Studies in Acts
Peter's miraculous Escape from Prison (Acts 12:1-19)
Verses 1-5: This event happened at the same time as when Agabus foretold the great famine, and the church of Antioch took a collection for the church in Jerusalem, but presumably before the famine really broke out.
As a vassal of Rome, king Herod Agrippa ruled over the Jewish country. He was a grandson of the king who murdered the children in Bethlehem and a nephew of the Herod who had John the Baptizer beheaded and who had allowed the Lord Jesus to be mocked (Luke 23:8–12). His grandfather was an Edomite, but his grandmother (princess Mariamne of the royal Hasmonean dynasty) was a full-blooded Jewess. Through her he had Maccabean blood in his veins.
Because Herod Agrippa knew how deeply the Jews hated his family, he seized every opportunity to present himself as a very religious Jew, especially in the eyes of the Pharisees. To the great delight of the Jews, he moved the seat of government from Caesarea to Jerusalem. And when emperor Gaius Caligula wanted to put an image portraying him as a god in the temple, Herod was smart enough to counsel him against doing so. The degree of his popularity because of such gestures became evident when he read to the people at a Feast of Booths from the book of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 31:9–13). When he came to the words: "You may not put a foreigner over you [as king], who is not your brother" (Deuteronomy 17:15), the 'pious' ruler had tears in his eyes! For his grandfather was an Edomite! But the multitude assured him: "You are our brother! You are our brother!"
Because he knew how fiercely the Jewish leaders hated the followers of Jesus, the persecution of Christians was well suited to his politics. The popular favour in which the church could initially rejoice (Acts 2:47), had changed after the passage of time into popular hatred. It is possible that this reversal was caused by the perception that the church of Messiah Jesus was now incorporating uncircumcised Gentiles. This kind of action deeply offended the legalistic Jewish sentiment of superiority.
Verses 1-2: To procure favour, Agrippa seized James, son of Zebedee, brother of John, and later Peter. If the young church, still without a New Testament, were to be robbed of its eye-witness leaders, it would be in a very vulnerable position. Who would teach them about all that Jesus had said and done? And now Herod was removing James, who, along with Peter and John, was one of the most valuable brothers. They were the only ones who had seen how Jesus had raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead, how God had glorified him on the mountain in the presence of Moses and Elijah, and how distressed he had been in Gethsemane (Luke 8:51–56; 9:28–36; Matthew 26:37).
When James' mother had expressed the wish that her sons James and John would eventually occupy the positions of first and second ministers in Jesus' government, the Lord instead described for them the cup of suffering that lay ahead (Matthew 20:20-21 and Mark 10:35–40). Now James was drinking from that cup. Luke says nothing about any kind of trial. The beheading could have happened very quickly. The church was in mourning. Just as they would later be praying for Peter, surely this had also been done for James. But according to God's sovereign design, Peter's apostolic task was not yet finished and that of James was.
Verses 3-5: Herod dealt with Peter differently; perhaps some had complained about this execution without a trial. Peter was imprisoned during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, with a heavy guard. Herod planned to have a public trial, but even a public trial could have gone the way that Jesus' trial had gone - mob rule rather than a judicial ruling. This was the third time Peter was imprisoned (Acts 4:1–3; 5:18).
Verses 6-11: Peter was sleeping peacefully; a fine example of what he would later write to persecuted believers: "Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good" (1 Peter 4:19). Peter's rescue is described in detail: the guards, the angel, the chains falling off, passing by the guards, the gate opening 'by itself' (literally: 'automatically'). No wonder Peter thought it was a vision; it would seem too good and too miraculous to be true! When Peter was left by himself in the cool night air after the angel had left him, he 'came to himself' and saw the hand of God in his deliverance.
Verses 12-15: Peter went straight to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, the gospel writer. (Mark based his gospel on Peter's preaching in Rome.) A slightly comical scene plays out at the door: Rhoda recognizes Peter but does not open the door! The others don't believe that she has seen Peter (c.f. after the resurrection: "But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense", Luke 24:11). They think it 'must be his angel.' Many Jews in these days believed that every person has his or her own guardian angel, and that this angel could present himself as one's double. This cannot be inferred from Scripture, though it does teach that believers are protected by angels.
Verses 16-17: Peter persists in knocking and is finally admitted. He tells the gathered believers what had happened and then "Tell James and the brothers about this." This is James the brother of the Lord Jesus, who later wrote the Letter of James. Afterward he left for another place, where he faced less of a risk of being seized again by Herod. The Master had advised such a flight in cases like this (Matthew 10:23). Because Herod died shortly after this event, the danger facing Peter quickly disappeared as well. In Acts 15 he is in Jerusalem again.
Verses 18-19: The soldiers cannot explain what happened to Peter. Herod Agrippa probably thought that Peter's escape was an inside job: he had the guards executed. Soon after, Herod went to Caesarea.
Questions:
Why is it easier to see Providence at work in our lives in retrospect, rather than at the time?
How would you understand Daniel 3:16-18 in relation to the different fates of James (the brother of John) and Peter?
Why is it – or in a sense ought it to be – so dangerous to be a Christian?
- Alida Sewell
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