100
The Acts of the Apostles
who was to be brought with a great display of arms and guards in order
not only to ensure against his escape, but to intimidate all sympathizers
and to show the power of the king.
When the keepers before the door found that Peter had escaped,
they were seized with terror. It had been expressly stated that their
lives would be required for the life of their charge, and because of this
they had been especially vigilant. When the officers came for Peter,
the soldiers were still at the door of the prison, the bolts and bars were
still fast, the chains were still secured to the wrists of the two soldiers;
but the prisoner was gone.
When the report of Peter’s escape was brought to Herod, he was
exasperated and enraged. Charging the prison guard with unfaithful-
ness, he ordered them to be put to death. Herod knew that no human
power had rescued Peter, but he was determined not to acknowledge
that a divine power had frustrated his design, and he set himself in
bold defiance against God.
Not long after Peter’s deliverance from prison, Herod went to
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Caesarea. While there he made a great festival designed to excite
the admiration and gain the applause of the people. This festival was
attended by pleasure lovers from all quarters, and there was much
feasting and wine drinking. With great pomp and ceremony Herod
appeared before the people and addressed them in an eloquent oration.
Clad in a robe sparkling with silver and gold, which caught the rays of
the sun in its glittering folds and dazzled the eyes of the beholders, he
was a gorgeous figure. The majesty of his appearance and the force of
his well-chosen language swayed the assembly with a mighty power.
Their senses already perverted by feasting and wine drinking, they
were dazzled by Herod’s decorations and charmed by his deportment
and oratory; and wild with enthusiasm they showered adulation upon
him, declaring that no mortal could present such an appearance or
command such startling eloquence. They further declared that while
they had ever respected him as a ruler, henceforth they should worship
him as a god.
Some of those whose voices were now heard glorifying a vile
sinner had but a few years before raised the frenzied cry, Away with
Jesus! Crucify Him, crucify Him! The Jews had refused to receive
Christ, whose garments, coarse and often travel-stained, covered a
heart of divine love. Their eyes could not discern, under the humble