recorded in the page of history, and in our own experience, we should still need to be reminded of it; for it seldom happens that any grand ceremonial takes place without there being some circumstance connected with it to stamp vanity upon it. But it is not merely in the dazzling circumstances of courts and kings that the worldliness of mans heart is shown; it is ingrained in us all. We are by nature lovers of this present world; and even when they are not actually removed, God often embitters to us our idols, and although we clearly see our own folly in idolising them, yet we cannot tear the idols away. We are all hastening towards the grave; and, painful as it must be, it would be very wholesome if we could look upon each others countenances, and feel an abiding sense that dissolution must soon come. Parents and children, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, dear as they are to each other, must soon part. Oh! that we could meditate then upon this; and when we see a great king thus awfully cut down--when there seems but a step between the gorgeous apparel and the filthy worm--let us pause, learn how short our time is, and pray that we may not set our hearts upon the fleeting shadows of the world, but may seek to lay up treasure where rust and moth doth not corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. How blessed, to think that there is a garment which shall never be exchanged for the worm, that there is a crown which shall never fall from our heads, that there is an abode where sorrow cannot come! Who would believe it, to see men frantically pursuing things that are not worth the having?

2. An awful instance of Gods wrath against the persecutors of His Church and people. This man had killed James, etc. What a change is here. A little while, and Peter is safe, and the proud and mighty Herod is the prey of worms. So let all Thine enemies perish, O Lord; and so must they perish, if they die in their sins. There are few sins which are followed up with more signal punishment than the persecution of Gods saints. We see this in the fate of those who persecuted Israel, and it would be easy to show, from the history of modern Europe, that there has not been a power, papal or heathen, which has persecuted the Church of God, but the Lord has rendered an awful retribution into their bosoms. He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of His eye. There is no organ so delicate as the apple of the eye. The smallest puncture there will give pain over the whole body. How strikingly is this illustrated in the case of Saul. Why persecutest thou Me? And our Saviour says that it would be better for a man who persecutes the saints of God that a millstone had been hung around his neck, and he had been cast into the depths of the sea. And let us remember that it is the spirit of the persecutor which God looks at. You may say that men are not now sent to prison and to bonds for serving Christ. But ungodly men show the same disposition as ever to persecute. They point with the finger of scorn; they apply names of contempt, and endeavour to injure reputation. This is nothing else but the spirit which lifted the hand of Herod, and all that were like him, to persecute the saints of God. Happy are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake, but woe be unto them that persecute them.

3. Gods jealousy of His own glory and condemnation of human pride. The sin for which he was eaten of worms was only a negative sin. When the people said, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man, Herod did nothing, said nothing; but it is added, Immediately the angel of the Lord smote him. And why? Because he gave not God the glory. Oh, what a little sin does this appear! How singular that this man should have been suffered to go through a long career of cruelty, oppression, and profligacy, ending with the murder of Gods saints, and that the blow should be withheld until he had committed this apparently little sin--namely, not to reproach the people for their idolatry! Now this is well worthy of our serious consideration, because it is just by such things as these that we are led to the secret root of sin, and led to detect its hidden springs. It is of no use just to cut off the tops of the weeds in our gardens; we must pluck them up by the roots, or they will grow again. So it is with sin. The case of Herod is not a singular one. It is very remarkable, that we read of many instances in the Old Testament in which persons known to be of the most profligate and wicked character, and nations and people of the most debauched habits, have had the judgments of God poured out upon them, not for what are ordinarily considered great crimes, but for the crime of pride and exaltation against God (Isa_10:5, etc.; 47:10; Dan_4:1-37.). It is perhaps said, But this is an uncommon sin. Certainly in its full development it is; for all are not kings, nor can they array themselves in royal apparel; but as to the sin itself, it is universal. Oh! how many are there amongst us who spend their lives in arraying themselves in apparel! The love of personal admiration is one of the most universal sins of our fallen nature. From the queen upon her throne down to the meanest of her subjects, the love of dress and personal display is an indigenous sin in the hearts of all of us, according to our various stations in life. But, you observe, it was not for his apparel that the people admired Herod, but for his oration. Here is the pride of oratory, the pride of intellect. There are many who utterly despise the former, who feed eagerly upon the latter; and the more intellectual our sin, the more subtle it is, and perhaps the more venomous and deadly. There is no pride more detestable in the sight of God than intellectual or spiritual pride. And here again you see the love of flattery, the love of the admiration of our fellow creatures. There is scarcely any human being insensible to this. If there be any avenue by which you can infuse folly into a wise mans heart, it is by flattering him. Oh! how mean and little do we seem when these bosom sins of ours are stripped open! How many a splendid action, how many an apparently virtuous one, how many a seemingly self-denying one, becomes a detestable and abominable sin, when the secret self-love and self-admiration that guided it is exposed! God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.

