SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/3/2018
10:01 AM
My Worship Time Focus: God’s
Punishment Cannot Be Avoided
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts
12:20-23
Message of the
verses: “20 Now [Herod] he was very
angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; and with one accord they came to him,
and having won over Blastus the king’s chamberlain, they were asking for peace,
because their country was fed by the king’s country. 21 On an appointed day
Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began
delivering an address to them. 22 The people kept crying out, "The voice
of a god and not of a man!" 23 And immediately an angel of the Lord struck
him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.”
Before we begin looking at this passage I want to say
that there are some confusing things found in this section, things that I
probably just read over many times without realizing that they were confusing.
We begin by stating that this paragraph took place
several months since Peter escaped and as we look at the first part of verse
twenty we see that “Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon,”
however it does not say why he became angry with them.” The people of Tyre and Sidon were not in the
jurisdiction of Herod. John MacArthur
writes “but since Old Testament times ‘their country’ had been ‘fed’ b the
region ruled by Herod (cf. 1 Kings 5:11; Ezra 3:7; Ezek. 27:17).”
It looks like Herod had cut off the food supply of Tyre
and Sidon and so we read “with one accord they came to him, and having won over
Blastus the king’s chamberlain, they were asking for peace.” Perhaps these people sent a bribe to Blastus
the kings chamberlain for him to act as an intermediary. We don’t know if this is true, but understand
how politics work in our country we see that money usually is the grease used
to make things work.
We read that Herod agrees to terms and so he invites the
ambassadors from the two cities to a spectacle.
We read “On an appointed day” and John MacArthur quotes the Jewish
historian Josephus who states “the occasion was a feast in honor of Herod’s
patron, the Roman Emperor Claudius.” We
read on that “Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the
rostrum and began delivering an address to them.” According to Josephus this
even took place in the amphitheater that was built by Agrippa’s grandfather,
Herod the Great and he goes on to state “[Herod] put on a garment made wholly
of silver, and of a contexture truly wonderful, and came into the theater early
in the morning; at which time the silver of his garment being illuminated by
the fresh reflection of the sun’s rays upon it, shone out after a surprising
manner.”
Not sure whether it was what they saw Herod was wearing
or if they were flattering him “the people kept crying out, ‘The voice of a god
and not of a man!’” Josephus notes that
Herod “did neither rebuke them, nor reject their impious flattery”
We read in verse 23 the immediate response of God “And
immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the
glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.”
The following is a rather long quote that is used by John
MacArthur in his commentary, and it comes from Dr. Jean Sloat Morton who
comments:
“The phrase ‘eaten by worms,’ in Greek is skolakobrotos. The root word skolax means ‘a specific head structure of a tapeworm.’ Since the word scolex (plural scolices)
is applied to the head of worms, Herod’s death was almost certainly due to the
rupture of a cyst formed by a tapeworm.
There are several kinds of tapeworms, but one of the most common ones
found in sheep-growing countries is the dog tape, Echinococcus granulosus. The
heaviest infections come from areas where sheep and cattle are raised. Sheep and cattle serve as intermediate hosts
for the parasite. The dog eats the
infected meat, then man gets the eggs from the dog, usually by fecal
contamination of hair.
“The disease is characterized by the formation of cysts,
generally on the right lobe of the liver; these may extend down into the
abdominal cavity. The rupture of such a
cysts may release as many as two million scolices. The developing worms inside of the cysts are
called scolicies, because the anterior region constitutes the major part of
development at this stage. When the
cysts ruptures, the entrance of the cellular debris along with the scolices may
cause sudden death.
“The use of the word scolex
is not limited to this reference about Herod; the term also appears in Mark
9:44. A literal translation of the
phrase in Mark 9:44 would read, ‘where their scolex dieth not.’ This usage is
very interesting because the tapeworm keeps propagating itself. Each section of the worm is a self-contained
unit which has both male and female parts.
The posterior part matures and forms hundreds of worm eggs. The word scolex
in this text portrays a biological description of permanence which the text demands
for the comparison. (Science in the Bible [Chicago: Moody,
1978], 261-262).”
MacArthur concludes “According to Josephus, Herod
lingered on for five days, in terrible pain.
Amid all his pomp and majesty, he suffered an ignominious and shameful
death. So ended the reign and life of
the man who had dared to touch two of God’s apostles. His crime for which he was executed (A. D.
44) was that ‘he did not give God the glory,’ the very crime for which all the
unregenerate who rejected God will be condemned (Rom. 1:18-23).” We have one more short section to look at in
our next SD.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I have known
believers who have suffered a great deal before they passed on to be with the
Lord. Jesus Christ suffered more than
any man before giving up His life on the cross.
The difference between this is that believers and of course Christ who
suffered greatly did it for the glory of God while unbelievers who suffer do it
as described in Romans 1:18-23 “18 For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men who
suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known
about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His
invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly
seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without
excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as
God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their
foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and
exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of
corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: I trust that the Lord will give grace to me
each day to live my life to His glory.
Memory verse: Psalm 143:10 “Teach me to do Your will, for
You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Solomon” (2 Chronicles 6:14).
Today’s Bible
question: “Elisha prophesied that the
famine in what city would end?”
Answer in our next SD.
2/3/2018 11:09 AM
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