Chapter 12

Acts 12:1–5. About that time King Herod laid his hands on some who belonged to the Church, to do them harm. He put to death James the brother of John with the sword. And when he saw that this was pleasing to the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also (these were the days of Unleavened Bread). And having arrested him, he put him in prison, handing 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 was being made to God by the Church on his behalf. ‘About that time.’ What time? The time under Claudius Caesar. For Gaius, emperor of the Romans, appointed Agrippa king of Judea, banishing Herod to Lugdunum in Gaul together with Herodias. This is the Herod under whom John suffered, as Josephus and Eusebius record. So the discrepancy in the name here—saying Herod instead of Agrippa—arose either through a scribal error, or it is stated because of his having two names. Note that James was the first of the twelve disciples to bear witness as a martyr. ‘To harm some from the Church.’ Observe that faithful men, and the body composed of them, are called the Church. ‘And when he saw that it was pleasing to the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also.’ So that no one might say that the apostles boldly and fearlessly face death only because God snatches them away, for this reason God permits even the foremost—Stephen and James—to be killed, thereby persuading the very murderers that not even these things remove the apostles or hinder them. Murder was pleasing to them, and unjust murder served their unfitting passions; whereas their impulse ought to have been cut off, Herod inflamed it further, like one who is an executioner of the sick rather than their physician, though he had countless examples in both his grandfather and his father Herod. ‘Now these were the days of Unleavened Bread. And having seized him, he put him in prison.’ Again the excessive scrupulousness of the Jews: they did not forbid the killing, but they would not do such things at such a season. ‘Handing him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him.’ This came both from anger and from fear. And the more careful the guard, the more wonderful the display of God’s power. And this was for the sake of Peter, who was held in high esteem. ‘But earnest prayer was being made to God by the Church on his behalf.’ Hear how they were disposed toward their teachers: they did not riot, they were not thrown into confusion, but they turned to prayer, the true ally.

Acts 12:6–10. When Herod was about to bring him out, that very night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards before the door were keeping the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by, and a light shone in the cell; and striking Peter on the side, he woke him, saying, ‘Get up quickly.’ And the chains fell off from his hands. And the angel said to him, ‘Gird yourself and put on your sandals.’ He did so. And he says to him, ‘Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.’ And going out he followed him, and did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. Passing through the first guard and the second, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them of its own accord. And going out, they went on through one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. ‘Peter was sleeping.’ Peter was not in anguish or in fear, but on the very night on which he was to be brought out, he slept, casting everything upon the Lord. Observe also how strict the guard was: the guards were sleeping along with him. But why did a light shine? So that Peter might both see and hear the angel, and not suppose it to be an apparition. And the word ‘quickly’ was so that he should not be sluggish. But the angel also struck him, so deeply was he sleeping. And the phrase ‘striking him on the side’ is not the act of one causing a disturbance, but of one urging him not to delay. ‘Gird yourself and put on your sandals.’ How was Peter acting contrary to the command that said, ‘Do not acquire gold or silver, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor a belt, nor a staff,’ he himself having a belt and garments and sandals? And yet at that time he ought to have been unshod, for the great need of these things is in winter. But Paul too, writing to Timothy to come before winter, charges him, ‘When you come, bring the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus’; for no one can say that he did not have another that he wore. They did not oppose the command of Christ—far from it!—but rather they followed it closely. For those commands were temporary, and not for all time; and Luke says that Christ said this to the disciples: ‘When I sent you out without purse and bag and sandals and belt, did you lack anything? They said, Nothing. He said to them, But now, let whoever has a purse take it, and likewise a bag.’ So at that time he gave that command wishing to show his power. For tell me, what importance was there in having only one tunic? What then? If it had to be washed, was he to go about naked, or sit at home? And what if a severe frost set in or cold gripped the body—was he to waste away and not speak? For their bodies were not made of adamant. ‘And he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.’ This was natural, because of the exceeding extraordinariness of what was happening; for an excess of signs astounds the one who beholds. Peter thought he was seeing a vision, though he himself was girding and putting on his sandals; what else could he have felt but amazement?

