And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
And he killed James the brother of John with the sword - in all likelihood by beheading, which (as Lightfoot shows) was regarded by the Jews as the extreme of ignominy. Of this older James we know nothing, except what we read in the Gospels and here-that he was one of the three who, of all the Twelve, were alone privileged to witness the transfiguration, the resurrection of Jairus' daughter, and the agony in the garden; that he and his younger Brother John were called by their Master 'sons of thunder;' that through their mother they applied for the right and left-hand posts of honour in the expected kingdom; and that, when asked if they were able to drink of their Master's cup and he baptized with His baptism, and replying that they were, Jesus told them they should indeed have that to do, but that what they sought was under other arrangement: finally, we have James here, as a martyr of Jesus, indeed drinking of his Masters cup and with his bloody baptism at length baptized.
One wonders that we have no account of his apostolic labours, and that while Stephen's death is so circumstantially recorded, that of James is disposed of in one brief verse. Of this latter circumstance several explanations have been given. But as the Baptist was privately and summarily despatched, and his death recorded in a few brief words (Mark 6:27), the probability is, that the slaughter of James was equally summary, and embraced no particulars of interest. As to his apostolic labours-since of "the first three" of the apostles, Peter, engrossed with the public work of his Master, could take no oversight of the Church at Jerusalem, and John, the other member of this triumvirate, always accompanied Peter-the principal charge of the church in Jerusalem would devolve on this older James; and though his labour in this capacity would be too quiet to yield historical materials worthy of preservation in this book, his fervid character, now mellowed, with his position among the Twelve, would gain him the esteem and love of the Church, and make his value to the Christian cause in Jerusalem so well known to those who sought its destruction, that they would give Herod no rest until he consented to rid them of this obnoxious head of the Christian interest at the capital.
Herod Apprehends Peter, to Kill Him also-His Miraculous Deliverance and Departure from Jerusalem (12:3-19)
He could spring only upon one more prized victim; and, flushed with their first success, they prevail upon Herod to seize him too.