II. The progress of the gospel, notwithstanding all these events (verse 24). Remarkable juxtaposition of facts! Here is the persecutor eaten of worms, and gives up the ghost. Poor, feeble, wretched man! he can do nothing against God and His truth; and while he is dying, the Word of the Lord multiplies. This is a sort of recurring chorus in the whole history of the Acts. Thus it was after the deliverance of Peter and John, after the doom of Ananias and Sapphira, after the death of Stephen, and the conversion of Saul. What an idea does this give us of the omnipotence with which the Word is clothed, and of the mighty purposes of God concerning it! He hath said, So shall My Word be, that goeth forth out of My mouth, etc. And so it has been throughout the whole of the history of Christs Church militant here upon earth. Infinitely diversified is the story; there is no history so romantic as that. The Church, founded upon a Rock, never can be shaken; the gates of hell cannot prevail against it; men and devils may unite, but they shall be eaten of worms and give up the ghost; while the Word of God shall grow and multiply. Let us repose our minds on these glorious considerations. It is the consolation of every well-regulated Christian mind that all the things which we see around us, however untoward, work together for the purpose of God. The Lord will show who is right and who is wrong; the work of every man will be submitted to the fire, and we shall then see which was the gold, and which the wood, hay, and stubble. Meanwhile His people have a confidence that they are serving a Master who cannot be defeated, and obey Him who has all things in His hands, and who said to another persecutor, Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above. (Dean Close.)

The death of Herod

I. He would not glorify God. To exceed a just proportion, even in that which is good, is sometimes blameful; too much justice; too much love. But to give God the glory is a duty unto which we are bound with an infinite devotion. Wherefore if God gave children by seventies, He asked but the first born. Every hour of our time is His benevolence; yet the law is only to keep the Sabbath day. The earth is the Lords, and yet His portion is but the tenth; but of His glory, it is His own entirely; He will not part with it. Themistocles, demanding tribute of the men of Andria, told them that he had brought two powerful advocates to plead his cause--Persuasion if they pleased, Violence if they refused. These two apparitors go before the glory of the Most High. Doth it like you to bless His name? So God is glorified by the devotion of His creature. Doth it like you to exalt yourself? Then He will be honoured in your confusion. He that swells to the greatest in this world shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. When the heathen traduced the Christians that they debased their emperor and made him less than the God of heaven, Know you not, says Tertullian, that this is the eminency of your emperor to be less than God? The heathen said that everything which grew too tall was thunder blasted, and that great fortunes, when they came to excess, did end in shameful ruin. As Virgil says of his bees, that one hive will fight cruelly against another; but cast a little dust into the air, and the fray is parted. So when the pride of man swells with vain opinion, methinks the casting of a little dust should pluck down our stomach, the base mould of which our flesh is made. Says St. Austin, Set aside this corrupt leaven of ostentation, and all men are but men, as naked in their pomp as when they were born, or when they shall be buried. It was pride that dethroned the bad angels, and it is that which makes man stubborn against the law and refractory against faith, blow there are four ways whereby this daring vice of pride doth diminish from that which should be given to Gods glory.

