Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to persecute certain of the church.
Read Chapter 12
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
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 the same as Agrippa, by which name he is most commonly known. He was brother to the famous Herodias, who was the cause of St. John the Baptist's decollation, (Calmet) and son-in-law of Herod the Great, by his father Aristo ulus. (Bible de Vence)
Like a wild beast, he attacked all indiscriminately and without consideration. This is what Christ said: My cup indeed you shall drink, and with the baptism wherewith I am baptized, shall you be baptized. Mark 10:39 (b) And he killed James the brother of John.
"At that time," of course meaning the time immediately following: for this is the custom of Scripture. And he well says that Herod "the king" (did this): this was not he of Christ's time. Lo, a different sort of trial--and mark what I said in the beginning, how things are blended, how rest and trouble alternate in the whole texture of the history--not now the Jews, nor the Sanhedrim, but the king. Greater the power, the warfare more severe, the more it was done to obtain favor with the Jews. "And," it says, "he slew James the brother of John with the sword:" (taking him) at random and without selection. But, should any raise a question, why God permitted this, we shall say, that it was for the sake of these (Jews) themselves: thereby, first, convincing them, that even when slain (the Apostles) prevail, just as it was in the case of Stephen: secondly, giving them opportunity, after satiating their rage, to recover from their madness; thirdly, showing them that it was by His permission ...
