The Acts of the Apostles
Chapter 12
Vs. 1-4
Herod (Agrippa) is the king over the Jewish area. Herod is a title name—-like king. He is under Caesar the King Emperor of Rome, Italy. Rome rules over many lands. Each area has its own “king” or leader.
Herod has not always been well liked by the Jewish people he rules over. So he sees that the Jewish church leaders are not happy with the followers of Jesus.
He thinks that if he does something against the followers of Jesus—–that the Jewish leaders will be happy with him.
So killed James the brother of John with a sword.
When he saw that the Jewish leaders were pleased he got Peter and put him in jail. He was a little afraid that Peter would get out of jail so he put 4 guards to watch him.
Maybe Herod remembered that Jesus “got away” from the tomb even though there were guards there. Maybe Herod thought that Peter’s friends would come and break him out of jail.
Anyway Herod put 2 guards right with Peter and 2 guards at the door.
Vs. 5-8
The believers are praying for Peter. They are praying that he will not be killed and that he will be let out of jail.
It says that they prayed without stopping. Every hour someone was praying for Peter.
So the believers and taken turns to choose the time to pray. During every hour someone was praying for Peter.
In the morning Herod planned to bring Peter out of the jail and before the Jewish leaders. But that night Peter was sleeping between 2 guards. An angel came and woke him up. And the chains that were on Peter keeping him tied to the guards fell off.
It seems that the guards did not know what was happening. They must have been sleeping also and did not know that the angel came and took Peter.
Vs. 9 Peter followed the angel. It seemed to Peter like he must be having a vision or dream.
Vs. 10 Peter was still following the angel through the city. They came to the iron gate that was the “door’ to the city.
Most cities back then had a wall around them with a gate to enter. The wall and gate helped keep enemies out and gave some protection to the city.
At evening, the gates were closed and locked. So no one could come into the city and no one could go out.
As the angel and Peter got near the gate, the gate opened by itself. (The angel had the power from God to make the gate open.)
After they were outside the city, the angel led him down another street then the angel left him. Peter is standing there alone. He sees now that he is not in a dream it is really happening. And he is out of the jail, and standing on a street outside the city.
It takes him a minute to understand where he is. Then he begins to walk to a friend’s
house. It is the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark. Many of the believers were praying for Peter.
Vs. 13 Peter knocked on the door. A young girl came to the door. Her name was Rhoda.
She was so surprised to see Peter at the door she did not open it but run back into the room to tell the others.
Some of them came to the door and let Peter in. They were all praying that Peter would be saved from Herod and here he is and they are so surprised!
Vs. 17 Peter told them all that happened. Then he told them to send someone to tell James (not the one that was killed) and to tell the other disciples. Then Peter left and went to another place.
Vs.18 In the morning Herod sends someone to get Peter from the jail. But no one can find Peter. The guards do not know where he is. The ones guarding him had no idea what happened that Peter is not there.
Vs/.19 In Roman times, if a Roman soldier went to sleep when he was to be guarding he could be put to death. So Herod had the guards who were responsible for Peter killed.
Then Herod left the Jerusalem and went to another city Caesarea. He was the ruler over the area of Judea, also.
Vs, 20 Herod (Agrippa) was not happy with the cities of Tyre and Sidon. These were cities on the Mediterranean Sea, They were ports where ships came in and went out. They were busy cities and a lot of things were sent out and brought in by ship.
But much of their food came to them from other cities. Cities that Herod ruled. So they needed to have Herod be happy with them because they needed the food that Herod had sent to them.
So they made friends with one of Herod’s leaders. Herod was to give a speech to the people of that area. He sat on a throne. He was dressed in a purple robe. He probably had a crown on. He felt very important and powerful.
He gave his speech. The people wanted Herod to be happy with them so they said nice things about his speech. They said that his speech was like a “voice of God” to them.
Vs. 23 Herod accepted all this as if he was like a god to them. He was a proud man and he felt very powerful right then.
The Bible says that Herod did not give glory to God but he let the people call him “god”.
Because of this the Bible says that the angel of the Lord touched Herod and he was given a problem in his body. Worms began to eat his body inside. He became so ill he died.
Vs. 24 The word of God continued to grow and more and more people heard about Jesus. And many people were starting to believe in Jesus.
Vs. 25 Saul and Barnabas have come back to Jerusalem to bring the offering of money that the believers in Antioch and others have given them. Then they take John Mark with them and go out on another trip.