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Herod Agrippa I
The king who executed James son of Zebedee, imprisoned Peter, and died suddenly at Caesarea in AD 44 — in an event recorded by both Luke and Josephus.
Herod Agrippa I was the grandson of Herod the Great and a friend of the emperors Caligula and Claudius. He ruled as king over the territories of his grandfather between AD 37 and 44, and he is remembered in the New Testament for the persecution of the Jerusalem church.
The Persecution of the Church
Acts 12 opens with the statement: “ It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them.” He had James, the brother of John, executed with the sword — the first apostle to be martyred. When he saw that this pleased the Jewish leaders, he seized Peter as we'll and put him in prison during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Peter’ s miraculous escape from prison is one of the most dramatic scenes in Acts. He appeared at the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where the church was praying for him — and the servant girl Rhoda was so astonished that she left him standing at the door.
His Sudden Death
Acts 12:20–23 records that Herod, dressed in royal robes, delivered a public address at Caesarea, and the crowd shouted, “ This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” Luke says that “ immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.”
Josephus records the same event with remarkable agreement. In Antiquities 19.8.2, he describes Agrippa appearing in the theater at Caesarea in a robe of silver, being hailed as a god by the crowd, and dying five days later of a sudden illness. The two accounts differ in detail but agree on the fact, the place, and the year: AD 44.
“ Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. But the word of God continued to spread and flourish.”
Acts 12:23-24Sources
- Acts 12.
- Josephus, Antiquities 19.8.2.
- F. F. Bruce, The Acts of the Apostles (Eerdmans, 1951), on Acts 12.