Acts 12:20-24

Long after our lives here on earth are over…the Word of God made flesh will remain and His Kingdom will be multiplied!

God will not be mocked!!

Acts 12:20–24

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.

It may be that Herod (Agrippa I) was in some sort of economic struggle with the cities and had applied sanctions against them, affecting their food supply. According to the ancient Jewish historian Josephus, who offers a parallel account of this story (Josephus, Antiquities 19.344), Herod’s robes on this occasion were made of silver and sparkled in the sunlight. The reference suggests Herod may have been in the hippodrome of Caesarea.

 

Perhaps to regain Herod’s favor, the people flatter him. God, who will not share His glory with any other, acts without delay to judge Herod for accepting divine honor and praise for himself. The nature of this disease is uncertain, but its effect is to judge Herod (Agrippa I) for his pride and to prove that he was certainly no god. In contrast to the speech of Herod that brought on his destruction, the word of the true God—that is, the proclamation of Jesus’ death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins and new life in the Spirit—continues to grow and spread. Faithlife Bible.

It is unclear why Herod was so angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. Both cities were seaports, like Caesarea, the provincial capital of Judea. The dispute may have been an issue of seaport business, since competition was great. The important point was that the cities did not want the angry king to set an economic embargo against them. Through the royal official Blastus, the people of Tyre and Sidon received an appointment to present their case to the king.

The Jewish historian Josephus also provides an account of this display, informing us that in an attempted appeasement of the king the people confessed that he was “more than a mortal.” Herod, instead of rebuking the address of deity, enjoyed the adulation—until he discovered the consequence of such blasphemy. NKJ Bible,

1 Samuel 25:38 Then it happened, after about ten days, that the LORD struck Nabal, and he died.