12:21-23
Herod was addressing the officials from Tyre and Sidon in Caesareas’s theatre. Josephus also makes note of the splendour of Herod’s garments. This is just another small point lending authenticity to the accounts in Acts. The people acclaimed Herod’s oration as the one given like the voice of a god (I would guess in reality it was pretty boring, a bit like most dictators’ speeches). Again, the historian Josephus also refers to people calling him a god. Remember also that Roman emperors were likened to gods, so this seems to have been quite a thing in those days. So Herod was struck by an angel of the Lord and he was eaten by worms. Josephus says that he was ill for five days and died in terrible pain. He died a most horrible death. Note that Luke has no qualms about attributing this to the direct action of God. Sin does get judged.
12:24,25
Herod had planned to destroy the church and the gospel, but he came to a sticky end. Conversely, “the word of God continued to spread and flourish”. Man’s attempt to stop the gospel never succeed, the really serious problems arise when the church stops believing, and this is what we see in much of the West today. Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, presumably to Antioch, taking John Mark with them.
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