“And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)”
When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.—the political calculation is explicit: James's execution 'met with approval' (aresen tois Ioudaiois), so Herod escalates to Peter, the most prominent apostle. The timing 'during the Feast of Unleavened Bread' (epi tas hēmeras tōn azymōn, the week of Passover) is significant: it echoes Jesus's own arrest during Passover, suggesting Peter reenacts Jesus's passion. The Passover context prefigures liberation (Peter's escape), a new exodus.
Church Fathers on Acts 12:3
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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