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Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

Acts 12:1-12


Loosened Bonds

Acts 12:1-12

This Herod was the grandson of Herod the Great. He courted the goodwill of the Jews, though he was dissolute, cruel, and unscrupulous. How wonderful that God can spare from His work men like James, whom it has taken him so long to train!-but doubtless other and higher service awaits them.

A quaternion numbered four: the total number of soldiers that guarded Peter, therefore, would be sixteen, exclusive of prison officials. But a praying household is stronger than the strongest precautions of human might.

God often delays His answers till the eve of our extremity; but Peter's sleep is typical of the quiet faith that can trust God absolutely, whether to live or die. When God bids us arise and obey, we must do so without considering the obstructions that confront us. It is our part to arise and gird ourselves; it is for Him to cause the chains to fall off and the iron gates to open. What are iron gates to Him who cleft a path through the Red Sea! The angel guides us super-naturally, only so long as we are dazed and unable to form a judgment for ourselves. As soon as we are able to consider a matter, he leaves us to make use of our God-given faculties,

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See also Acts 12:1-12 in other biblical comments:

  • A Textual Commentary On The Greek New Testament by Bruce M. Metzger

    ACTS 12:1 After evkklhsi,aj the Western text adds the information that it was the church in Judea which Herod was persecuting (evn th|/ VIoudai,a|, D 614 itp syrh with * copG67). In this way the foll...

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    CHAPTER XII. _Herod persecutes the Christians_, 1. _Kills James_, 2. _And casts Peter into prison_, 3, 4. _The Church makes incessant prayer for his deliverance_, 5. _An angel of God opens the pr...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    NOW ABOUT THAT TIME - That is, during the time that the famine existed, or the time when Barnabas and Saul went up to Jerusalem. This was probably about the fifth or sixth year of the reign of Claudiu...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 12 _ 1. The great Persecution by Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12:1)._ 2. The miraculous deliverance of Peter (Acts 12:6). 3. The Presumption and Judgment of Herod (Acts 12:18). 4. Barnabas and Sau...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH BY HEROD AGRIPPA. PETER'S ESCAPE FROM PRISON. On Agrippa, see p. 610. His persecution of the Christians was according to his general policy. The persecutions of the faithful...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    IMPRISONMENT AND DELIVERANCE (Acts 12:1-11)...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    About this time Herod the king began to take hostile action to inflict injury on certain men of the Church. He killed James, John's brother, with the sword. When he saw that this gave pleasure to the...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    This chapter is. parenthesis, describing events in A.D. 14. ABOUT. Greek. _kata._ TIME. season. HEROD. Herod Agrippa I. App-109. STRETCHED FORTH HIS HANDS. put to his hands. Compare Luke 9:62, sam...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Acts 12:1. Herod's persecution of the Church. Peter's miraculous deliverance from prison 1. _Now about that time_ The events here narrated must have shortly preceded Herod's death, and so the chronol...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    Acts 12:1-12. HEROD’S PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH. PETER’S MIRACULOUS DELIVERANCE FROM PRISON...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    ΚΑΤ' ἘΚΕΙ͂ΝΟΝ ΔῈ ΤῸΝ ΚΑΙΡΌΝ, _now about that time_. The events narrated in this chapter must have occurred very shortly before Herod’s death. The date will therefore be about A.D. 43. ἩΡΏΔΗΣ Ὁ ΒΑΣΙΛΕ...

  • Charles Box Commentaries

    _JAMES DIED FOR THE CAUSE OF CHRIST ACTS 12:1-5:_ One man can do either much harm or much good toward the cause of Christ. King Herod Agrippa I harassed some in the church and caused terrible sufferin...

  • Charles Rose Commentaries

    ΚΑΤ' ΕΚΕΊΝΟΝ ΔΈ ΤΟΝ ΚΑΙΡΌΝ "а в это время". Это было, вероятно, в начале правления Ирода Агриппы, в 41 или в начале 42 г. н.э. (FAP, 104-8; ВВС; ABD 1:98100). ΈΠΈΒΑΛΕΝ _aor. ind. act. от_ ΈΠΙΒΆΛΛΩ (G...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    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...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    5. AT JERUSALEM. Acts 12:1-24. a. Persecution of Herod. James beheaded. Peter imprisoned. Acts 12:1-5. Acts 12:1 Now about that time Herod the king put forth his hands to afflict certain of the c...

  • Combined Bible Commentary

    XII: 1, 2. The historian does not follow Barnabas and Saul in their tour through the districts in Judea, but, leaving them for awhile, introduces a very interesting episode concerning events that were...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. Herod Persecutes the Church, and Puts James, the Brother of John, to Death (12:1-2) NOW ABOUT THAT TIME -...

