03-04-2023, 05:52 PM
The previous chapter takes us up to about AD 46. Once again, Luke pulls back in time to catch up some more background. What had happened in Jerusalem after Paul left?
Back in AD 41, there was finally a Herodian on the throne of Judea and Galilee again. Herod Agrippa I (AKA Marcus Julius Agrippa) had spent time in Rome with the household of Emperor Tiberius. At some point he made friends with Caligula, who later became emperor. At first, Caligula granted him bits and pieces of the old Jewish kingdom. Being a very clever diplomat, Herod Agrippa managed to finagle his way up the ladder until the Emperor made plans to grant him the whole thing. But before things were officially set, Caligula was assassinated. Herod Agrippa wisely supported Claudius in the disputed imperial succession. Because the latter came out the winner, he rewarded the Jewish royal with the entire kingdom of his grandfather, Herod the Great.
Our text refers to him simply as Herod. He was clever enough to work at restoring the cooperation between Jews and Rome, in part by playing the role of a faithful Jew himself. Thus, he began oppressing the Christians in Jerusalem. He arrested James the Son of Zebedee and executed him. This really played well with the Sanhedrin, so he also had his troops hunt down Peter and arrest him. It was exceedingly rare for any court cases or sentencing during Passover and Unleavened Bread, so Peter sat in prison a whole week. He was held in the custody of four squads of four soldiers each, sixteen in total. They would rotate their three-hour shifts during the twelve hours of night. Two sat awake while the prisoner slept chained between them. Another guarded the door to the chamber, and yet another stood at the door to hallway.
The church prayed mightily in their own round-the-clock rotation the whole time Peter languished in this situation.
This was the royal prison, which we believe was part of the Herodian Palace, standing off on the western hillside of the expanded city. The night before Peter was to be executed, he slept soundly -- so much so that the angel had to play rough to awaken him. The place was lit up like the day, and the guards never noticed a thing. The angel told Peter to get dressed for departure. Peter thought for sure he was dreaming. Exiting the next two doors, the guards again never seemed to notice. At the outer gate onto the street, it swung open by itself. They strolled along the main street. As soon as they turned the corner, Peter found himself alone and realized that it was not a dream.
So he made his way back to Bethesda Quarter in the shadow of the Roman fortress and the Temple Plaza. Standing there was the large home of Mary, mother of John Mark, likely the place of the Upper Room. Peter knocked at the outer gate to the courtyard of the home. He got the attention of a servant named Rhoda. When she recognized Peter's voice, she completely forgot to open the gate, and ran inside to tell those who were on the night rotation for prayer. They were praying for Peter's safety, but couldn't imagine that he was actually out of jail. Eventually, they concluded it was his angel and they had better see what he wanted.
When the gate was opened, they all surely had a million questions and Peter had to silence them so he could slip inside quietly. He told them what happened, and ordered them to report it all to James, the brother of Jesus, and the rest of the church leadership. The whole point here is that Peter was passing the baton, and James was now the senior apostle on duty among the Hebrew Christians. Peter then went underground. We know that he ended up at Rome sometime later, but it's unlikely he went there immediately.
Meanwhile, back at the jail, the next shift rotation came on duty and discovered there was no one in the chains. This set off a panic. After checking the make sure none of the other troops garrisoned there had pulled a prank, Herod gave the sixteen the sentence due their prisoner. That was how it worked in the royal Jewish military. Herod then left and headed to his retreat on the coast, which happens to be the same place Cornelius was serving: Caesarea.
Herod reigned only three years. His diplomacy began to fail. He earned the enmity of the Roman Legate for the region, and managed to alienate some minor officials, as well, who offended him in turn. At some point he was hosting some games in honor of the Roman Emperor. It was during these festivities that he had been showing off, dressing in the most sumptuous robes. One of the groups who had offended him was the Sidonians, and he cut them off from food shipments. They grew precious little of their own, and imports from farther afield were more expensive. So they bribed Herod's chamberlain (manager of the royal household), who then got them an audience with Herod while he was preening in public. On that day he wore a robe of woven silver threads, and gave a fancy diplomatic speech to receive them.
They played to his vanity and kept remarking just loud enough to be heard that this must be the words of a deity. This was consistent with their pagan religion, but it was wholly improper for a man claiming to be a Jew. Since he didn't correct their extravagant praise of him and warning them to give glory to his God, the Lord struck him down. Nobody knows exactly what kind of malady it was, but it involved worms eating through his organs until he died.
His son was too young, so the throne was vacated yet again. Once again, the Christians in Judea were relatively safe, and the churches grew and prospered. It was during this time of growth that Paul and Barnabas came down from Antioch with the relief funds. After some fellowship, they left, taking John Mark with them back to Antioch.
