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John Wesley's notes on the Lesson: Acts 11:27--12:3

 

 

28. Agabus rising up - In the congregation. All the world - The word frequently signifies all the Roman empire. And so it is doubtless to be taken here. 29. Then - Understanding the distress they would otherwise be in on that account, the disciples determined to send relief to the brethren in Judea - Who herein received a manifest proof of the reality of their conversion. 30. Sending it to the elders - Who gave it to the deacons, to be distributed by them, as every one had need.

1. About that time - So wisely did God mix rest and persecution in due time and measure succeeding each other. Herod - Agrippa; the latter was his Roman, the former his Syrian name. He was the grandson of Herod the Great, nephew to Herod Antipas, who beheaded John the Baptist; brother to Herodias, and father to that Agrippa before whom St. Paul afterward made his defense. Caligula made him king of the tetrarchy of his uncle Philip, to which he afterward added the territories of Antipas. Claudius made him also king of Judea, and added thereto the dominions of Lysanias. 2. James the brother of John - So one of the brothers went to God the first, the other the last of the apostles. 3. Then were the days of unleavened bread - At which the Jews came together from all parts.

 

[With gratitude to the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for this text.]