“Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.”
It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them.—'King Herod' is Herod Agrippa I (10 BC – AD 44), grandson of Herod the Great, who ruled Judea AD 41-44. The arrest is motivated by political calculation: Jewish popularity. 'Some who belonged to the church' (tines tōn apo tēs ekklēsias) marks the beginning of a new persecution wave, this time by political (not merely mob) authority.
Church Fathers on Acts 12:1
At that time, of course meaning the time immediately following: for this is the custom of Scripture. And he well says that Herod the king (did this): this was not he of Christ's time. Lo, a different sort of trial — and mark what I said in the beginning, how things are blended, how rest and trouble alternate in the whole texture of the history — not now the Jews, nor the Sanhedrin, but the king. Greater the power, the warfare more severe, the more it was done to obtain favor…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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