Herod’s Persecution & Death
Right out of the gate in this chapter we have our first of the 12 Apostles to die. James, the brother of John, half of the “sons of thunder” duo is beheaded by King Herod. He also arrests Peter who gets a supernatural jailbreak and the world’s first motion-activated gate.
There are several Herods in the NT and keeping them straight is a challenge. The Herod in this chapter is Herod Argippa I. He was the brother of the infamous Herodias who asked for the head of John the Baptist after his niece Salome danced for Herod Antipas. Antipas was the Herod who married Herodias who had been first married to his brother Herod-Philip.
The backstory of King Herod Agrippa I in Josephus reads like a cross between a soap opera and a political thriller. I’m tellin’ ya, this Herodian clan was a piece of work!
The gist of Agrippa’s backstory is this…
😐 Why do I get the feeling that this is gonna take a minute?
(Sigh)… yup. This is gonna take a minute. But boy is it interesting.
☕️ (sips coffee) 😏 K. I’m ready.
Agrippa started out life among the highest circles in Rome. He went to school and was best buddies with the sons of the Roman Emperor and honestly the whole imperial family. He couldn’t actually afford the posh life of his friends, so he did what a lot of young adults do when they hang out with rich friends. He got a credit card and charged everything.
Ok, it wasn’t a credit card, but he borrowed a LOT of money. And when the loan was due, he would borrow more money to pay off a creditor.
😐 So… basically using one credit card to pay off another. That never works.
Right. Well eventually he owed like 300,000 drachmas. And he couldn’t pay and the bill collectors were after him so he fled Rome broke and disgraced with his young wife Cypros and their 5 small children: Bernice, Mariamne, Drusilla, Agrippa Jr., and Drusus (who later died before the age of 13).
🫤 Drusus and Drusilla? Really?
Yes.
🙄 Sheesh. Ancient people and their weird names.
They bounced around from place to place mooching off their rich connections. They even spent time in Galilee where sister Herodias got him a job being magistrate of Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee. Agrippa’s brother-in-law (and also cousin) Herod Antipas got tired of Agrippa’s expensive habits and the two did not get along. During a drunken argument, Herod insulted Agrippa for his poverty and Agrippa basically said “take this job and shove it.”
Agrippa bounced around some more dodging the creditors who were still trying to get their 300,000 drachmas paid back. They sailed to Alexandria Egypt where the king lent his wife, (but not him!), 200,000. She gave the money to Agrippa so he could go settle his debts and she took the kids back to Judea.
His old school chum, now Tiberius Caesar, refused to see Agrippa until his debts were paid.
😒 Guess it would be beneath Casesar to associate with the poors.
Agrippa went to visit Antonia who had been besties with his mother Bernice who had sadly passed away. Antonia was the mother of Claudius who would eventually be Emperor. She was extremely well-connected and rich. Agrippa was so charming that Antonia gave him the remaining 100k he needed to pay his Roman debtors so Agrippa and Tiberius could be buds again.
Agrippa paid his debts, was cool in Roman society again (though the snub by Tiberius was not really smoothed over) and became pals with Antonia’s grandson Caius.
One day when Agrippa and Caius were out cruising around in a Caius’s chauffeured chariot…
🤨 Excuse me… Did you just say, “chauffeured chariot?”
Yeah.
🤨 So like… they’re just sittin on a plush red velvet covered bench or something, sipping wine, and some uniformed guy is driving?
That’s what the story said. Well, not that they were sipping wine.
🤨 And they’re just cruising around Rome? Seeing and being seen? Or what?
I guess. Josephus didn’t say if they were going anywhere particular. Just that the two of them were out riding in the chariot.
🤓 Probably a case of “If ya got it, flaunt it.” Like, “Look a me! I’m so rich I can afford horses and a servant to do nothing but drive me and my pal around so everyone can admire us.”
And just like that, my mental jukebox starts playing the opening bass line to Ice Ice Baby. 🤦🏻♀️
☝️🤓 ooo I know that one… “Rollin’ in my 5-point-O with my ragtop down so my hair blow..”
😆 “The girlies on standby, waving just to say “Hi” “Did you stop?” No, I just drove by…
Ok… cut. Cut. Cut….
You can imagine Agrippa and Caius rollin’ along to Ice Ice Baby if you want, but Josephus said that since it was just the two of them, Agrippa actually prayed in the chariot.
Agrippa prays (to God) that Emperor Tiberius would get unalived or otherwise hurry up and die and leave the throne to his buddy Caius who was also Tiberius’s nephew.
But the driver heard him.
😐 Uh oh…
🤓 Dun-dun-DUNNNN!
😐 Mr Chauffeur tattled, didn’t he?
Yup. Agrippa ended up getting arrested right in front of everyone in the royal box at the hippodrome. [Y’all, am I the only one who thinks this would make a great movie?] He gets the cuffs slapped on him while he is dressed in all his purple finery and he is marched to the royal palace.
In front of the palace Agrippa leans against a tree and – during the DAY – an owl 🦉 flies up and lands in the tree. 🌳 Another prisoner – a German interpreter of omens, (I picture him like some sort of Merlin or Gandalf the wizard character)- comes over and tells him:
🧙🏻♂️ “This sudden change of thy condition, O young man, is grievous to thee, as bringing on thee manifold and very great adversity; nor wilt thou believe me when I foretell how thou wilt get clear of this misery which thou art now under, and how divine providence will provide for thee.”