  • Concordant Commentary on the New Testament by A. E. Knoch

    26 The name "Christian" is Latin in its termination, so seems to have been given by the Romans. It is mentioned only twice more (Act_26:28; 1Pe_4:16), and was a term of contempt. It is never used by t...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    ABOUT THAT TIME] viz. when relief was sent to the Church of Jerusalem (Acts 11:29). The death of Herod (Acts 12:23) fixes the date as 44 a.d. Herod the king] i.e. Herod Agrippa I, son of Aristobulus ...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    IMPRISONMENT OF PETER. DEATH OF HEROD 1-19. Persecution of the Church at Jerusalem by Herod. Martyrdom of James the son of Zebedee. Peter's imprisonment and miraculous release. The Church was persecut...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    GOOD NEWS FOR EVERYONE ACTS _MARION ADAMS_ CHAPTER 12 PETER IN PRISON AGAIN, 12:1-5 V1 At that time, King Herod arrested some members of the *church. He made them suffer very badly. V2 He ordere...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    XII. (1) HEROD THE KING. — The previous life of this prince had been full of strange vicissitudes. The son of Aristobulus and Bernice, grandson of Herod the Great, brother of the Herodias who appears...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER 8 THE DEFEAT OF PRIDE. Acts 12:1; Acts 12:23 THE chapter at which we have now arrived is very important from a chronological point of view, as it brings the sacred narrative into contact wit...

  • Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

    _Persecution by Herod; St. Peter's deliverance_. κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν : “about that time,” or more precisely “at that time,” Rendall, _cf._ Romans 9:9, so in Genesis 18:10; Malachi 3:5;...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Again persecution broke out in Jerusalem, and the first of the apostolic band suffered martyrdom at the hands of Herod. A revealing sentence concerning Herod is that which declares that when "he saw t...

  • Gary Hampton Commentaries

    James Killed and Peter Seized By Herod Sometime near the time Barnabas and Saul were taking the gift from Antioch to Jerusalem, Herod Agrippa decided to inflict pain on certain members of the church....

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    Now (1) about that time (a) Herod the king stretched forth [his] hands to vex certain of the church. (1) God gives his Church peace only for a short time. (a) This name Herod was common to all those...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    _Herod. Agrippa, made king by the emperor Caius. See Josephus vi. 18. Jewish Antiquities, chap. viii. and lib. xix. chap. 5. put to death James the great, brother to John. (Witham) --- This man was th...

  • Godbey's Commentary on the New Testament

    MARTYRDOM OF JAMES 1, 2. This Herod Antipas was the grandson of the King Herod reigning when our Savior was born, and notorious for slaying the infants of Bethlehem, and even himself, while the innoce...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    CONTENTS Herod persecutes the Church. James is killed by him, and Peter put into Prison. An Angel of the Lord opens the Prison Doors, and delivers him. Herod 's awful Death....

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. (2) And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. (3) And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he pr...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    We are now arrived at a turning-point in the history, not merely of the church, but of the unfolding of the truth of God, and the manifestation of His ways. The death of Stephen, therefore, has in var...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    1.Here followeth new persecution raised by Herod. We see that the Church had some short truce, that it might, as it were, by a short breathing, recover some courage against the time to come, and that...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    Herod, to please the Jews, begins to persecute the assembly in that city. We may remark here, that the company of believers at Antioch are also called the assembly (church), which is the case nowhere...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    NOW ABOUT THAT TIME,.... That the famine was in Judea, and Saul and Barnabas were sent thither with what the church at Antioch had collected. HEROD THE KING; not Herod the great that slew the infants...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth _his_ hands to vex certain of the church. Ver. 1. _Now about that time_] That the famine lay sore upon the Church. Afflictions seldom come single. T...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Now about that time_ When Saul and Barnabas were preparing to set out to Jerusalem, to carry thither what had been collected by the Christians at Antioch; _Herod stretched forth his hands to vex cert...

  • Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament (1851)

    HEROD; Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, mentioned in Matthew 2:1. VEX; trouble, persecute....

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    NOW ABOUT THAT TIME HEROD THE, KING STRETCHED FORTH HIS HANDS TO VEX CERTAIN OF THE CHURCH....

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    HEROD PERSECUTES THE CHURCH AT JERUSALEM AND IS PUNISHED BY GOD. Acts 12:1 James beheaded, Peter imprisoned:...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    For a brief time again our eyes are turned toward Jerusalem and Peter, though Peter's work is no longer taking the prominent place it did at the beginning. Being the apostle to the Jews, he manifestly...

  • Manly Luscombe Commentary on New Testament

    NOW ABOUT THAT TIME HEROD THE KING STRETCHED OUT _HIS_ HAND TO HARASS SOME FROM THE CHURCH. 1. Adam Clarke explains who this king is. " This was Herod Agrippa, the son of Aristobulus, and grandson of...

  • Marginal Notes in the King James Version (1611)

    STRETCHED: Or, began...

