_KING HEROD PERSECUTETH THE CHRISTIANS, KILLETH JAMES, AND IMPRISONETH PETER, WHOM AN ANGEL DELIVERETH UPON THE PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH. HEROD IN HIS PRIDE, TAKING TO HIMSELF THE HONOUR DUE TO GOD, IS STRICKEN BY AN ANGEL, AND DIETH MISERABLY. AFTER HIS DEATH THE WORD OF GOD PROSPERETH._ _Anno Domin... [ Continue Reading ]
HEROD THE KING— The Syriac version reads, _Herod the king, surnamed Agrippa:_ Josephus styles him _Agrippa;_ which probably was his Roman, as _Herod_ was his Syrian name. He was the grandson of Herod the Great, by his son Aristobulus; nephew to Herod Antipas, who beheaded John the Baptist; brother t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE KILLED JAMES— Thus was our Lord's prediction, relating to them, fulfilled, Matthew 20:23. I know not how far we areto depend upon the tradition which we find cited by Eusebius, from a book of Clemens Alexandrinus, now lost, in which he reported, "That the person who had accused James, observi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND, BECAUSE HE SAW IT PLEASED THE PEOPLE— This prince, as Josephus tells us, was a great zealot for the Mosaic law; dwelt much at Jerusalem, and was as fond of all opportunities to oblige the Jews, as his grandfather Herod had been of pleasing strangers—a character very agreeable to what St. Luke h... [ Continue Reading ]
TO FOUR QUATERNIONS OF SOLDIERS— That is, to _sixteen,_ consisting of four in each party, who were to watch him by turns, four at a time; two of them being chained to him, and two of them watching before the door of the prison: one end of one chain was fastened to St. Peter's right hand, and the oth... [ Continue Reading ]
WITHOUT CEASING— The original word 'Εκτενης signifies not only _continuance,_ but likewise _earnestness, importunity,_ and _vehemence._... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ANGEL OF THE LORD— _An angel of the Lord._ Instead of _smote Peter on the side,_ Dr. Heylin reads, _touched Peter on the side._... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WIST NOT— _And knew not._... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THEY WERE PAST THE FIRST AND THE SECOND WARD,— _The first and second watch,_ where the guards were placed to secure the prison. Heylin renders it very agreeably to the Greek, _the first and second guard._ It was usual among the Easterns to plate over their gates with thick iron. Pitts tells us,... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW I KNOW OF A SURETY, &C.— The apostle may be understood here as alluding to a similar deliverance, chap. Acts 5:19. Thetime in which he was delivered was very critical,—it being the night preceding the day appointed for his execution; and if the apostle had not been thus miraculously freed, he wo... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN HE HAD CONSIDERED THE THING,— And making haste, (σπευδων) Hammond. _And deliberating with himself, or recollecting where he was;_ Heylin and Doddridge. The _Mark_ here mentioned is thought by Grotius to have been a different person from _St. Mark_ the evangelist. He was the _Son of Mary,_ a... [ Continue Reading ]
AT THE DOOR OF THE GATE,— The word πυλων, here, properly signifies what we generally call _the gateway_ of a large house; and it is probable that this was no small house, as many were assembled there. _Rhoda_ signifies in English _rose;_ and Grotius has observed, that the Jews frequently gave to the... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS HIS ANGEL.— Many commentators understand this as if they had said, _"It is his messenger,_ or one sent from him;" and it is certain that the word Αγγελος has frequently this sense in the scripture; but as the maid averred that she knew his voice, and was assured that it was Peter himself, it s... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO JAMES,— As _James the brother of John_ was dead, Acts 12:2 the person here referred to, must have been St. _James the Less,_ the son of Alpheus, who was probably the only apostle then at Jerusalem, except St. Peter. He was in great esteem among the apostles, and wrote the _epistle_ which bears... [ Continue Reading ]
AND COMMANDED THAT THEY SHOULD BE PUT TO DEATH.— _And commanded them to be led away to execution._ It is well known that the word απαχθηναι has this signification; thus the wicked suffered in the room of the righteous. Herod, probably, punished the keepers with such severity, lest the apprehension o... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE WENT DOWN FROM JUDEA, &C.— See on ch. Acts 8:40. Herod the Great, after he had built Caesarea Palestine, had instituted games to the honour of Caesar, which were to be celebrated every fifth year. Not long after the apprehending of St. Peter, the usual time recurred for the celebration of the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND UPON A SET DAY HEROD, &C.— Upon occasion of the games and approaching festival hinted at in the last verse, there was a great resort of the governors and principal men of the neighbouring provinces, and of persons of figure from all the surrounding countries. On the second day of that solemnity,... [ Continue Reading ]
GREW AND MULTIPLIED.— The expressions here used relate properly to vegetables, and may be intended to signify, that the growth of the gospel, that is, its prevalency in the minds and lives of some, was, as it were, the means of sowing that divine seed in the hearts of many more. See Mark 4:26; Mark... [ Continue Reading ]
AND—WHEN THEY HAD FULFILLED THEIR MINISTRY,— When they had delivered up the alms which they brought from Antioch to the elders at Jerusalem, ch. Acts 11:29 and finished all their ministerial business there.—Thus ends the second period of the history of the first planting of Christianity, in which th... [ Continue Reading ]