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“The Word of Jehovah Went On Growing”“Bearing Thorough Witness” About God’s Kingdom
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19, 20. (a) Why was Herod punished by Jehovah? (b) What comfort may we find in the account of Herod Agrippa’s sudden demise?
19 Such glory belonged to God, and God was watching! Herod had a chance to avoid disaster. He could have rebuked the crowd or could at least have disagreed with them. Instead, he became a vivid illustration of the proverb: “Pride is before a crash.” (Prov. 16:18) “Instantly the angel of Jehovah struck him,” causing that puffed-up egomaniac to suffer a gruesome death. Herod “was eaten up with worms and died.” (Acts 12:23) Josephus too noted that Agrippa was stricken suddenly and added that the king concluded that he was dying because of accepting the flattery of the crowd. Josephus wrote that Agrippa lingered for five days before he expired.b
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“The Word of Jehovah Went On Growing”“Bearing Thorough Witness” About God’s Kingdom
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b One doctor and author wrote that the symptoms described by Josephus and Luke might have been caused by roundworms forming a deadly intestinal obstruction. Such worms are sometimes vomited up, or they crawl from the patient’s body at the time of death. Notes one reference work: “Luke’s professional exactness as a physician brings out the horror of [Herod’s] death.”
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