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"Peter's rescue from prison is an unusually vivid episode in Acts even when simply taken as a story about Peter. Because it is not connected with events in the chapters immediately before and after it, however, it may seem rather isolated and unimportant for Acts as a whole. Yet it becomes more than a vivid account of an isolated miracle when we probe below the surface, for this story is an echo of other stories in Luke-Acts and in Jewish Scripture. An event that is unique, and vividly presented as such, takes on the importance of the typical when it reminds us of other similar events. It recalls the power of God to rescue those chosen for God's mission, a power repeatedly demonstrated in the past."495
12:1-2 "About that time"probably harks back to the famine visit of Barnabas and Saul mentioned in 11:30. If this took place in 46 A.D., and Herod died in 44 A.D., then the event Luke related in chapter 12 antedated the famine visit, and probably all of 11:27-30, by about two years.
". . . Luke seems to have wanted to close his portrayals of the Christian mission within the Jewish world (2:42-12:24) with two vignettes having to do with God's continued activity on behalf of the Jerusalem church."496
"Herod the king"was Herod Agrippa I whom the Roman emperor Gaius appointed king over Palestine in 37 A.D. He ruled Judea for three years, 41-44 A.D.497(cf. v. 23), and moved his headquarters to Jerusalem. Herod Agrippa I had Jewish blood in his veins and consistently sought to maintain favor with and the support of the Jews over whom he ruled, which he did effectively.498As the Christian Jews became increasingly offensive to their racial brethren (cf. 11:18), Herod took advantage of an opportunity to please his subjects by mistreating some believers and by executing the Apostle James, the brother of John (cf. Matt. 20:23).499He was the second Christian martyr whom Luke identified (cf. 7:54-60). Persecution of the Christians now swung from religious to political.
12:3 The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a seven-day celebration that began on the day after Passover each spring. This was one of the three yearly feasts in Jerusalem that the Mosaic Law required all Jewish males to attend. As on the day of Pentecost (ch. 2), the city would have been swarming with patriotic Jews when Herod made his grandstand political move of arresting Peter. These Jews knew Peter as the leading apostle among the Christians and as a Jew who fraternized with Gentiles (ch. 10). This was the third arrest of Peter that Luke recorded (cf. 4:3; 5:18). Note that this persecution of the Christians did not arise from anything they had done but simply because Herod wanted to gain popularity with the Jews.
12:4 Four squads of soldiers--four soldiers made up each squad--guarded Peter in six-hour shifts so he would not escape as he had done previously (5:19-24). Evidently two of the soldiers on each shift chained themselves to Peter and the other two guarded his cell door (vv. 6, 10). "Passover"was the popular term for the continuous eight-day combined Passover and Unleavened Bread festival.
12:5 His captors probably imprisoned Peter in the Roman fortress of Antonia. It stood against the north wall of the temple enclosure and on the western end of this wall.500Prisons are no match for prayers, however, as everyone was to learn. The Christians prayed fervently about Peter's fate believing that God could affect his release again.501
"The church used its only available weapon--prayer."502
12:6 The night before Peter's trial and probable execution he lay sound asleep in his cell. How could he sleep soundly when God had allowed James to die? Peter, of course, had a record of sleeping when he should have been praying (cf. Matt. 26:36-46). He had no problem with insomnia. Nevertheless on this occasion God may have wanted him to sleep. Perhaps he did not fear for his life because Jesus had said he would live to an old age (John 21:18). Normally the Romans chained a prisoner by his right hand to his guard's left hand, but Peter was chained by both hands to a guard on either side of him.503Herod wanted to make sure Peter did not get away.
12:7 Again an angel of the Lord (Gr. angelos kyriou) visited Peter in prison (5:19; cf. 8:26; 12:23). A light also illuminated his cell (cf. 9:3). The angel instructed him to get up quickly, and when he did his chains fell from his hands. Peter's guards slept through the whole event.
