Psalms 9:3

9:3 When my enemies turn back,

they trip and are defeated ¹  before you.

John 18:6

18:6 So when Jesus ²  said to them, “I am he,” they retreated ³  and fell to the ground. ⁴ 

Acts 9:4-6

9:4 He ⁵  fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, ⁶  why are you persecuting me?” ⁷  9:5 So he said, “Who are you, Lord?” He replied, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting! 9:6 But stand up ⁸  and enter the city and you will be told ⁹  what you must do.”

Acts 12:23-24

12:23 Immediately an angel of the Lord ¹⁰  struck ¹¹  Herod ¹²  down because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died. ¹³  12:24 But the word of God ¹⁴  kept on increasing ¹⁵  and multiplying.

¹ tn Or “perish”; or “die.” The imperfect verbal forms in this line either emphasize what typically happens or describe vividly the aftermath of a recent battle in which the Lord defeated the psalmist’s enemies.

² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Grk “moved back” (but here a fairly rapid movement is implied).

⁴ sn When Jesus said to those who came to arrest him “I am,” they retreated and fell to the ground. L. Morris says that “it is possible that those in front recoiled from Jesus’ unexpected advance, so that they bumped those behind them, causing them to stumble and fall” (John [NICNT], 743-44). Perhaps this is what in fact happened on the scene; but the theological significance given to this event by the author implies that more is involved. The reaction on the part of those who came to arrest Jesus comes in response to his affirmation that he is indeed the one they are seeking, Jesus the Nazarene. But Jesus makes this affirmation of his identity using a formula which the reader has encountered before in the Fourth Gospel, e.g., 8:24, 28, 58. Jesus has applied to himself the divine Name of Exod 3:14, “I AM.” Therefore this amounts to something of a theophany which causes even his enemies to recoil and prostrate themselves, so that Jesus has to ask a second time, “Who are you looking for?” This is a vivid reminder to the reader of the Gospel that even in this dark hour, Jesus holds ultimate power over his enemies and the powers of darkness, because he is the one who bears the divine Name.

⁵ tn Grk “and he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

⁶ tn The double vocative suggests emotion.

⁷ sn Persecuting me. To persecute the church is to persecute Jesus.

⁸ tn Or “But arise.”

⁹ tn Literally a passive construction, “it will be told to you.” This has been converted to another form of passive construction in the translation.

¹⁰ tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 5:19.

¹¹ sn On being struck…down by an angel, see Acts 23:3; 1 Sam 25:28; 2 Sam 12:15; 2 Kgs 19:35; 2 Chr 13:20; 2 Macc 9:5.

¹² tn Grk “him”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹³ sn He was eaten by worms and died. Josephus, Ant. 19.8.2 (19.343-352), states that Herod Agrippa I died at Caesarea in a.d. 44. The account by Josephus, while not identical to Luke’s account, is similar in many respects: On the second day of a festival, Herod Agrippa appeared in the theater with a robe made of silver. When it sparkled in the sun, the people cried out flatteries and declared him to be a god. The king, carried away by the flattery, saw an owl (an omen of death) sitting on a nearby rope, and immediately was struck with severe stomach pains. He was carried off to his house and died five days later. The two accounts can be reconciled without difficulty, since while Luke states that Herod was immediately struck down by an angel, his death could have come several days later. The mention of worms with death adds a humiliating note to the scene. The formerly powerful ruler had been thoroughly reduced to nothing (cf. Jdt 16:17; 2 Macc 9:9; cf. also Josephus, Ant. 17.6.5 [17.168-170], which details the sickness which led to Herod the Great’s death).

¹⁴ sn A metonymy for the number of adherents to God’s word.

¹⁵ tn Or “spreading.”