Acts 12:4
And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.
Herod Agrippa imprisoned Peter under sixteen soldiers in four watches to hold him for public execution after the Passover feast to win favor with the Jews. He had already beheaded James the brother of John because it pleased the Jews, and he seized Peter to please them further. Peter was chained between two soldiers in a rock cell with barred doors and guards answerable for him, because Herod remembered his former escape and made human rescue or escape appear impossible. That cutting off of all human help only made God's triumph more complete, for man's extremity is God's opportunity, and God sent His mighty angel to loose Peter's chains, open the prison doors, and deliver him because He had further work for him. The delay until after the feast gave the church time to search their hearts and pray earnestly for Peter, whose life and work they believed were urgently needed.
Herod's Prison and Guard
Herod Agrippa vexed the church as ruler of Judea under the Roman emperor Claudius and also tetrarch of Galilee. He was a professed proselyte to the Jewish faith, apparently very zealous in carrying out the ceremonies of the Jewish law. Desiring to secure his offices and honors by obtaining the favor of the Jews, he carried out their desires in persecuting the church of Christ, spoiling the houses and goods of believers and imprisoning leading members of the church.
He had cast James the brother of John into prison and sent an executioner to kill him with the sword, as another Herod had caused the prophet John to be beheaded. Seeing that this pleased the Jews, he imprisoned Peter also to please them further and win their favor as part of his persecution of Christ's followers. Peter was thus cast into prison after James was beheaded, during the Passover season.
The Easter named in the verse is Passover, when Jews from many places were gathered in Jerusalem to worship. Herod kept Peter in custody through that feast with intent to bring him before the people afterward.
Peter was put under sixteen soldiers in four quaternions, four groups of four, with four on duty at a time in rotating watches day and night to keep him until execution. These rotating reliefs and the strong guard were meant to secure him for death after Passover, so that human rescue appeared impossible.
Double precautions were taken because Herod remembered the former escape of Peter and John from prison after confinement for their faith. Peter was confined in a rock-hewn cell with strongly bolted and barred doors, placed between two soldiers and bound by two chains each fastened to the wrist of one of them, so that he could not move without their knowledge. A strong guard was set before the doors and made answerable for his safekeeping, cutting off all chance of rescue or escape by human means.
The imprisonment fell during Passover, the sacred memorial of Israel's deliverance from Egypt. While celebrating that deliverance and professing zeal for God's law, the Jews persecuted and killed believers in Christ in violation of the law's principles. Their religious gatherings at that season stirred them to united hatred against Christians.
Plot for Public Execution
Herod held Peter in custody meaning to bring him out before the people for a public death as a spectacle after the Passover, when Jerusalem was filled with worshipers come from many places, in order to gratify the Jews further after James's death had pleased them. The word rendered Easter means Passover, and the execution was postponed until after the feast. The delay also gave the church time to search their hearts and pray earnestly for Peter. It was not safe to bring him forth during the feast, for the rulers feared the sight of Peter led out to die. They feared his venerable appearance would excite pity and respect in the multitude, and that he would make a powerful, persuasive appeal for Christ which the priests and elders could not answer, stirring the crowd to examine and study the life and character of Jesus, winning them to Christ and leading them to demand his release from the king.
For the morning after the feast Herod planned to have Peter executed. He meant to send officers to fetch him with an imposing, heavily armed guard. This display was both to make escape impossible and to intimidate Peter's supporters and exhibit his own power.
Divine Deliverance and Response
Herod's securing of Peter with sixteen soldiers in four watches, with bolts and bars and chains binding him between two guards, cut off every human possibility of rescue or escape, and that very cutting off of all human help only made God's triumph more complete. Man's extremity is God's opportunity, so the precautions meant to make the execution certain set the stage for God by the putting forth of His might to save the precious life the Jews were plotting to destroy. In holding Peter, Herod was lifting his hand against Omnipotence, and his attempt to take the life of God's servant was to end in utter defeat and humiliation. The human barriers that seemed to prevent any rescue instead made God's deliverance more decisive.
Peter's experience belongs to the truth that God employs angels as powerful helpers of His chosen messengers to communicate with human beings. When the enemy had determined to destroy him, God by His might sent His angel to take the prey from him and stop the shedding of his blood. God had further work for Peter to do, and He sent His messengers from heaven and opened the gates and set His servant free because He always has care for the true and faithful. No soldiers on guard could prevent God from intervening.
At the presence of the mighty angel the prison doors flew open and Peter's bands were loosed. Peter was awakened by the touch of the angel and was amazed because of the light, thinking he saw a vision. The angel told him to gird himself and put on his sandals, and Peter was so astonished that he thought not of his other garments.
Postponing the execution until after Passover, under various pretexts, gave the church time to search their hearts and pray earnestly for Peter. They prayed because they believed his life and work were urgently needed and essential to the Christian work. They feared the church could not endure and faced extinction without God's special help. Peter believed he was about to die for Christ, and the believers praying for him likewise expected he would have to suffer death. So when they heard his voice at the gate after his deliverance they were astonished.
Peter had been imprisoned because he obeyed God rather than men in proclaiming Jesus after the resurrection though civil law forbade it. His case is an example of the reproach, persecution, and strait places that come to those who take their stand to stem prevailing iniquity and carry God's aggressive truth with a loud cry when laws and powers oppose God. It teaches believers to keep bearing the message and letting their light shine wherever they are, even inside prison walls. The account of the angel taking the prey from the enemy who had determined to destroy him is a lesson for children and youth that makes a deep impression on the young mind. When read slowly and solemnly it keeps the story vividly before the mind for a lifetime, showing the duty to educate and train youth to read and understand the Scriptures, registering them for instruction and leading their minds from truth to truth up higher and higher. In this, Scripture interprets Scripture, one passage being the key to other passages, so that Scripture itself becomes the educating power holding thoughts in captivity to Christ.