Herod viewed Peter as the enemy of the unbelieving Jews, which he was not. Really Herod was the enemy of the believing Christians. Having set the innocent Christian leader free, God now put the guilty Jewish Roman leader to death.
12:20 King Herod had become displeased with his subjects who lived in Tyre and Sidon on the Mediterranean coast north of Caesarea. Because these towns depended on Galilee, part of King Herod's country, for their food supply, they were eager to get on his good side again.509Blastus, Herod's chamberlain (Gr. koitonos), was one of the king's trusted servants.
12:21-23 Josephus recorded this incident in more detail than Luke did. He added that Herod appeared in the outdoor theater at Caesarea. He stood before the officials from Tyre, Sidon, and his other provinces on a festival day dressed in a silver robe. When the sun shone brilliantly on his shiny robe some flatterers in the theater began to call out words of praise acclaiming him a god. Immediately severe stomach pains attacked him. Attendants had to carry him out of the theater, and five days later he died.510Doctor Luke saw Herod's attack as a judgment from God and gave a more medical explanation of his death than Josephus did. One writer suggested Herod suffered from appendicitis that led to peritonitis complicated by roundworms.511Another diagnosed him as having a cyst caused by a tapeworm.512More important than the effect was the cause, namely Herod's pride (cf. Isa. 42:8).
"The pride of man had ended in the wrath of God."513
"The angel of the Lord who had delivered Peter was now to smite Herod the persecutor. He had smitten' Peter, and we see that the same divine visitation may be for life or for death. Herod Agrippa is the NT antitype of Pharaoh and Sennacherib, the oppressor smitten by the angel of the Lord."514
