This post is available on You Tube here: https://youtu.be/QsHa1al4dM
Acts 12:20-25 You can read it here if you haven’t had a chance to do so yet: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2012%3A20-24&version=NLT
I’m thinking the same thing you are. This is a weird story, kinda gross. We are back to Herod Agrippa, the guy who had executed James, the guy who imprisoned Peter and then had the entire guard executed when Peter miraculously escaped. This is a man with a lot of power, pretty much zero accountability, and something of a pride problem. Go figure.
So we have these two city-states, Tyre and Sidon. They, like much of the Roman Empire, were part of it but had been allowed to self-govern provided they paid their taxes to Rome and didn’t make trouble. As part of Rome, they were in some way dependent on the area Herod governed to get their food. Unfortunately for them, they had managed to annoy Herod and he was, not surprisingly (mis)using his power to prevent them from accessing that food.
Regardless of how they got into their little mess, they were smart enough to know how to get out of it – suck up to Herod. In fact, we are told, they started by sucking up to his personal assistant. That worked, and they were given a meeting with Herod. When that meeting arrived they laid it on thick. They flattered him to the point of worship, even calling him a god. And Herod sat there lapping it up. This was exactly the kind of grovelling he wanted, by all means let them worship, let them flatter, let them bow.
Now, keep in mind this guy has been an objectively terrible human since he assumed power only a few years after Jesus was executed. And he came from a line of horrible Herods. But that day, a balance was tipped. God in heaven watched this little farce and said, “Enough!” Herod became suddenly and hideously sick, something that involved being eaten by worms, (I don’t even want to imagine what exactly that looked like), and THEN died. Lovely.
Luke no doubt included this little anecdote in part because Herod was an unrepentant jerk and it was comforting to see that God dealt with him. But I think it is also significant to note that the point at which God drew the line was when people started treating him like a god, and he accepted it. There have been a lot of crazy leaders who have been treated like gods over the years. While it was certainly prevalent in the ancient world, it is not exactly extinct today, not even in North America. The day I originally wrote this post was April 13, 2026 and the internet was exploding over something that felt very ironic given the passage I was writing on. I’m gonna leave that there. I just want to say, be careful how much adoration you give to a human. Be careful how much you accept from humans. There is a line. When God finally draws it, the result is ugly. And I’m going to leave that right there…
I love that, immediately following this nasty little anecdote, Luke tells us, the word of God kept spreading and growing. Like, “Meanwhile, back at the ranch…”
That is to say, Herod (a great and powerful king) was merely peripheral and ultimately unimportant to the greater story that was taking place here. That might also be something for us to mull over for a minute.
This side of heaven, there will be powerful people in positions that they can easily abuse. And some of them will do so with enthusiasm and apparent impunity. Fellow follower of Jesus: You and I are not to be overwhelmed by this. They are a mere side note, just a mention for the purpose of demonstrating how great our God is. They are peripheral, supporting cast, ancillary, trivial, inconsequential. The story God is telling cannot and will not be altered in the least by all of their posturing. He will use their pride, their power hunger, their appetite for evil to accomplish his purposes, and the second they no longer have a role to play in his greater purpose, he will say, Enough! And that will be their last breath. Fear not, our God has overcome the world.
