And commanded that they should be put to death.— And commanded them to be led away to execution. It is well known that the word απαχθηναι has this signification; thus the wicked suffered in the room of the righteous. Herod, probably, punished the keepers with such severity, lest the apprehension of a miraculous deliverance should have prevailed, and so Christianityhave gained, as it probably did, additional strength. What had so notoriously happened to all the twelve apostles, in a circumstance muchresembling this, ch. Acts 5:19 would no doubt add great weight to such a representation; and it seems that this seasonable interposition of Divine Providence, joined with the death of Herodsoon after, put a speedy end to this persecution.
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.