What do we know about the Herod of Acts 12?

The king Herod of Acts 12 is Agrippa I Later in Acts we meet Agrippa, he is Herod Agrippa II (Acts 25-26. Agrippa II’s full name was Marcus Julius Agrippa). Born about 10 B.C., Agrippa was the grandson of Herod the Great, the son of Aristobolus and Bernice. He was raised in Rome, and was a fried of Caligula and Claudius as well as Tiberius’ son Drusus. He was able to exploit the relationships in order to gain wealth and power. He sought the favor of Caligula to the point that the Emperor Tiberius imprisoned him for six-months on charges of treason. In A.D. 41 Agrippa used his relationship with Caligula to help prevent the installation of a statue of the emperor in the Temple in Jerusalem. When Caligula was assassinated, Claudius made Agrippa ruler over considerable territory in Judea.

We are not told why he persecuted the church in Jerusalem, although it may be that Agrippa was in some respects interested in his Jewish roots. This piety was demonstrated upon his return to Judea. He donated a golden chain, given to him by Caligula when he was freed from his imprisonment, to the Temple. In addition, he undertook the sponsorship of a large number of Nazarite vows in the temple (Antiq., 12.6.1, Schürer 2:155). During a Sabbath year, Agrippa read from the book of Deuteronomy and was moved to tears when he read the words of Deut 17:15, forbidding the appointment of a stranger over the “brothers” (i.e., a non-Israelite over Israel.) The crowd which witnesses this responded “Thou art our brother!” (See m.Sota 7.8 )

“He loved to live continually at Jerusalem, and was exactly careful in the observance of the laws of his country. He therefore kept himself entirely pure; nor did any day pass over his head without its appointed sacrifice.” Josephus, Antiq. 19.7.3

Schürer argues that Agrippa was favorable to Pharisism and even to some extent a Jewish nationalism (2:159). This may be plausible given his zealous persecution of the Jewish Christians in Acts 12.

Herod Agrippa’s death is recorded in Josephus, Antiq., 19.343-352 as well as Acts 12. The two accounts are remarkably similar. Josephus gives more details on Herod’s robes (which probably were designed to catch the sun and make him appear as though he is the god Apollos); Luke describes the nature of the illness with a bit more medical detail. When we read Acts 12, it appears that he dies immediately, Josephus describes Agrippa as lingering for five days before dying. In both accounts his robes are “divine”, although Josephus gives us a description of robes as “silver” and adds the fact that he arrived early in the morning to make sacrifices and the sunlight caught the robe in a spectacular way. Both Acts and Josephus agree that Herod accepted the praise of the men who called him a god.

What is the point of the death of Herod? The story indicates that the gospel has gone to the Jews in every imaginable variation, from Temple worshipers to Gentile Godfearers, to Herod, the king of the Jews himself. The good news that Jesus is the Messiah has been rejected, therefore God is going to begin a new work among the Gentiles, using Saul of Tarsus as the “light to the Gentiles.”