The German proceeds to tell him that his prison time will be short and then he will be “promoted to the highest dignity and power” and be the envy of everyone who now pities him and that he will be happy til death and leave happiness to his children.
🧙🏻♂️ “But, do thou remember, when thou seest this bird again, that thou wilt then live but five days longer.”
(Cue ominous orchestra music…)
Agrippa was sent to prison for his treasonous comment. Lady Antonia stepped in and insisted that dear Agrippa be given his favorite foods, nice clothes, a pleasant cell, daily baths, and the freedom to have visitors.
🤨 What kind of prison is THAT?
🤓 Yeah. Sounds more like vacation.
Well, apparently he did have to wear a chain. ⛓️ He was only in his cushy prison for 6 months because Emperor Tiberius did die. And he did end up leaving the throne to his nephew Caius, Agrippa’s best buddy.
Caius released Agrippa from “jail” and made him a king. He gave Agrippa the tetrarchies of Philip and Lysanias and made a copy of his prison chain out of solid gold (which was later hung in the temple in Jerusalem).
Herodias is not happy about her brother’s sudden promotion because he is now of higher rank than herself and her husband Herod. So she whines and relentlessly hen-pecks Herod into a trip to Rome. They spend a fortune outfitting themselves in luxury to make a big flashy show among the Imperial Elites. Agrippa finds out. And he sends letters to his pal, Emperor Caius, accusing Herod of amassing a large army and being part of a conspiracy with other government leaders to revolt against Caius.
When Caius meets Herod, he asks about the impressive size of his army and Herod, thinking it’s something to boast of, confirms that he has a huge army. Caius sees it as confirmation of a potential revolt.
And that’s how Herod Antipas and Herodias got banished to the Roman colony in what is now Lyon France. Their kingdom and wealth was given to Agrippa.
Josephus’ comment on this is fantastic:
“And thus did God punish Herodias for her envy at her brother, and Herod also for giving ear to the vain discourses of a woman.”
😆
Caius sent a statue of himself to Jerusalem and ordered it be put in the temple and also sent a general by the name of Petronius to see it was done. There was nearly a war over it. Agrippa took a big risk and asked – as a personal favor from a friend – if Caius would perhaps not insist on the statue. Caius relented and died very shortly afterward.
We now come to the part of Agrippa’s story found in Acts 12.
He was only king of Judea for 3 years. There is a certain amount of political intrigue behind the scenes that led to the execution of James and imprisoning Peter. The Jews were granted tremendous favor and freedom by the Romans to observe the Law of Moses as long as they behaved themselves. The recent instability within Judea -this new sect that has the Jews divided- it’s a problem. He probably figured that killing the ringleaders would set things to rights. He also fires the current high priest – a man named Matthias and puts a different guy in; Elioneus. Then he goes off to Caesarea by the Sea (Acts 12:19). Josephus gives a lot more detail.
“…there he [Agrippa] exhibited shows in honor of Caesar. On the second day of which shows he put on a garment made wholly of silver, and of a contexture truly wonderful, and came into the theater early in the morning…”
This exact theater. ⬇️ If you stand on the stage, you are facing east, toward the morning sun. That’s a bright spotlight.
“…at which time the silver of his garment being illuminated by the fresh reflection of the sun’s rays upon it, shone out after a surprising manner, and it was so resplendent as to spread a horror over those that looked intently upon him. And presently his flatterers cried out, one from one place, another from another (though not for his good), that he was a god! And they added, “Be thou merciful to us; for although we have hitherto reverenced thee only as a man, yet shall we henceforth own thee as superior to mortal nature.”
“Upon this the king did neither rebuke them, nor reject their imperious flattery. But as he presently looked up, he saw an owl 🦉 siting on a certain rope over his head, and immediately understood this bird was the messenger of ill tidings…”
“A severe pain also arose in his belly and began in a most violent manner. He therefore looked upon his friends and said,
“I whom you call a god am commanded presently to depart this life, while Providence thus reproves the lying words you just now said to me. And I, who was by you called immortal, am immediately to be hurried away by death. But I am bound to accept of what Providence allots as it pleases God; for we have by no means lived ill, but in a splendid and happy manner.”
“When he said this, his pain was become violent. Accordingly he was carried into the palace; and the rumor went abroad everywhere that he would certainly die in a little time. And when he had been quite worn out by the pain in his belly for five days, he departed this life, being in the 54th year of his age.”
Agrippa’s son, Agrippa Jr., was only 17 when his father died. The new Caesar, Claudius, did not make him king yet because of his youth and inexperience and instead appointed one Cuspius Fadus to be procurator until Agrippa II was ready.
We will meet Agrippa II later in Acts. Paul will almost persuade him to be a Christian.
I’ve summarized a quoted extensively from Josephus today; Antiquities, Book 18, Chapter 6 through Book 19, Chapter 8 if you want to read the whole saga yourself. But here’s the absolutely most amazing thing the good old historian wrote:
“Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works – a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles.
He was the Christ.
And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him. For he appeared to them alive again after the third day as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.” – Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, Chapter 3, Section 3, Verses 63-64.
This is an official Roman Historian saying unequivocally that Jesus was the Christ.
And the tribe of Christians are still not extinct at this day, Josephus. Still not extinct.
