He examined the keepers; that is, judicially; proceeding against them for the escape of St. Peter. Commanded that they should be put to death; they were sentenced to be led away, and it is most probably thought, unto the place of execution. The instruments in persecution God many times meets with in this world, and sometimes by the persecutors themselves.
Related Commentaries of Acts 12:19
Acts 12:19
19 And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judaea to Caesarea, and there abode.