1. It is a sin no less ungrateful than presumptuous to enjoy wit, and art, and memory, and the blessings of the best portion, and to forget God. Everything that renowns us, feeds us, preserves us, is but a crumb that falls from our Masters table.

2. Violence is done to Gods glory when conscience will acknowledge that God doth give all; but arrogancy will infer that man deserves all. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the free gift of God the Father, the unction of the Holy Spirit, are turned quite aside, like a river from his own true channel, when it falls into such a soil that thinks it deserves it. When good works sue to be called merits, they are like the ambitious men of the world, that spend their whole revenue to buy some gaudy title of honour; and when they have it, they want substance to maintain it.

3. The third transgression is a lofty stomach, that will seem to be no less than to have no equals. The proud man is deciphered by the single horn of the unicorn, who would be solitary in all Gods graces, and without a companion; whereas the congregation of the militant church is compared to a field of wheat, where all the ears of the field are of an equal growth, and if any stalk over-top the rest it is lank and without fructification. They that are not contented to be equal with the common condition of men, shall never be equal with the angels; and he that despiseth the gifts of God in his fellow servants, is not the man that gives God the glory.

4. There is one feather more in the tail of pride, and full as long as the rest: when they arrogate to themselves that which indeed they have not. Christ hath said we cannot add one cubit to our stature; no, nor make one hair of our head black or white. Why do ye practise it, then, O ye gaudy beauties! to bring that about which Christ told you was impossible? I have seen books of meditations whose subject was to let all men know that they are vain, and sinful, and ignorant, and yet they were dedicated to some great man most virtuous and most religious. Presume not to take false titles upon you, as Herod encroached upon the name of God Himself.

But as to the pride of Herod, it is a monster that riseth up into two heads--

1. A tongue full of vain and insolent speech.

2. An ear obnoxious to the flattery of the people. Of both in their order, and for your edification. It was Epaminondass praise that he seldom met with a man that knew more than himself or spake less; and so the least doers inch out their poor works with much talk. As the artificial prospective to the eye, so is the tongue unto the ear an hollow instrument to make everything seem bigger and fairer than it is. The beasts, the birds, the serpents may be sooner tamed, says St. James, than the tongue of man. Worse than these creatures is the tongue of man; fiercer than the beasts, more flitting than the birds, more poisonous than the serpents. It is a member of the body that can taste everything but itself, and knows how all things relish but its own pride and bitterness. And as we are taught from hence to set a watch before our lips, so let us learn from Herods example to circumcise our ears, to renounce the flatteries of evil men. The French proverb says that the boiling pot doth discover the little pea which is in the bottom of it, and the applause of a little vainglory doth discover the disposition of the mind of man more than any other passion. Says Seneca, Glory is the fire that kindles virtue when it provokes virtue to good achievements; but when glory begets nothing but the desire of glory, it is but childish popularity. All flattery is the corruption of true glory; but to flatter any man in his vices is a sacrilege against virtue. It is a note of a reprobate that he speaketh good of the covetous, whom God abhorreth. To flatter vice is to promote Satans kingdom; to flatter princes is to destroy their kingdoms; to flatter princes, as the Sidonians did Herod, is to pluck down Gods kingdom. The Athenians, who were but Gentiles at the wisest, could not endure such injury to be offered to the God whom they knew not, but put Timagoras, their ambassador, to death, because he adored the king of Persi like a god.

II. God was glorified in him.

1. He, the king. The obedience of the law was violated; but the castigation of the law cannot be avoided. Machiavel, among his irreligious principles, says that all the credit of great enterprises depends upon success; for if Caesar had miscarried in his civil wars, his infamy had been more odious than Catalines. Mighty sinners run into mighty destructions; and such conspicuous offenders as Herod was, leave themselves as a beacon. Where is his eloquence now? Where is his costly garment? Where is the outcry of the Sidonians that canonised his tongue for the voice of a god? Take heed lest you forfeit your own possession of the earth for denying God the possession of heaven. The Sidonians gave Herod so much of heaven, that they lost him all the earth but a grave. St. Chrysostom asks why the people giving the first offence, yet Herod is punished, and the principal malefactors acquitted.