Acts 12:11–18. And Peter, when he came to himself, said, ‘Now I know truly that the Lord sent his angel and delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.’ And realizing this, Peter came to the house of Mary the mother of John who was called Mark, where many were gathered together and praying. And when Peter knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. And recognizing Peter’s voice, out of joy she did not open the gate, but running in she announced that Peter was standing before the gate. But they said to her, ‘You are out of your mind.’ Yet she insisted that it was so. And they said, ‘It is his angel.’ But Peter continued knocking. And when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. And motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he related to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison; and he said, ‘Report these things to James and the brothers.’ And going out, he went to another place. Now when day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. ‘Now I know truly.’ Now I have come to know, he says, not before. The angel wished the joy to come upon him all at once, and that he should grasp what had happened only after his deliverance. ‘And realizing this.’ What does ‘realizing’ mean? That he ought not simply to depart, but to repay his benefactor. This John was perhaps not the one who was always with them. For this reason the writer added his distinguishing mark, for he said, ‘who was called Mark.’ Perhaps this is Mark the Evangelist, through whom, they say, Peter preached the gospel; for the Gospel of Mark is said to be Peter’s. The account is plausible from the fact that both Peter and the rest stayed with him for a considerable time. ‘Out of joy she did not open.’ Observe the reverence of the girl: ‘out of joy,’ it says, ‘she did not open.’ And this happened well, lest the others, astounded at suddenly seeing him, should disbelieve—since even when this did happen, they shook their heads in disbelief; and that she might bring the good news, she hurried. ‘And they said, It is his angel.’ This is true, that each person has an angel. For an angel attends every one who believes in the Lord, unless we ever drive him away by our evil deeds. For just as smoke drives away bees and a foul odor drives off doves, so the sin that is full of tears and foul-smelling drives away the angel of our life. But they expected this from the circumstance. For he says, ‘Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.’ And where Christ is, there of necessity are also archangels and the other powers. ‘And he said, Report these things to James and the brothers.’ How free from vainglory he is! For he did not say, ‘Make these things known to all everywhere,’ but, ‘to the brothers.’ ‘And going out, he went to another place.’ For he did not tempt God, nor did he cast himself into temptations. The angel did not tell him this; but by withdrawing him in silence and bringing him out by night, he gave him leave to depart, since those apostles also, when they were commanded, did so: ‘Go in,’ he says, ‘and speak in the temple to the people.’

Acts 12:19–20. And Herod, when he had sought him and not found him, examined the guards and ordered them to be led away to execution. And going down from Judea to Caesarea, he stayed there. Now Herod was furious with the Tyrians and Sidonians. But they came to him with one accord, and having won over Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country was fed from the king’s country. ‘He ordered them to be led away.’ It was possible for God to deliver those men also along with Peter; but if the angel had led the soldiers out together with Peter, the matter would have been thought a flight. Rather, what grieved Herod was that he had been mocked—just as his grandfather, deceived by the Magi, was all the more made to gnash with rage and to be a laughingstock. ‘Now Herod was furious with the Tyrians and Sidonians.’ It is no small thing that Luke mentions this history—how immediately justice came upon him and overtook him.

Acts 12:21–24. …wearing royal apparel, and sitting on the tribunal, he made a public address to them. And the people cried out, ‘The voice of a god, and not of a man!’ But immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give the glory to God; and being eaten by worms, he expired. But the word of God grew and multiplied. ‘Wearing royal apparel.’ Josephus says that Herod, having put on a robe made entirely of silver, of such marvelous weave, came forward into the theater at the break of day; there, when the first rays of the sun fell upon it, the silver, lit up, glittered marvelously, flashing something fearful and, to those who gazed intently at him, dreadful. And at once the flatterers proclaimed him a god, adding, ‘Be gracious; even if until now we feared you as a man, yet from now on we confess you to be greater than human nature.’ Observe what flatterers those men were; observe also the high mind of the apostles. For the one whom a whole nation thus courted, these men spurned. And indeed, if those men, he says, shouted, what is that to Herod? It is that he accepted the cry, that he thought himself worthy of the flattery. And it is chiefly through this that those who flatter rashly are instructed. Both, then, were deserving of punishment; but since it is not the time of judgment, the one most culpable is punished. And if this man, hearing ‘The voice of a god, and not of a man,’ though he himself had said nothing, suffered such things, how much more would Christ have suffered, if he had not himself been God—Christ who continually said, ‘These words are not mine,’ and, ‘Angels minister to me.’

Acts 12:25. And Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem, having fulfilled their ministry, taking with them also John who was surnamed Mark.