The Execution - Acts 12:1-3

Herod Agrippa I is pretty invested in his relationship with the Jewish people and more especially with the leadership, namely the Sanhedrin and the Pharisees. This is about 14 years since Christ’s death and the feeling of religious revolution has warn off in Jerusalem. At this point, I would imagine that everyone who was going to be interested in the gospel has either converted or declined, so their choices have already been made. Once someone decides against believing in a cause, further pushing by those trying to convince you gets old really quick. Was it just burn out and irritation that led to the problems between Jews and Christians in Jerusalem? It seems like it would have been more that that to instigate the slaughter of leadership.

From an article entitled, “Why was Saint James beheaded by order of King Herod Arippa I of Judaea?” from the website Quora.com, John Simpson suggests, “the new waves of persecution unleashed against the church was probably connected with the expansion of the gospel to the Gentiles. What bothered Jews was the thought that gentiles could be saved without becoming Jews first plus the corresponding thought that traditional Judaism would be superseded by a largely Gentile Christianity.” For a people with a cultural staple of “we are saved because we were born Jews,” this inclusion of gentiles and exclusion of non-compliant Jews would have been a huge blow to their ego and identity.
It’s in this era that Agrippa comes into power. He’s very devoted to his role as the king of the Jews, and probably sees the Christian leaders as a threat to not only the leadership of the Sanhedrin and Pharisees, but also his own. The people are burned out with the Christian religion and aggravated by the Apostles, and that can be a tinder box for violence, and that doesn’t end well for anyone, Jew or Roman. Simpson suggests that Herod “would do anything to maintain his popularity with the Jewish people. However, he saw Jewish Christians as divisive and believed their activities would disturb the people.”
Seeing his chance to get rid of these disruptive influences, “Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.” This would probably start with the most vocal of the Christian leadership, the biggest and most obvious pain in his neck. To start, “he killed James the brother of John with the sword.” Simpson suggests that this was a test to see how the Jews reacted, if they reacted poorly, then his efforts would have stopped there, but if they reacted favorably, then he just found his next step to their endearment. Two questions arise from this execution, first, why was James his first victim and second, why is it significant that James was killed with a sword?
Why was James the first victim? Agrippa had probably heard about the Jewish leadership contempt for James and decided to start with him in kind of a “nobody will miss him” kind of attitude, well at least nobody that Agrippa cared about would miss him. In an article entitled, “And Herod Killed James with the Sword!” from smookock45.wordpress.com the author reminds us that this James is an apostle and the brother of John who together were called “sons of thunder” by Jesus for their zeal and outspokenness. We can also remember that this James is a member of the First Presidency, with Peter and John. The article says, “this ‘son of thunder’ could never be quiet about what Peter had told them. James was probably discussing and debating God’s receiving the gentiles with Jewish unbelievers for quite some time- 3 years to be exact. It was now 43 CE and James was arrested probably for provoking a commotion in the city- perhaps the Temple.” James was probably loud and spirited in his preaching, teaching, and debating of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and at this point, the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem were over it, and Herod saw his shot at becoming greater in their eyes and took a risk.
Secondly, does it matter that James was killed with a sword? In his article Simpson notes, “James was executed with the sword because, according to The Mishnah (Sanhedrin 9:1), the sword had to be used for murderers and apostates.” This makes sense because the Jews, and by extension their king, would have viewed James as an apostate of Judaism, and more than that, they probably viewed him as the worst kind of apostate, one who works tirelessly to get others to become apostates too. It’s also worth noting that the sword indicates that James’ execution was not ordered by the religious leaders because is James had been convicted by the Sanhedrin of blasphemy, he would have been stoned to death. Herod probably had James killed this way so that there would be no mistake that it was he who ordered the death, and in this manner so that he could solidify his image as a champion of Judaism.
As expected, James’ execution “pleased the Jews” so Agrippa said “well if one is good, then two is better,” and had Peter arrested as well. While James was probably an annoyance to most of the Jews, Peter was the ultimate prize. He was the President of the Church, the leader of the whole Christian movement. Now imagine the fervor and gratitude that the Jewish leadership would give to Agrippa if he “cut the head off of the snake.” Herod wasn’t executing the Apostles because he truly believed in the cause of Judaism, he was doing it because he wanted people to like him, he’s a very interesting man. So Peter’s hanging out in prison with Herod fully intending to put on a big show of his execution, and it just happens to be “the days of unleavened bread.” Sounds very familiar.