(1) Josephus gives the reason: he should have reproved and abhorred their flatteries. He should have rent his spangled garment, as St. Paul did at Lystra. Woe will be to thousands that suffer so many unsavoury words to fly about their ears and not reprove them.

(2) God will take a more exact account of great mens actions than of the vulgar multitude, because their lives are conspicuous and should be exemplary; and if their life is infectious unto many, so their doom will be dreadful unto many.

(3) The people were not altogether free from chastisement. Look now upon him that was your idol, ye Sidonians! Imagine with what astonishment the whole assembly was dissolved, if their consciences were not as full of worms as Herods body!

(4) Clemency and justice, when they meet together, attend how they may punish few and save many. If Herod suffer the malediction, one man feels the smart, and the whole assembly may repent and be saved.

(5) Let the rabble go home in peace for this time; they were not all white for harvest upon that day, but behold the end. Where is Caesarea now? Or who almost knows the Sidonians? They have learnt to know by dear experience that thunder and judgment is the voice of God, and not an eloquent oration.

2. He was smitten by an angel of the Lord. Strange wickednesses procure strange kinds of death. If the earth will not avenge them, the angel of the Lord will come down and fight. Do the trees of paradise deserve to have a cherubim set before them with a flaming sword? And shall not all the host of heaven stand about the majesty of the Most High, and see the honour of His name preserved?

3. Immediately he was smitten. In such splendour of attire, in such celebrity of attendants, before the face of strangers, among those who in their hearts were no better than his enemies; never did he come out of that chair of the scorner, from that throne wherein he was canonised, till he was stripped of all dignity. It is the most dreadful thing upon earth to be suddenly apprehended by judgment. But let the Christian pray every morning as if he should see the sun rise no more; every evening as if he should see the sun set no more; be ready to meet the bridegroom at midnight, and yet despise not that supplication, From sudden death, good Lord deliver us.

4. Lest he should glory that he was smitten by no less than an angel, behold the meanest of all creatures, the worms, are made his executioners! He that humbled himself to be a worm and no man, he is exalted above men to the right hand of God. He that would have been Deus non homo, a God and not a man, is dejected below a man, and made a worm. This disease is more observed in histories to be the arrow of the Lord against sinners of high presumption than any other. Thus Sylla died; thus Antiochus Epiphanes; thus Herod the Great; thus Arnulphus, that spoiled the churches of the Christians; thus Phericides, that gloried he never offered sacrifice, and yet lived as prosperously. (Bp. Hacket.)

Herods death

I. Wherefore has it found a place in the Acts? Not as if it had been a punishment for the murder of James, but also because political events are not matters of indifference to Christianity.

II. What are we to learn from it? That the commonweal can prosper, not by flattery and yielding to the lusts and passions of men, but only when we are free from both, looking to the eternal and unchangeable will of God. (Schleirmacher.)

Herod smitten by the angel--an old picture of human society

Here we have--

I. National interdependence. The Phoenicians wanted what the Palestinians had, and vice versa. This is a glorious fact in Gods government of man. Throughout the earth one zone produces what other zones want, and the peculiar products of each contribute towards the consummation of mans well-being. This interdependence serves--

1. To stimulate human activities. It presses ever on the sense of need and love of gain, and thus keeps mans faculties ever on the stretch contriving and constructing methods to work the soil to the greatest advantage, and to increase facilities of transit. He makes seas his high road, electricity his messenger, winds and fire the carriers of his commodities.

2. To check all monopolies. There are narrow souls who would keep all their land produces to themselves. Ignorant alike of the laws of the universe, the genius of the world, and their own insignificance, they vainly talk of national independence. Nature laughs them to scorn. Creature independence is a solecism.

3. To promote international concord.

(1) A free commerce throughout the world is one of the best means by which men may become mutually acquainted. Buyers and sellers mutually show themselves in their transactions.

