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Analysis Of The Book ' V '

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V:1. Chapter continues the persecution of the early church. The chapter begins, “Now about that time.” This time refers to the famine described in verse 27 of chapter 11. This Herod is Herod Agrippa 1, the grandson of Herod the Great, who had all the baby boys in Bethlehem murdered in his attempt to kill the baby Jesus. Luke says Herod laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. Why would Herod persecute the church? The people generally do not like the Herodian family. But, Herod has to maintain peace in his territory in order to achieve favor with Rome. On the other hand, he needs to win over the hearts of the Jewish people, so, he decides to persecute the Christians to convince them of his loyalty to the …show more content…

So there were thousands of people in town for the celebration.
V:4. Herod is not prepared to lose his big catch, therefore, he puts Peter in prison under maximum security. Herod is smart, he is not prepared to risk his popularity with the Jews by executing Peter during this time of celebration as it would be considered a desecration. A total of sixteen soldiers kept guard over Peter. We may asked why the maximum security? You may recall in chapter 5, Peter and John were arrested and put in prison but during the night, an angel opened the gates and let them out. Could it be that the Sanhedrin notified Herod of their own failed attempts to imprisoned Peter? So to make sure this does not happened again, Herod places Peter under maximum security.
V:5. I love verse five. “So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.” That little word, “but” is such a comforting word. It reminds us that no matter how bad a situation maybe in our life, something better is about to take place. The church leader is in prison and the church uses the only available weapon it has and bent it’s knee in fervent prayer. The word, “fervently” is the Greek word ἐκτενῶς (ektenōs) meaning to stretch out, continuously, without ceasing. In other words, they pray intensely. It’s the kind of prayer that bombards the throne of God during the week Peter is held in

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