Acts 12:20

Acts 12:20. And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon. The angry feeling which had sprung up between King Herod and the inhabitants of the Phoenician cities was no doubt owing to the commercial rivalry which existed between these ancient ports and the newly built and highly favoured Roman harbour of Cæsarea.

Blastus the king's chamberlain. Not a Hebrew, but a man evidently from his name of Roman extraction. He occupied the confidential position of principal chamberlain to the king. It must be remembered that Herod had resided much in Rome; hence the probability of his having Romans about him in the principal positions of his court.

Desired peace, because their country was nourished by the king's country. The narrow strip of Phoenician territory was of course utterly inadequate to furnish corn, oil, and other necessaries for the important maritime cities of Tyre and Sidon. From very early times the neighbouring fertile regions were in the habit of furnishing supplies for the markets of Tyre; Solomon, for instance, sent gifts of wheat and oil to Hiram of Tyre (1 Kings 5:11). Ezekiel (chap. Acts 27:17) tells how ‘Israel and Judah were the merchants of Tyre, and traded with her in wheat and honey, oil and balm.' Herod no doubt in his anger forbade all intercommunication and traffic between Israel and the Phoenician cities. Very likely the first scarcity, the beginning of that great famine predicted in Acts 11:28, was already felt to some extent in Phoenicia and Palestine. The famine in question began in the year 44, and lasted three or four years, occasioning terrible sufferings.