(2) It advances interest in man. It is to the interest of traders to be on terms of amity and free intercourse. The commercial interests of the world are against war.

(3) But the higher concord, the brotherhood of soul, commerce can only effect this as it becomes thoroughly inspired and ruled by those principles which were embodied in Him who came to break down all partition walls.

II. Class wickedness.

1. Unbounded arrogance on the part of the ruler.

(1) The set day some think was in honour of Claudius return from Britain, which he had reduced to a Roman province. Anyhow, the occasion was a grand one. Caesarea was crowded with pleasure seekers. The king enters that theatre which had been erected by his grandfather. The stone seats, rising in a great semicircle, tier above tier, were covered by an excited multitude.

(2) The king magnificently arrayed makes an oration. What he said we know not; but we may be sure it was very grand, like modern orations--as gorgeous as his costume, as arrogant as his pretensions. Probably it dealt with the message he received through Blastus. Herod is a type of his class. The haughtiness of rulers is proverbial. Many treat their fellow men as if they themselves were a race of gods.

(2) Base servility on the part of the ruled. Who can credit the shrewd Phoenician traders, the cultured Greeks, and the religious Jews with sincerity here? It was simply that base flattery which has been the sin and curse of the people in all ages. It is not uncommon, even in these days of enlightenment, to see men crushed by the injustice of rulers shouting hosannas in their ears. There is no greater obstruction to free government, wholesome law and national advancement, than the servile spirit of millions to those above them. No government can help the man who respects not the high prerogatives of his own humanity.

III. Retributive justice. Angels have often done such work before (Exo_12:21; 2Ki_19:35; 2Sa_24:16; 2Ch_32:21). The justice of this mans fate is clear. Surely he who had killed James, imprisoned Peter, and massacred his own guards, and now accepted Divine homage, deserved the end which befell him. Such instances of retributive justice had occurred with Pharaoh, Belshazzar, etc., but they are confessedly rare as compared with the number of notorious offenders. Yet they are sufficient to show that there is a moral government in the world, and to prophesy the coming of a time when retribution shall be fairly dealt out to all.

IV. Remedial forces.

1. The Word of God. This grew and multiplied. The seed was growing everywhere, and the fruit was the antidote to the worlds evils, the provision for the cravings of the human soul. Herod had done his best to crush it, but it went on, and as it advanced it elevated and blessed.

2. The agency of the good. Here are Barnabas, and Saul, and Mark, all working to help on the true and the right. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

This worlds honour

Death strips us of this worlds glory as a boot jack draws off your boots. Another wears my boots when I am dead, and another wears my glory. It is of little value. (Martin Boos.)

Fleeting honour

It was a custom in Rome, that when the emperor went out upon some grand day in all his imperial pomp, there was an officer appointed to burn flax before him, crying out, Sic transit gloria mundi; which was done to put him in mind that all his honour and grandeur should soon vanish away like the smoke from the burning flax.

The law of reprisal

When we consider the almost invincible power which the crustaceans derive from their armour, their muscular vigour, their ferocity, and their numbers, we ask how is it that they have not depopulated the shores where they meet none but victims, no enemies capable of contending with them upon equal terms? For formidable as they are to all the tribes of molluscs and zoophytes, what have they to fear--except in a few countries certain littoral or amphibious mammals which, for the most part, only attack them as a last resort, preferring prey more easily devoured, and assisting them in their work of extermination rather than fighting them? Their tyranny then seems at first sight absolute and without counterbalance. Such, however, is not the ease. The crustaceans undergo at certain epochs a fatal crisis, which delivering them up defenceless to external shocks and the blows of their enemies, places an easy vengeance within the reach of the oppressed. These epochs are their sloughing times, when, willy nilly, with great difficulty, and at the cost of the most painful and sometimes the deadliest efforts, they are forced to shed their armour of proof, to expose their living flesh barely covered with a thin soft pellicle, and to bury themselves piteously under the sand until the calcareous secretion shall be reformed and solidified anew. This is their season of fear and fright. Their hiding places are easily discoverable, and once unearthed the disarmed brigands are lost beyond redemption. Myriads perish in this manner, devoured by other animals, crushed among the stones, or dashed in pieces against the rocks by the movement of the waves. Thus Nature enforces her law of reprisal. The power of all tyrants and oppressors has its fixed limits. The quarrelsome crustacean and the despotic king are alike subject to the hour of retaliation. (Scientific Illustrations.)

