Peter was really at the gate. Then they said that it must be his angel [1].
Meanwhile Peter continued knocking. When the door was at length opened, and they saw that it was indeed Peter, every one was struck with amazement. Their wonder increased when they heard how the angel of the Lord had delivered him from prison.
When morning came, and Peter was not be found, the guards were filled with consternation. And well they might be, for Herod, hearing of Peter’s escape[2], caused them all to be put to death.
Herod himself did not long escape the punishment which his impiety and cruelty deserved. He had gone to Caesarea[3] and was seated on his throne in kingly state, to receive some foreign ambassadors[4]. He delivered an oration which drew from the people[5] the wildest acclamation. They said he spoke as a god and not as a man. This absurd and senseless flattery was very acceptable to the tyrant. He was well pleased to be considered as a god[6]. But immediately the angel of the Lord struck him with a terrible and loathsome disease, and he expired in fearful torments. “But the word of the Lord increased and multiplied.” [7]
COMMENTARY.
God's protection of His Holy Church. Herod and the Jews thought that by putting her head to death they would deal a death-blow to the
- ↑ His angel. His guardian angel. The assembled Christians thought it far more probable that the apostle’s guardian angel should have assumed his voice for the purpose of delivering some last message from him, than that Peter himself should be standing outside, alive and free.
- ↑ Peter's escape. Peter had, at once, gone to “another place’’. As he was not safe in any part of Herod’s territory, he left Palestine. (A. D. 42) and went to Rome, where he preached the Gospel to the many Jews who lived there, and founded a Christian community in the capital of the pagan world.
- ↑ Casarea. Caesarea Palestine (see chapter XCII).
- ↑ Ambassadors. From Tyre and Sidon.
- ↑ The people. The pagans who were present.
- ↑ As a god. Herod took pleasure in this fulsome and blasphemous flattery, instead of repudiating it and giving the glory to the One True God So the angel of the Lord struck him with a loathsome disease similiar to that of which his grandfather (chapter IX) and, earlier still, the tyrant Antiochus (Old Test. LX XXV) had died.
- ↑ Increased and multiplied. That is, the Christian faith increased in power and in the numbers of its adherents.