"Luke clearly regards Peter's escape as a miracle, a divine intervention by a supernatural visitant (cf. Lk. 2:9) . . ."504
12:8-9 The angel coached Peter as a parent to get dressed and to follow him out of the prison. Peter was so groggy that he did not know that he was really being set free. He thought he might be having another vision (10:10, cf. 9:10).
12:10-11 Luke related this incident as though God was orchestrating Peter's release. There is no reason to take the account as anything less than this. Once outside the prison and left alone by his angelic guide Peter realized that his release was genuine. God did here for Peter what He had done for the Israelites in leading them out of their Egyptian prison in the Exodus. God's enemies can never frustrate His plans (Matt. 16:18).
Why did God allow Herod to kill James but not Peter?
"The answer is that this is the sovereign will of God. He still moves like this in the contemporary church. I have been in the ministry for many years, and I have seen the Lord reach in and take certain wonderful members out of the church by death. And then there are others whom He has left. Why would He do that? If He had asked me, from my viewpoint as the pastor, I would say that He took the wrong one and He left the wrong one! But life and death are in the hands of a sovereign God. . . . This is His universe, not ours. It is God's church, not ours. The hand of a sovereign God moves in the church."505
12:12 Peter went directly to a home where he may have known that Christians would be praying for him. This was the house of Mary the mother of John (Jewish name) Mark (Greek name). John Mark was the man who accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey (13:5). He was Barnabas' cousin (Col. 4:10) who travelled with Barnabas to Cyprus when Paul chose Silas as his companion for his second missionary journey (15:37-39). Mark later accompanied Paul again (Co. 4:10; Phile. 24) as well as Peter (1 Pet. 5:13). According to early church tradition he wrote the Gospel that bears his name, served as Peter's interpreter in Rome, and founded the church in Alexandria, Egypt.506
12:13-16 This amusing incident is very true to life. Rhoda's (Rose's) joy at finding Peter at the gate, which admitted people from the street into a courtyard, overpowered her common sense. Instead of letting him in she ran inside the house and announced his arrival. The believers could not believe that God had answered their prayers so directly and dramatically. Peter meanwhile stood outside still trying to get in. Finally they let him in hardly able to believe that it was really Peter.
Evidently the Christians thought Peter's guardian angel had appeared (v. 15; Dan. 10:21; Matt. 18:10). Another explanation is that we should understand "angel"as a reference to a human messenger that Peter had sent. A third possibility is that the Christians thought that Herod had killed Peter and that the apostle's spirit had come to visit them.
12:17 The James Luke mentioned here was the half brother of Jesus (cf. 15:13; 21:18; Gal. 1:19; 2:9, 12: James 1:1). He became the foremost leader of the Jerusalem church after Peter's departure. Peter proceeded to disappear from Jerusalem. Scripture does not tell us where he went immediately. Probably he left Judea. Many other believers in Jerusalem were not present in Mary's house that night. Peter wanted to be sure they learned of his release, too.
Earlier Peter had returned from prison to the temple to resume preaching at the Lord's command (5:19-21). Now the Jews were much more hostile to the Christians. Saul had previously left Jerusalem for his own safety (9:29-30), and this time Peter followed his example. Peter had become infamous among the Jews in Jerusalem for associating with Samaritans and Gentiles as well as for being the leader of the Christians. Corinth and Rome are two places that Peter evidently visited (1 Cor. 1:12; 9:5; 1 Pet. 5:13), and various church fathers wrote that he ministered throughout the Jewish Diaspora.507Peter also may have been in Antioch (Gal. 2:11-21), and he was in Jerusalem again for the Jerusalem Council (15:7-11, 14), though perhaps only as a visitor.
12:18-19 Herod evidently concluded that the guards had cooperated with Peter's escape or at least had been negligent. Roman guards who allowed their prisoners to escape suffered the punishment of those prisoners.508These guards died. Herod then left Judea (the old Jewish name for the area around Jerusalem) and returned to Caesarea, the nominal capital of the Roman province of Judea. One wonders if Peter's escape played a role in Herod's decision to leave the center of Jewish life and so save face. Even a Roman authority could not prevent the church from growing.