Danger of flattery

Whitefield, when flattered, said, Take care of fire: I carry powder about me.

Flattery answered

When the French ambassador visited Lord Bacon in his last illness, and found him in bed, with the blinds drawn, he addressed this compliment to him: You are like the angels, of whom we read and hear much, but have not the pleasure of seeing them. The reply was the sentiment of a philosopher, and not unworthy of a Christian: If the complaisance of others compares me to an angel, my infirmities tell me I am a man.

Flattery rebuked

A flattering priest told Constantine the Great that his virtues deserved the empire of the world here, and to reign with the Son of God hereafter. The emperor cried, Fie, fie! for shame! let me hear no more such unseemly speeches; but, rather, suppliantly pray to my Almighty Maker, that, in this life and the life to come, I may be reckoned worthy to be His servant.

Royal piety

One of the first acts performed by George III after his accession to the throne, was to issue an order prohibiting any of the clergy who should be called to preach before him, from paying him any compliment in their discourses. His Majesty was led to this from the fulsome adoration which Dr. Thos. Wilson, prebendary of Westminster, thought proper to deliver in the Chapel Royal, and for which, instead of thanks, he received from his royal auditor a pointed reprimand, his Majesty observing that he came to chapel to hear the praises of God and not his own. (Clerical Anecdotes.)

The certainty of retribution

As you stood some stormy day upon a sea cliff, and marked the giant billow rise from the deep to rush on with foaming crest, and throw itself thundering on the trembling shore, did you ever fancy that you could stay its course, and hurl it back to the depths of ocean? Did you ever stand beneath the leaden, lowering cloud, and mark the lightnings leap, as it shot and flashed, dazzling athwart the gloom, and think that you could grasp the bolt and change its path? Still more foolish and vain his thought, who fancies that he can arrest or turn aside the purpose of God, saying, What is the Almighty that we should serve Him? Let us break His bands asunder, and cast away His cords from us! Break His bands asunder!--How He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh! (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

Gods ministers of retribution

An angel was the agent of judgment here, but worms were the ministers of vengeance. But God can dispense with superior ministers altogether. No need that He should grasp ten thousand thunders, or come riding on the wings of the wind. A grasshopper, a wire worm, a taint of air, the sporule of a microscopic mass, the bacillus of an invisible animalculae--ah! these loathly nothings are potent enough in the hand of God to abase into dust the majesty of man. Julian would fain have trampled Christianity into the dust; a devious arrow, and Julian was struck down before the face of his enemies. Napoleon insolently remarked that God he usually found on the side of the strongest battalions; softer than feathers, melting at a breath, fell on the plains of Russia the white flakes of snow, and Napoleon was a fugitive, and his grand army lay wrapped in its ghastly winding sheet. (Archdeacon Farrar.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 12:19. Ἀπαχθῆναι, be led away to execution) The ungodly succeeds to the place of the righteous.—ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰουδαίας, from Judea) with shame, on account of Peter not having been forthcoming.—[Καισαρείαν, Cæsarea) There he died.—V. g.]

