Acts 12:2

ἀνεῖλε, characteristic word, see on v. Acts 5:33. Ἰάκωβον τὸν ἀ. Ἰ.: St. Chrysostom reminds us of our Lord's prophecy in Mark 10:38 ff. (Matthew 20:23), distinguished thus from the James of Acts 1:13. Possibly his prominent position, and his characteristic nature as a son of Thunder marked him out as an early victim. μαχαίρᾳ : so in the case of John the Baptist. This mode of death was regarded as very disgraceful among the Jews (J. Lightfoot, Wetstein), and as in the Baptist's case so here, the mode of execution shows that the punishment was not for blasphemy, but that James was apprehended and killed by the political power. For the touching account of his martyrdom narrated by Clement of Alexandria, see Eus., H. E., ii., 9. Whatever St. Luke's reason for the brevity of the account, whether he knew no more, or whether he intended to write a third book giving an account of the other Apostles besides Peter and Paul, and so only mentioned here what concerned the following history (so Meyer, but see Wendt, p. 267 (1888)), his brief notice is at least in striking contrast (ἀπλῶς καὶ ὡς ἔτυχεν, Chrys.) with the details of later martyrologies.