The Book of Acts is a work of history. It doesn’t report vague myths in some indistinct, imagined past. Rather, it records precise events which often occurred in well-known places and sometimes even involved Roman or Jewish leaders about whom we also know from other ancient documents and inscriptions. One startling example of this is the account in Acts 12 of the final days of King Herod Agrippa I. The precise events reported in Acts (including a supernatural act of divine judgment) are actually corroborated in another ancient source outside of (and independent of) the New Testament.

Herod Agrippa in Acts 12: The context

Before we get to the primary event (i.e., the death of Herod Agrippa I at the end of Acts 12), it is worth briefly noting the context leading up to it. The chapter opens with Herod enacting a period of formal persecution against the church, even executing one of the twelve Apostles and imprisoning another:

“Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread. When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people. So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God,” (Acts 12:1-5).

While the leaders of the fledgling Christian movement were not yet significant enough for other ancient writers to have noticed these first events, even here we find some interesting connections between the details in Acts and what we find in outside sources. For example, that the Jewish leaders had a favorable view of Herod Agrippa I and that he was apt to show favor to them is attested in Rabbinic sources as well. Indeed, the Mishna even records that Herod Agrippa not only participated in the Jewish feasts at Jerusalem¹The Mishnah: Sotah 7:8, Bikkurim 3:4 but even publically read from the Torah and delivered a blessing during them.²The Mishnah: Sotah 7:8 Thus, the presence of Herod in Jerusalem during the Passover season, his care to time his actions so as not to interfere with the feast, and his desire to pursue policies that please the Jewish leaders are all consistent with what we find in other ancient sources.

After recounting Peter’s escape from prison, Acts then tells us that Herod went down to Caesarea for a time, (Acts 12:19). It is from here that we pick up with our primary passage, where Herod Agrippa provokes God and is literally struck dead for his arrogance and blasphemy.

The Death of Herod Agrippa

The chapter concludes with a brief but rich account of the final demise of Herod Agrippa I:

“On an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them. The people kept crying out, ‘The voice of a god and not of a man!’ And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died,” (Acts 12:21-23).

The Ancient Jewish historian Josephus, also writing in the first century AD, reported a strikingly similar account of Herod Agrippa’s demise:

“Now when Agrippa had reigned three years over all Judea, he came to the city Cesarea, which was formerly called Strato’s Tower; and there he exhibited shows in honor of Caesar, upon his being informed that there was a certain festival celebrated to make vows for his safety. At which festival a great multitude was gotten together of the principal persons, and such as were of dignity through his province. On the second day of which shows he put on a garment made wholly of silver, and of a contexture truly wonderful, and came into the theater early in the morning; at which time the silver of his garment being illuminated by the fresh reflection of the sun’s rays upon it, shone out after a surprising manner, and was so resplendent as to spread a horror over those that looked intently upon him; and presently his flatterers cried out, one from one place, and another from another, (though not for his good,) that he was a god; and they added, “Be thou merciful to us; for although we have hitherto reverenced thee only as a man, yet shall we henceforth own thee as superior to mortal nature.” Upon this the king did neither rebuke them, nor reject their impious flattery. But as he presently afterward looked up, he saw an owl sitting on a certain rope over his head, and immediately understood that this bird was the messenger of ill tidings, as it had once been the messenger of good tidings to him; and fell into the deepest sorrow. A severe pain also arose in his belly, and began in a most violent manner…And when he had been quite worn out by the pain in his belly for five days, he departed this life,” (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Chapter 19, Chapter 8, Section 2).³https://ccel.org/ccel/josephus/complete/complete.ii.xx.viii.html (Accessed 2/22/2021).

The overall outline between these two accounts is precisely the same. During his reign as king in Judea, Herod Agrippa came to Caesarea. While there, he made a planned public appearance during which the crowd praised him as a god. He accepted this worshipful praise and, as a result, the true God struck him down by inflicting him with an internal condition that was immediately obvious to the lauding crowd and that ultimately killed him. Josephus and Acts both agree on this order of events.

But what about the differences?

There certainly are noteworthy differences between the two accounts. Josephus’ flowery and dramatic telling likely contains some embellishment, yet even this need not be the case. The two accounts are not contradictory. Indeed, the differences make it even clearer that the essential story is true!

Josephus describes a festival in honor of Caesar. The New Testament makes no mention of this, but it certainly doesn’t deny it. Indeed, this gives us more of the context for the “appointed day” in Acts 12:21 wherein Herod was scheduled to make a public appearance. Josephus likewise makes much of the splendor of Herod Agrippa’s clothes. The book of Acts does not, but it does mention Herod donning “royal apparel.” Again, Josephus seems only to fill in details rather than to disagree with the New Testament’s more concise report.

Conversely, Acts 12 describes Herod delivering a speech when the crowd begins to praise him as a God. Josephus does not note this fact, focusing instead on the shimmering garments. Here again, however, the two accounts complement one another. The scheduled speech explains why it is that Herod wore these stunning garments on this particular day of the feast. Thus, the book of Acts simply gives us more detail on the matter. The two accounts don’t make conflicting claims.

Further, of the two, Acts gives us the earlier, simpler, and more straightforward account. If we are to doubt the finer details of one version over the other, we should easily favor the New Testament version over against that of Josephus. Still, even if Josephus embellished some of his details, the essential account he provides is an independent witness to the same core events. We have very good grounds on which to conclude that the basic narrative is true, including the miraculous timing of Herod Agrippa’s stomach ailment that took his life.

Herod Agrippa’s reputation and Josephus’ motivation

As with the Rabbinic writings, Josephus consistently presents a positive view of Herod Agrippa I.⁴Indeed, so did the first-century Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria (Against Flaccus, Chapters 5-6). There seems to have been a very widespread approval of Herod Agrippa I by the Jews of his day Even while reluctantly reporting the above account, Josephus also claims that Herod was repentant before his death and waxes eloquently on how all the people wept and mourned for him. Josephus includes the story not because he had an interest in discrediting and shaming Herod Agrippa but rather because this really is how Herod actually died. That such an end is contrary to Josephus’ overall view of the man gives us all the more reason to conclude that Josephus reported this event only because it was a known fact of history and he thus could not do otherwise.

Conclusion

The Book of Acts is a reliable work of history. We do not need outside sources or authorities to verify the events it reports. Yet, as is so often the case, God graciously condescends to leave us with even more than we ought to require. In this case, we have the additional independent testimony of another first-century scholar that corroborates the story provided in Acts without directly copying from it. As such, we can be still more sure that what we find in the New Testament account is true and accurate, even its report of a public act of visible divine judgment resulting in Herod Agrippa’s death.