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

Act 12:19 . μὴ for οὐ , as often with a participle. Simcox, Language of the N. T. , p. 188. ἀνακρίνας , Act 4:9 ; Act 24:8 ; Act 28:18 , Luk 23:14 , of a judicial investigation, cf. also 1Co 9:3 for this judicial use by St. Paul, see Grimm sub υ . ἀπαχθῆναι “to be put to death,” R.V., only here in this sense in N.T. absolutely; so Latin duci in Pliny, ad Traj. , 96 (Page); Nestle, Philologia Sacra (1896), p. 53, cf. Gen 39:22 ; Gen 40:3 ; Gen 42:16 , LXX, use of the same verb of carrying off to prison. κατελθών : Herod was wont to make his residence for the most part at Jerusalem, Jos., Ant. , xix., 7, 3, and we are not told why he went down to Cæsarea on this occasion. Josephus, xix., 8, 2, tells us that the festival during which the king met his death was appointed in honour of the emperor’s safety, and the conjecture has been made that the thanksgiving was for the return of Claudius from Britain (see Farrar, St. Paul , i. 315), but this must remain uncertain; he may have gone down to Cæsarea “propter Tyros,” Blass, see also B.D., 1 2 , p. 135.

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

examined the keepers--who, either like the keepers of our Lord's sepulchre, had "shaken and become as dead men" (Mat 28:4), or had slept on their watch and been divinely kept from awaking.

commanded that they should be put to death--Impotent vengeance!

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

Verse 19. Commanded that they should be put to death.] He believed, or pretended to believe, that the escape of Peter was owing to the negligence of the keepers: jailers, watchmen, &c., ordinarily suffered the same kind of punishment which should have been inflicted on the prisoner whose escape they were supposed to have favoured.

He went down from Judea to Caesarea] How soon he went down, and how long he stayed there, we know not.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(19) Commanded that they should be put to death.—Literally, that they should be led away—i.e., to execution. The phrase was half-technical, half-euphemistic. Capital punishment was, according to Roman usage, the almost inevitable penalty for allowing a prisoner to escape. So at Philippi, the gaoler, when he thought the prisoners had escaped, was on the point of anticipating the sentence by suicide (Act_16:28). See Note on Act_27:42.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. commanded that they should be put to death] The Greek is literally, “commanded that they should be led forth,” implying however that such a proceeding was the prelude to their execution. It is the verb so often rendered “lead away” in the accounts which the Gospels give of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.

And he went down from Judea to Cesarea, and there abode] By Caligula there had been conferred on Herod Agrippa the tetrarchies of Herod, Philip and Lysanias mentioned Luk_3:1. He afterwards received the tetrarchy of Antipas, and was honoured with the title of king. He therefore, and not a Roman governor, was in power at Cæsarea at this date, for Josephus tells us (Antiq. xx. 8. 2) that he had received from Claudius Judæa and Samaria, in addition to the districts over which he had ruled under Caligula.

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.

And when Herod had sought for him and found him not,.... Neither in the prison, nor in any part of the city:

he examined the keepers; of the prison, and those that were upon the watch, whether they had not been accessary to his escape:

and commanded that they should be put to death: or brought forth, not before a judge to be tried and judged, because they had been examined by Herod already; but either that they should be carried and laid in bonds, or be led forth to suffer punishment; and so our version directs, and which is confirmed by the Syriac; and the Greeks say (n), that is a kind of punishment:

and he went down from Judea to Caesarea; not Peter, but Herod:

and there abode; of this journey of Agrippa's to Caesarea, Josephus makes mention (o); this place was distant from Jerusalem six hundred furlongs, or seventy five miles (p).

(n) Harpocratian. Lex. p. 32. (o) Antiqu. l. 19. c. 2. sect. 2. (p) De Bello Jud. l. 1. c. 3. sect. 5.

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

19 And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judaea to Caesarea, and there abode.

Ver. 19. That they should be put to death] This was just in God, but unjust in Herod. He is safest that hath least to do with tyrants.

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.

He examined the keepers - The soldiers who were entrusted with his custody. Probably only those who had the special care of him at that watch of the night. The word “examine” here means “to inquire diligently, to make investigation.” He subjected them to a rigid scrutiny to ascertain the manner of his escape; for it is evident that Herod did not mean to admit the possibility of a miraculous interposition.

Should be put to death - For having failed to keep Peter. This punishment they had a right to expect for having suffered his escape.

