Acts 12:20 - Exposition

Now he for and Herod, A.V. and T.R.; and for but, A.V. ; they asked for for desired, A.V. ; fed from for nourished by, A.V. Highly displeased ( θυμομαχῶν ) ; only here in the New Testament, but used by Polybius, as well as the kindred word ψυχομαχεῖν , in the sense of having a hostile spirit against any one, maintaining a strong resentment. It describes a state of feeling which may exist before war, during war, and after war when only a hollow peace has been made. Tyro and Sidon at this time were semi-independent cities under the Roman supremacy. The occasion of Herod's displeasure is not known. Chamberlain ; literally, the officer over his bedchamber—his chief groom of the chambers—an office which would give him easy access to the king's private ear. Was fed . This commerce, by which Palestine supplied Tyro and Sidon with wheat in return for timber, was as old as the time of Solomon at least ( 1 Kings 5:9 , 1 Kings 5:11 ); see too Ezekiel 27:17 , and the decree of Caligula, in which he speaks of the large exportation of corn to Sidon from the Jewish harbor of Joppa ('Ant. Jud.,' 14. 10.6).