Acts 25:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

This Agrippa, who is also Herod, seems to me to have been another one, namely the fourth after the one who lived in the time of James (Acts 12:1-2). See how the enemies themselves involuntarily assist the work.

King Agrippa. Agrippa was either the king's governor in the eastern provinces and was therefore called king, or perhaps he himself was king in the East, while Nero ruled in the West and had his residence in Rome.

The title "Caesar" in Roman usage means "emperor." All Roman emperors, while they were emperors, were called Caesars. Yet these titles were not their proper names.

I note this so that, because this common title is identical with a proper name, no one may think that under one and the same emperor our Lord was born and Paul died.

The Lord was born, as chronology shows, under Caesar Augustus, and He died thirty-two years later under Tiberius Augustus. Paul, however, died under Nero, thirty-two years after the Lord's death.

Herod too was the king's governor, and therefore he himself was called king.

King Herod Agrippa, that is, Herod Agrippa II, was the son of Herod Agrippa I (Acts ch. 12). He possessed the tetrarchies of Philip and Lysanias (Lk 3:1) with the title of king.

He was the last king from the family of the Herods, with whom this royal line came to an end. Being in vassal relations to Rome, he considered it his duty to congratulate Festus on his new appointment.

For this purpose, soon after Festus entered the office of procurator of Judea, Agrippa came to Caesarea. Wishing to show courtesy to his guest, Festus proposed that Herod hear Paul's case.

Herod confessed the same Jewish faith and was therefore more able to understand this case than he, the Roman procurator. For, as Festus observed, Paul's accusers disputed with him over certain questions of their worship (verses 13-27).

Before being sent to Rome, the Apostle Paul had occasion to proclaim the truth of Christianity before a splendid gathering of the chief representatives of the Jewish and pagan worlds. This happened on the arrival in Caesarea of Agrippa II.

This petty king, the last of the Herods, arrived in Caesarea with his sister Bernice to express his respects to the new procurator. This courtesy could not be omitted without harm to himself.

For this reason, they made similar visits in succession to each new procurator. Agrippa's royal power, in its condition at that time, did not depend on popular support.

It depended simply and solely on the will of the emperor. Therefore the "Jewish petty kings" servilely grovelled even before Roman procurators.

King Agrippa and Bernice arrived, and so forth. This was Herod Agrippa II, the last king from the family of the Herods, with whom this royal house came to an end.

He was the son of Herod Agrippa I, mentioned in chapter 12, and the great-grandson of Herod I, the Great. He was also the brother of Drusilla, wife of the former procurator Felix.

He was educated at the court of the Roman emperor Claudius. Not long after his father's death, Claudius gave him possession of Chalcis in Syria.

Four years later, around A.D. 53, he gave him instead the former tetrarchy of Philip and the tetrarchy of Lysanias (see Mt 2:22 and Lk 3:1), with the title of king.

Festus' submission of Paul's case to King Agrippa's consideration was apparently done for the entertainment of Agrippa and his sister Bernice. They had come to congratulate the new procurator and had prolonged their stay in Caesarea.

In recounting Paul's case rather fully and accurately, Festus presents much in such a spirit that his zeal for the matter may be seen in contrast to Felix's slowness. His administrative tact and judicial impartiality are also made visible.

"This Agrippa, also called Herod, seems to me," says Saint John Chrysostom, "to have been another, namely the fourth after the one who killed James" (see Acts 12:1-2).