And he went down ... - How soon after the escape of Peter he went down to Caesarea, or how long he abode there, is not known. Caesarea was rising into magnificence, and the Roman governors made it often their abode. See the notes on Act 8:40. Compare Act 25:1, Act 25:4. This journey of Herod is related by Josephus (Antiq., book 19, chapter 8, section 2). He says that it was after he had reigned over all Judea for three years.

And there abode - That is, until his death, which occurred shortly after. We do not learn that he made any further inquiry after Peter, or that he attempted any further persecutions of the Christians. The men on guard were undoubtedly put to death; and thus Herod used all his power to create the impression that Peter had escaped by their negligence; and this would undoubtedly be believed by the Jews. See Mat 28:15. He might himself, perhaps, have been convinced, however, that the escape was by miracle, and afraid to attempt any further persecutions; or the affairs of his government might have called off his attention to other things; and thus, as in the case of the. “persecution that arose about Stephen,” the political changes and dangers might divert the attention from putting Christians to death. See the notes on Act 9:31. Thus, by the providence of God, this persecution, that had been commenced, not by popular tumult, but by royal authority and power, and that was aimed at the very pillars of the church, ceased. The prayers of the church prevailed; and the monarch was overcome, disappointed, bummed, and, by divine judgment, soon put to death.

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

Should be led[3] away to punishment or death, according to the sense both of the Latin and Greek text. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Jussit eos duci, Greek: apachthenai.

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George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

He examined the keepers; that is, judicially; proceeding against them for the escape of St. Peter.

Commanded that they should be put to death; they were sentenced to be led away, and it is most probably thought, unto the place of execution. The instruments in persecution God many times meets with in this world, and sometimes by the persecutors themselves.

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

19. To Cesarea—Very possibly after having put his soldiers to death he may have suspected some supernatural fact about it, and have withdrawn in perplexity if not guilty terror. At any rate he retires defeated in regard to the purposes with which the present chapter opens. Josephus says that he went to Cesarea at this time to attend a great celebration of public games in honour of the Emperor Claudius.

Cesarea—See notes on Act_8:40.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Guards for keepers, A.V.; tarried there for there abode, A.V.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Herod commanded them to be put to death - And thus the wicked suffered in the room of the righteous. And going down from Judea - With shame, for not having brought forth Peter, according to his promise.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

See notes one verse 18

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.

19. μὴ εὑρών. It is difficult to imagine any more literal statement than these words, and there can be no distinction in such a sentence between μὴ and οὐ.

ἐκέλευσεν ἀπαχθῆναι, commanded that they should be put to death. This is the A.V., and gives the sense better than the literal rendering ‘commanded that they should be led forth.’ This ‘leading forth’ was the prelude to execution. The verb ἀπάγειν is frequent in the accounts of the trial and Crucifixion of Jesus in the Gospels.

κατελθὼν … εἰς Καισάρειαν διέτριβεν. The preposition goes with κατελθών; he came down to Cæsarea and abode there. By Caligula there had been conferred on Herod Agrippa the tetrarchies of Herod Philip and Lysanias mentioned Luk 3:1. He afterwards received the tetrarchy of Antipas, and was honoured with the title of king. He therefore, and not a Roman governor, was in power at Cæsarea at this date, for Josephus tells us (Ant. XX. 8. 2) that he had received from Claudius, Judæa and Samaria in addition to the districts over which he had ruled under Caligula.

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.

19. κατ … εἰς Καις.] These words are to be taken together, and ἐκεῖ or ἐν Κ. to be supplied with διέτριβεν. Kuin. takes εἰς Κ. as = ἐν Κ. with διέτρ., and κατελθών alone, which is not so natural on account of the position of the words.

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

Examined [ανακρινας] . See on Luk 23:14; and compare ch. 4 9. Put to death [απαχθηναι] . Lit., led away; i e., to execution. A technical phrase like the Latin ducere. Compare Mt 27:31.

Abode (die triben). Originally, to rub away, or consume; hence, of time, to spend.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.