Vainglory
God is not in the position to share His glory with another. John Lennon’s egregious speech may have proven fatal on the day he declared the Beatles more famous than Jesus Christ. Herod Agrippa I also had a bad day after he refused to repudiate the divine accolades ascribed to him by the leaders and people of Tyre and Sidon. His option was to give YHWH the glory, but even the Jewish historian Josephus attested to praise being given to him as no mere mortal (Antiquities 19.8.2…343–50). Herod’s speech is ignored by both Luke and Josephus, but they both take into account the crowd’s response at the theatre in Caesarea on that fateful day in March A.D. 44.
Herod Agrippa I was the son of Aristobulus and the grandson of Herod the Great (37–4 B.C.). He began his reign in A.D. 9 and finished at Caesarea in A.D. 44. The Roman Emperor Caligula consolidated two tetrarchies (Philip and Lysanias) for him in A.D. 37, and Emperor Claudius made him the ruler over all Israel by giving Judea and Samaria to him in A.D. 41. It did not hurt that Herod grew up in Rome with his good friend Claudius, who would become emperor. Claudius trusted Agrippa I enough to allow him to call himself King.
Josephus wrote about the character and behavior of Agrippa I (Antiquities 19.7.3…328–31). He was man who gave much in order to manage a good reputation. Mild tempered and liberal toward locals and foreigners alike, he enjoyed home at Jerusalem where he was very devout. His devotion gained him favor with the Pharisees. Still, he executed the apostle James (12:2), and he appeared ready to do the same to Peter (12:4). Immunity from the trappings of position, prosperity, and power is difficult for men with aspirations. Judas Iscariot was such a man to betray his friend for a little gain.
Contrast Paul and Barnabas’ response to deification by the people at Lystra (Acts 14:11–15). They tore their clothes and rebuked the people, claiming to preach the Gospel for the very purpose of turning them from these vain things to the One true God. These missionaries knew their position before the Lord, and they refused to steal from Him. Karl Barth emphasized in his neo-orthodoxy that God is totally other. Man has no reasonable option but to worship God. He exists, and we exist because of Him. The life of man is futility without true worship of YHWH.
Solomon grasped vanity as he wrote Ecclesiastes. He may have had this conversation with his father after David wrote Psalm 39. “Because of the opposition of Thy hand, I am perishing. With reproofs Thou dost chasten a man for iniquity. Thou dost consume as a moth what is precious to him; surely every man is a mere breath (39:10–11).” If this is the lament of a man after God’s own heart in this world, what is the lament of the enemy of God catapulting toward the fiery flames of forever.
Divine retribution visited Herod Agrippa I on a day when his idolatrous, self glorification became public. His best political maneuvers could not save him from the angel who struck him dead and gave him to the worms. Luke, throughout Acts, exposed numerous examples of immediate judgments by God against those who conspired against Him. Peter escaped with his life to preach Christ another day, but Agrippa I lost his life in the fleeting glitter of vainglory.
David Norczyk
Portland, Oregon
July 3, 2021
