whom that title could be applied, except the three last years of this Herod's life, within which period the transaction recorded in the Acts is stated to have taken place. This prince was the grandson of Herod the Great. In the Acts, he appears under his family name of Herod; by Josephus he was called Agrippa. For proof that he was a king, properly so called, we have the testimony of Josephus in full and direct terms: 'Sending for him to his palace, Caligula put a crown upon his head, and appointed him king of the tetrarchie of Philip, intending also to give him the tetrarchie of Lysanias."* And that Judea was at last, but not until the last, included in his dominions, appears by a subsequent passage of the same Josephus, wherein he tells us, that Claudius, by a decree, confirmed to Agrippa the dominion which Caligula had given him; adding also Judea and Samaria, in the utmost extent, as possessed by his grandfather Herod.† V. [p. 32.] Acts xii. 19, 23. And he (Herod) went down from Judea to Cesarea, and there abode. And on a set day, Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them: and the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man: and immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.' Jos. Ant. lib. xix. c. 8. sec. 2. 'He went to the city of Ce sarea. Here he celebrated shows in honour of Cæsar. On the second day of the shows, early in the morning, he came into the theatre, dressed in a robe of silver, of most curious workmanship. The rays of the rising sun, reflected from such a splendid garb, gave him a majestic and awful appearance. They called him a god; and intreated him to be propitious to them, saying, Hitherto we have respected you as a man; but now we acknowledge you to be more than mortal. The king neither reproved these persons, nor rejected the impious flattery. -Immediately after this, he was seized with pains in his bowels, extremely violent at the very first.-He was carried therefore with all haste to his palace. These pains continually tormenting him, he expired in five days time.' The reader will perceive the accordancy of these accounts in various particulars. The place (Cesarea), the set day, the gorgeous dress, the acclamations of the assembly, the peculiar turn * Ib. xviii. c. 7. sec. 10. + Ib. xix. c. 5. sec. 1. of the flattery, the reception of it, the sudden and critical incursion of the disease, are circumstances noticed in both narratives. The worms, mentioned by St Luke, are not remarked by Josephus; but the appearance of these is a symptom, not unusually, I believe, attending the disease which Josephus describes, viz. violent affections of the bowels. VI. [p. 41.] Acts xxiv. 24. 'And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul.' Jos. Ant. lib. xx. c. 6. sec. 1, 2. Agrippa gave his sister Drusilla in marriage to Azizus, king of the Emesenes, when he had consented to be circumcised.-But this marriage of Drusilla with Azizus was dissolved in a short time after, in this manner :-When Felix was procurator of Judea, having had a sight of her, he was mightily taken with her. She was induced to transgress the laws of her country, and marry Felix.' Here the public station of Felix, the name of his wife, and the singular circumstance of her religion, all appear in perfect conformity with the evangelist. VII. [p. 46.] Acts xxv. 13. 'And after certain days, King Agrippa and Bernice came to Cesarea to salute Festus.' By this passage we are in effect told, that Agrippa was a king, but not of Judea; for he came to salute Festus, who at this time administered the government of that country at Cesarea. Now, how does the history of the age correspond with this account? The Agrippa here spoken of, was the son of Herod Agrippa, mentioned in the last article; but that he did not succeed to his father's kingdom, nor ever recovered Judea, which had been a part of it, we learn by the information of Josephus, who relates of him that, when his father was dead, Claudius intended, at first, to have put him immediately in possession of his father's dominions; but that, Agrippa being then, but seventeen years of age, the emperour was persuaded to alter his mind, and appointed Cuspius Fadus prefect of Judea and the whole kingdom;* which Fadus was succeeded by Tiberius Alexander, Cumanus, Felix, Festus. But that, though disappointed of his father's kingdom, in which was included Judea, he was nevertheless rightly styled King Agrippa; and that he was in possession of considerable territories * Ant. xix. c. 9. ad fin. + Ib. xx. De Bell. lib. ii. bordering upon Judea, we gather from the same authority; for, after several successive donations of country, 'Claudius, at the same time that he sent Felix to be procurator of Judea, promoted Agrippa from Chalcis to a greater kingdom, giving to him the tetrarchie which had been Philip's; and he added moreover the kingdom of Lysanias, and the province that had belonged to Varus.'* St Paul addresses this person as a Jew: King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest.' As the son of Herod Agrippa, who is described by Josephus to have been a zealous Jew, it is reasonable to suppose that he maintained the same profession. But what is more material to remark, because it is more close and circumstantial, is, that St Luke, speaking of the father, (Acts xii. 1-3.) calls him Herod the king, and gives an example of the exercise of his authority at Jerusalem; speaking of the son, (xxv. 13.) he calls him king, but not of Judea; which distinction agrees correctly with the history. VIII. [p. 51.] Acts xiii. 6. 