Acts 12:19-24

Wise men learn from the mistakes of fools. Herod Agrippa was not a wise man.

Hundreds of years before Herod Agrippa, a ruler of Tyre claimed to be a god. God, through the prophet Ezekiel (chapter 28), sent that ruler a message. “In the pride of your heart you say, ‘I am a god; I sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the seas.’ …but you are a man and not a god…  Because you think you are wise, as wise as a god I am going to … bring you down to the pit, and you will die a violent death.”

Agrippa was not an ignorant man. He was educated and he would have known the writings of the prophets. He would have known the writings of Ezekiel and he would have known that God did what he said he would do to the former ruler of Tyre. The ruler, who claimed to be a god, died a violent death. Agrippa was not ignorant of history; he simply chose to ignore it. He was more interested in current affairs. People had often honored dead emperors as gods, but currently the emperor, Caligula, was not willing to wait. He insisted his subjects worship him as a god while he was still alive. Herod Agrippa wanted some of that god action for himself.

Josephus, a historian of the time, recorded a description of the robe Herod Agrippa wore when he sat upon his throne and spoke to the people. It was made entirely of highly polished woven silver, and when the morning sun shone upon it, the bright reflection was dazzling. Herod had the robe made special for this occasion, and it got the desired effect. The people began to call out that Herod Agrippa was a god, then Herod collapsed in pain, suffered for five days and died.

Herod repeated the actions of a fool, and he got the same results. We choose our actions, but we cannot choose the consequences of our actions.