Back in AD 41, there was finally a Herodian on the throne of Judea and Galilee again. Herod Agrippa I (AKA Marcus Julius Agrippa) had spent time in Rome with the household of Emperor Tiberius. At some point he made friends with Caligula, who later became emperor. At first, Caligula granted him bits and pieces of the old Jewish kingdom. Being a very clever diplomat, Herod Agrippa managed to finagle his way up the ladder until the Emperor made plans to grant him the whole thing. But before things were officially set, Caligula was assassinated. Herod Agrippa wisely supported Claudius in the disputed imperial succession. Because the latter came out the winner, he rewarded the Jewish royal with the entire kingdom of his grandfather, Herod the Great.
Our text refers to him simply as Herod. He was clever enough to work at restoring the cooperation between Jews and Rome, in part by playing the role of a faithful Jew himself. Thus, he began oppressing the Christians in Jerusalem. He arrested James the Son of Zebedee and executed him. This really played well with the Sanhedrin, so he also had his troops hunt down Peter and arrest him. It was exceedingly rare for any court cases or sentencing during Passover and Unleavened Bread, so Peter sat in prison a whole week. He was held in the custody of four squads of four soldiers each, sixteen in total. They would rotate their three-hour shifts during the twelve hours of night. Two sat awake while the prisoner slept chained between them. Another guarded the door to the chamber, and yet another stood at the door to hallway.
The church prayed mightily in their own round-the-clock rotation the whole time Peter languished in this situation.
This was the royal prison, which we believe was part of the Herodian Palace, standing off on the western hillside of the expanded city. The night before Peter was to be executed, he slept soundly -- so much so that the angel had to play rough to awaken him. The place was lit up like the day, and the guards never noticed a thing. The angel told Peter to get dressed for departure. Peter thought for sure he was dreaming. Exiting the next two doors, the guards again never seemed to notice. At the outer gate onto the street, it swung open by itself. They strolled along the main street. As soon as they turned the corner, Peter found himself alone and realized that it was not a dream.
So he made his way back to Bethesda Quarter in the shadow of the Roman fortress and the Temple Plaza. Standing there was the large home of Mary, mother of John Mark, likely the place of the Upper Room. Peter knocked at the outer gate to the courtyard of the home. He got the attention of a servant named Rhoda. When she recognized Peter's voice, she completely forgot to open the gate, and ran inside to tell those who were on the night rotation for prayer. They were praying for Peter's safety, but couldn't imagine that he was actually out of jail. Eventually, they concluded it was his angel and they had better see what he wanted.
When the gate was opened, they all surely had a million questions and Peter had to silence them so he could slip inside quietly. He told them what happened, and ordered them to report it all to James, the brother of Jesus, and the rest of the church leadership. The whole point here is that Peter was passing the baton, and James was now the senior apostle on duty among the Hebrew Christians. Peter then went underground. We know that he ended up at Rome sometime later, but it's unlikely he went there immediately.
Meanwhile, back at the jail, the next shift rotation came on duty and discovered there was no one in the chains. This set off a panic. After checking the make sure none of the other troops garrisoned there had pulled a prank, Herod gave the sixteen the sentence due their prisoner. That was how it worked in the royal Jewish military. Herod then left and headed to his retreat on the coast, which happens to be the same place Cornelius was serving: Caesarea.
Herod reigned only three years. His diplomacy began to fail. He earned the enmity of the Roman Legate for the region, and managed to alienate some minor officials, as well, who offended him in turn. At some point he was hosting some games in honor of the Roman Emperor. It was during these festivities that he had been showing off, dressing in the most sumptuous robes. One of the groups who had offended him was the Sidonians, and he cut them off from food shipments. They grew precious little of their own, and imports from farther afield were more expensive. So they bribed Herod's chamberlain (manager of the royal household), who then got them an audience with Herod while he was preening in public. On that day he wore a robe of woven silver threads, and gave a fancy diplomatic speech to receive them.
They played to his vanity and kept remarking just loud enough to be heard that this must be the words of a deity. This was consistent with their pagan religion, but it was wholly improper for a man claiming to be a Jew. Since he didn't correct their extravagant praise of him and warning them to give glory to his God, the Lord struck him down. Nobody knows exactly what kind of malady it was, but it involved worms eating through his organs until he died.
His son was too young, so the throne was vacated yet again. Once again, the Christians in Judea were relatively safe, and the churches grew and prospered. It was during this time of growth that Paul and Barnabas came down from Antioch with the relief funds. After some fellowship, they left, taking John Mark with them back to Antioch.
