Acts 25:13

This King Agrippa was Marcus Julius Agrippa II, the son of Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12:1-11), the grandson of Aristobulus, and the great grandson of Herod the Great (Matthew 2:1). [Note: See the diagram "Herod’s Family Tree" above at 12:1-2, and Bruce, "Chronological Questions . . .," pp. 283-84.] Herod the Great had tried to destroy the infant Jesus. One of his sons, Antipas, Agrippa II’s great uncle, beheaded John the Baptist and tried our Lord. Agrippa II’s father, Agrippa I, executed James, the son of Zebedee and the brother of John. He also imprisoned Peter and died in Caesarea (ch. 12). His son, Agrippa II, is the man Paul now faced. He had grown up in Rome and was a favorite of Emperor Claudius. He was the last in the Herodian dynasty and was the best of the Herods.

At the time he visited Festus, Agrippa was the king whom Rome had appointed over the territory northeast of the Judean province. He lived in Caesarea Philippi (Dan of the Old Testament) that he renamed Neronias in honor of Nero. Agrippa was about 30 years old at this time, and his sister, Bernice (Lat. Veronica), was one year younger. He ruled this region from A.D. 50 to 70. Drusilla, Felix’s wife, was Agrippa and Bernice’s younger sister.

Agrippa and Bernice evidently visited Festus on this occasion to pay their respects to the new governor of their neighboring province. Agrippa and Bernice were essentially favorable to the Jews. They both tried to avert the Roman massacre of the Jews in A.D. 66-70. [Note: Josephus, The Wars . . ., 2:15:1; 2:16:4]