  • Mark Dunagan Commentaries

    "Now about that time" "Perhaps the time referred to is the time of the famine, predicted by Agabus. Perhaps the time is the time Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem. It is near the year 44 A.D." (Rees...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    1-5 James was one of the sons of Zebedee, whom Christ told that they should drink of the cup that he was to drink of, and be baptized with the baptism that he was to be baptized with, Matthew 20:23....

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    ACTS CHAPTER 12 ACTS 12:1 King Herod persecutes the Christians, kills James, and imprisons Peter, who, upon the prayers of the church, is delivered by an angel. ACTS 12:20 Herod, in his pride assuming...

  • McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries

    XII: 1, 2. The historian does not follow Barnabas and Saul in their tour through the districts in Judea, but, leaving them for awhile, introduces a very interesting episode concerning events that were...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Acts 12:1 Now G1161 about G2596 that G1565 time G2540 Herod G2264 king G935 out G1911 (G5627) hand...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    JERUSALEM FINALLY REJECTS THE APOSTLES, KINGSHIP CEASES IN ISRAEL, AND THE WORD OF GOD GOES ON MULTIPLYING (12:1-24). The new centre for world evangelisation having been set up (unknowingly at the tim...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    ‘Now about that time Herod the king put forth his hands to afflict certain of the church.' Note Luke's description of him as ‘the king'. It was, of course strictly correct, but here it draws out that...

  • Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary on the NT (4 vols)

    Acts 12:1. NOW ABOUT THAT TIME. The events related in this twelfth chapter took place in the year 44. Paul and Barnabas were then on their mission, bearing alms from the Christians in Antioch to the C...

  • Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament

    ABOUT THAT TIME (κατ' εκεινον τον καιρον). Same phrase in Romans 9:9. That is, the early part of A.D. 44 since that is the date of Herod's death. As already suggested, Barnabas and Saul came down f...

  • Scofield's Bible Commentary

    HEROD Herod Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great, (_ See Scofield) - (Matthew 2:1), _ a strict observer of the law, and popular with the Jews, see (Acts 12:21). Herod Agrippa II, Paul's Agrippa,...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Persecutions of the church and arrest of Peter. Prayer for his deliverance and his miraculous release Death of Herod. CHARACTERS: Jesus, Herod, James, Peter, 2 soldiers, angel, Mary, Mark,...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Acts 12:1. _About that time,_ when the word of the Lord prevailed so remarkably in Antioch and the northern provinces, and when Paul and Barnabas had brought alms to Jerusalem, as in Acts 12:25, _Hero...

  • The Bible Study New Testament

    KING HEROD. _Herod Agrippa._ See note on Matthew 2:1. Herod ruled all of Palestine. Even though he lived a wicked life, he was very strict in following Jewish ritual. He was hostile to Christianity, b...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the Church._ HEROD THE KING The previous life of this prince had been full of strange vicissitudes. The son of Aristobu...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    ACTS—NOTE ON ACTS 12:1 HEROD was Herod Agrippa I, a grandson of Herod the Great (see note on Matt. 2:1). He ruled over various territories in Judea until his kingdom reached the full extent of his gra...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _CRITICAL REMARKS_ Acts 12:1. ABOUT THAT TIME (compare Acts 19:23).—_I.e._, before, or about the time of, the arrival of Barnabas and Saul at Jerusalem (Acts 11:30). The incidents recorded in this cha...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION ACTS 12:1 _Put _for _stretched, _A.V.;_ afflict _for _vex, _A.V. The phrase, ABOUT THAT TIME, as in Acts 19:23, points to what had just before been related (Meyer). The interposition of th...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Shall we turn now in our Bibles to Acts 12. Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church (Acts 12:1). There are just a lot of Herods in the Bible and it i...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Acts 4:30; Acts 9:31; John 15:20; John 16:2; Luke 22:53;...

  • Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament (4 Volume Set)

    That time [ε κ ε ι ν ο ν τ ο ν κ α ι ρ ο ν]. More correctly, that juncture. See on ch. Acts 1:7. The date is A. D. 44. Herod the king. Called also Agrippa, and commonly known as Herod Agrippa I, the...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    BUT PRAYER Acts 12:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS Peter was in prison. Herod emboldened by the fact that his killing of James had pleased the Jews, proceeded to take Peter also. His purpose was to kill him a...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    HEROD KILLS JAMES Acts 12:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS There had come a time of comparative peace after the persecution which arose about Stephen, had subsided. Not long, however, could Satan fold his hands...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    About that time — So wisely did God mix rest and persecution in due time and measure succeeding each other. Herod — Agrippa; the latter was his Roman, the former his Syrian name. He was the grandson o...

  • William Burkitt's Expository Notes

    Observe here, 1. Satan, the grand enemy of the church of God, never wants instruments for carrying on his persecuting designs against the church; he had many Pharaohs in the Old Testament times, bitte...

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