Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great, ruled Judea from 41 to 44 CE.
Nearly all of what we know about Agrippa comes from the Jewish historian Josephus. Josephus portrays Agrippa as a shrewd politician who forged political connections by giving gifts he could not afford. Because of his financial mismanagement, Agrippa either ran from creditors or borrowed more money to repay old debts. On several occasions, he could not pay his debts and went to prison. Once, when reduced to poverty, Agrippa contemplated suicide.
Agrippa’s ties to Roman imperial power eventually paid off, however. After the death of Tiberius Caesar, Agrippa’s friend, Gaius Caesar (a.k.a. Caligula), released Agrippa from prison and made him ruler over several territories north of Judea. After Caligula’s death, Agrippa was appointed king of the Jews by another friend, Claudius Caesar (Josephus, Ant. 18.143–309). Agrippa ruled over Judea and its adjacent territories until his death.
Why is Agrippa called “Herod” in the Bible?
Agrippa only appears in the New Testament in Acts 12, a story about an attack on the early Christian community. All other ancient sources call him “Agrippa,” but Acts calls him “King Herod,” likely to align Agrippa with his relative, Herod Antipas. Antipas was implicated in the deaths of John the Baptist and Jesus (Luke 3:1–2; 9:7–9; 13:31–33; 23:6–16; Acts 4:23–31), and Agrippa shows similar hostility toward Jesus’s followers.
Why did Agrippa kill James and imprison Peter?
Roman governors and client kings were responsible for maintaining peace in the territories they ruled. Imperial rulers attempted to cut off any potentially revolutionary groups by removing the group’s key leaders. According to the book of Acts, the early Christian community was growing exponentially. Even if the numbers are hyperbolic or serve a symbolic purpose, Jesus had been executed as an insurrectionist, so continued growth of the Jesus movement would be considered a political threat. Suppressing that threat seems to have been Agrippa’s motivation for beheading the apostle James, son of Zebedee. Agrippa saw that James’s death pleased his subjects, so Agrippa imprisoned Peter and presumably intended to execute him as well (Acts 12:1–5).
How and why did Agrippa die?
Both Acts and Josephus recount the story of Agrippa’s death, though the accounts differ in a few ways. Josephus writes that Agrippa put on a festival in Caesarea to make vows for the safety of the emperor. On the second day of the festival, Agrippa appeared before the crowd in a garment made entirely of silver. The robe was so radiant in the sun that it inspired fear among the spectators. The onlookers begged for mercy and extolled Agrippa as a divine or semi-divine being. Because Agrippa did not rebuke the crowd, he was struck with pain in his belly and taken to the palace to rest. He died five days later (Ant. 19.343–352).
According to Acts 12:20–23, Agrippa had conflict with the people of Tyre and Sidon. These cities sent a delegation to Caesarea to strike an agreement with the king. Agrippa put on royal robes before addressing the crowd. After his address, those gathered hailed him as a god. Because Agrippa did not give glory to God, he was struck by an angel of the Lord, eaten by worms, and died.
Consumption by worms was an ancient Jewish literary trope to describe the gruesome fate inflicted by God on those who cause God’s people to suffer (Sir 7:17; 18:30–19:3). Such a fate befell evil rulers such as the kings of Assyria and Babylon (Isa 14:11; Judith 16:17) and Antiochus IV Epiphanes (2 Macc 9:5–10). The book of Acts thereby depicts Agrippa as an enemy of God and God’s people.
