Digging Deeper: The God Who Speaks to Peter in Jail

Acts chapter 12 begins by saying that King Herod had James executed by sword. King Herod is a reference here to Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great and son of Aristobulus. He was a nephew of Herod Antipas, who had beheaded John the Baptist and tried Jesus. When Antipas was exiled, Agrippa received his tetrarchy, as well as those of Philip and Lysanias. In A.D. 41 Judea and Samaria were added to his realm.

James was the brother of John the apostle and the son of Zebedee. He is the only apostle whose martyrdom is recorded in the New Testament and is traditionally believed to be the first of the twelve apostles martyred for his faith. This event took place about ten years after the Jesus’ death and resurrection. “Put to death by the sword” implies a beheading… like John the Baptist was beheaded.

Also, Peter was put into prison by King Herod, but the night before his trial an angel appeared to him, and told him to leave. 

Peter's chains fell off, and he followed the angel out of prison, thinking it was a vision. 

The prison doors opened of their own accord, and the angel led Peter into the city. 

When the angel suddenly left him, Peter came to himself and returned to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark. Mary was also the aunt of Barnabas. Apparently her home was a gathering place for Christians, and it may have been the location of the upper room where the Last Supper was held.

A servant girl called Rhoda came to answer the door, and when she heard Peter's voice she was so overjoyed that she rushed to tell the others, and forgot to open the door for Peter. 

Eventually Peter is let in and describes "how the Lord had brought him out of prison." He then tells them to notify Jesus’ brother James and the other brothers about what has happened, and he leaves to stay in another place.

When his escape is discovered, Herod orders the guards be put to death.

Then Herod went to Caesarea to meet with the people of Tyre and Sidon because he had been quarreling with them. 

They asked for peace, because they depended on the king’s country for their food supply.

Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 

And they shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man!” 

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. 

After including this grisly detail, the writer, Luke, tells us that the word of God continued to spread and flourish. 

Herod Agrippa’s sudden death was fully recorded by the historian Josephus. He records that on the second day of a festival held in Caesarea in honor of Claudius, Agrippa donned a silver garment of “wonderful” texture and entered the amphitheater early in the morning. When the sun’s rays shone on his garment, the brilliant glare caused his flatterers to cry out that he was a god. Josephus added that “the king did neither rebuke them nor reject their impious flattery.” Almost immediately severe pain arose in his abdomen, and five days later he died in great agony.