'And when they had gone through the Isle (Cyprus) to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus, which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus,. a prudent man.' The word, which is here translated deputy, signifies proconsul, and upon this word our observation is founded. The provinces of the Roman empire were of two kinds; those belonging to the emperour, in which the governour was called proprætor; and those belonging to the senate, in which the governour was called proconsul. And this was a regular distinction. Now it appears from Dio Cassius, † that the province of Cyprus, which in the original distribution was assigned to the emperour, had been transferred to the senate, in exchange for some others; and that, after this exchange, the appropriate title of the Roman governour was proconsul. Ib. xviii. 12. [p. 55.] 'And when Gallio was deputy (proconsul) of Achaia.' The propriety of the title 'proconsul' is in this passage still more critical. For the province of Achaia, after passing from the senate to the emperour, had been restored again by the emperour Claudius to the senate (and consequently its govern * De Bell. lib. ii. c. 12. ad fin. + Lib. liv. ad., A. U. 732. * ment had become proconsular) only six or seven years before the time in which this transaction is said to have taken place. And what confines with strictness the appellation to the time is, that Achaia under the following reign ceased to be a Roman province at all. of IX. [p. 152.] It appears, as well from the general constitution of a Roman province, as from what Josephus delivers concerning the state of Judea in particular,† that the power life and death resided exclusively in the Roman governour; but that the Jews, nevertheless, had magistrates and a council, invested with a subordinate and municipal authority. This economy is discerned in every part of the gospel narrative of our Saviour's crucifixion. X. [p. 203.] Acts ix. 31. "Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria.' This rest synchronises with the attempt of Caligula to place his statue in the temple of Jerusalem; the threat of which outrage produced amongst the Jews a consternation, that, for a season, diverted their attention from every other object. ‡ XI. [p. 218.] Acts xxi. 30. And they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple; and forthwith the doors were shut. And as they went about to kill him, tidings came to the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains, and demanded who he was, and what he had done; and some cried one thing, and some another, among the multitude: and, when he could not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle. And when he came upon the stairs, so it was, that he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of the people.' In this quotation, we have the band of Roman soldiers at Jerusalem, their office (to suppress tumults), the castle, the stairs, both, as it should seem, adjoining to the temple. Let us inquire whether we can find these particulars in any other record of that age and place. Jos. de Bell. lib. v. c. 5. sec. 8. 'Antonia was situated at * Suet. in Claud. c. xxv, Dio. lib. lxi. the angle of the western and northern porticoes of the outer temple. It was built upon a rock fifty cubits high, steep on all sides.—On that side where it joined to the porticoes of the temple, there were stairs reaching to each portico, by which the guard descended; for there was always lodged here a Roman legion, and, posting themselves in their armour in several places in the porticoes, they kept a watch on the people on the feasts days to prevent all disorders; for, as the temple was a guard to the city, so was Antonia to the temple.' XII. [p. 224.] Acts iv. 1. And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them.' Here we have a public officer, under the title of captain of the temple, and he probably a Jew, as he accompanied the priests and Sadducees in apprehending the apostles. Jos. de Bell. lib. ii. c. 17. sec. 2. And at the temple, Eleazar, the son of Ananias the high priest, a young man of a bold and resolute disposition, then captain, persuaded those who performed the sacred ministrations, not to receive the gift or sacrifice of any stranger.' 6 XIII. [p. 225.] Acts xxv. 12. Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, Hast thou appealed unto Cæsar? unto Cæsar shalt thou go.' That it was usual for the Roman presidents to have a council, consisting of their friends, and other chief Romans in the province, appears expressly in the following passage of Cicero's oration against Verres:-'Illud negare posses, aut nunc negabis, te, concilio tuo dimisso, viris primariis, qui in consilio C. Sacerdotis fuerant, tibique esse volebant, remotis, de re judicatâ judicâsse?' XIV. [p. 235.] Acts xvi. 13. And (at Philippi) on the Sabbath, we went out of the city by a river-side, where prayer was wont to be made,' or where a gown, oratory, or place of prayer was allowed. The particularity to be remarked, is the situation of the place where prayer was wont to be made, viz. by a river side. Philo, describing the conduct of the Jews of Alexandria on a certain public occasion, relates of them, that, 'early in the morning, flocking out of the gates of the city, they go to the neighbouring shores (for the garsuxa were destroyed), and, standing in a most pure place, they lift up their voices with one accord.'* * Philo in Flacc. p. 382. |