18 Then, as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter. 19 But when Herod had searched for him and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there. 20 Now Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; but they came to him with one accord, and having made Blastus the king’s personal aide their friend, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food by the king’s country. 21 So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. 22 And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” 23 Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died. 24 But the word of God grew and multiplied. 25 And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry, and they also took with them John whose surname was Mark.
Verses 19 through 25 summarize the events following Peter’s jailing.
12:18
Then, as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter.
The next morning after Peter’s release from prison by the Lord, the soldiers discovered that Peter was gone.
12:19
But when Herod had searched for him and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there.
Herod’s reaction to Peter’s escape from prison was to put the guards who guarded Peter to death after ordering a search for Peter. Herod immediately left Judea and went to Caesarea on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Caesarea was the Roman capital of Judea.
12:20
Now Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; but they came to him with one accord, and having made Blastus the king’s personal aide their friend, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food by the king’s country.
Tyre and Sidon were under the dominion of Herod Agrippa. They were self-governing cities on the Coast of Phoenicia but still under the control of Agrippa. The delegation from Tyre and Sidon met with Blastus, Herod’s personal aide, to discuss the issue of food supply for them. These cities depended on grain from Galilee.
12:21
So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them.
Herod, seated in royal apparel, sat on his throne to give an oration to the delegation from Tyre and Sidon. The Jewish historian Josephus said this occurred during a festival honoring Claudius Caesar.
12:22
And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!”
The delegation declared Herod a “god” because of his oration.
12:23
Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.
God immediately struck Herod to death by an angel because he took God’s glory to himself and did not give Him glory. Worms ate Herod, and he died. He deceased AD 44. This is what Peter said about his kind of situation in 1 Peter 3:12: “The face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” God does not share His glory with anyone (Isa 42:8-11). Instead of Peter dying, God made sure that Herod died.
12:24
But the word of God grew and multiplied.
The gospel spread to many, and the cause of Christ multiplied (Acts 6:7; 13:49; 19:20). Persecution did not daunt the church’s growth.
12:25
And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry, and they also took with them John whose surname was Mark.
After completing their mission in Antioch, Barnabas and Paul took John Mark with them to Jerusalem to deliver relief money for churches in the famine (Acts 11:30). The New Testament mentions John Mark 10 times. He was a cousin to Barnabas. The three returned to Antioch from Jerusalem, where they would launch major expeditions to the Gentiles.
PRINCIPLE:
God’s providence controls the events of man.
APPLICATION:
We are often tempted to second guess what God is doing. God sovereignly intervened twice in Acts 12, once on behalf of Peter and another time to put Agrippa to death. God has an eternal plan known entirely only to Him. He includes every individual and every event in that plan. Neither does He limit His plan to our understanding of it. No finite individual can grasp the full dimensions of that plan. He did not choose to reveal every last detail of that plan.
