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CHRONOLOGY
ACTS
EPISTLES
79
OF
AND
The history of Herod Agrippa I is a chequered one. Josephus records (Ant. xix: 8, 2) that Herod died in `the 7th
year of his reign and the 54th year of his life'. Again he tells us (Bell. Jud. ii, xi: 6) that Agrippa died soon after the
completion of his third year as King over all Jud -a. Now let us see whether we can arrive at the date by these two
items.
(1) When did Herod begin his reign?
Secular history supplies the answer: `Not many days' after the accession of Gaius. When was that? `March 16th,
A.D.
37'. lf we add 37 A.D. and 7 together, we have the date of Herod's death as A.D. 44.
(2) When did Herod begin to reign over ALL JUD -A?
Gaius was murdered on January 24th, A.D. 41 and on the accession of Claudius (Ant. xix: 8,2), Herod was made
King of Jud -a and Samaria. Add to A.D. 41 the 3 years of Herod's reign, and again we get A.D. 44.
(3) A threefold cord is not easily broken.
Josephus makes a casual remark to the effect that Herod died during a festival held in honour of Claudius `for his
safety'. Claudius returned to Rome from Britain in January, A.D. 44 after an absence of six months. The festival at
Caesarea, the Roman capital of Palestine, was where Herod the King died that same year. Again A.D. 44.
We can now fix the 12th Chapter of Acts down upon the calendar of the world (see chart opposite).
The year of the Crucifixion of the Lord is now accepted as A.D. 29 which is the year of the opening chapter of
Acts. We have therefore the date of the first twelve chapters A.D 29-44.
Let us now seek evidence to place a date for the last chapter. The narrative leaves Paul a prisoner, but residing
in his own hired house for two years, receiving all who came, teaching them freely and without reserve, `no man
forbidding him'. These closing words of the Acts indicate a period wherein the Roman Power was tolerant to the
new sect. Indeed, throughout the Acts up to the closing chapter, the Roman Government is seen in a favourable
light, the persecutions detailed in the narrative coming from the Jews.
The great fire which broke out in Rome took place on July 19th. A.D. 64. If we have any knowledge at all of the
awful persecution of the Christians which immediately followed, we shall find it impossible to conceive of Paul
remaining unmolested in his own hired house while his followers and converts were being burned as torches or
thrown to the lions. A.D. 64, therefore, is the furthest bound of the story of the Acts. It is not necessary that the Acts
reaches so far, but it is practically certain that it does not extend beyond.