The life and work of St. Paul

174 THE LIFE AND WORK OF ST. PAUL.
royal bounty was largely aided by the liberality of Izates, 1 whose contributions
continued to be of service to the Jews long after the arrival of Saul and
Barnabas with the alms which they had brought from Antioch for their
suffering brethren.
It is clear that they arrived shortly before the Passover, or towards the
end of March ;
for St. Luke fixes their visit about the time of Herod's persecution,
which began just before, and would, but for God's Providence, have
been consummated just after, that great feast. Indeed, it was apriori probable
that the Apostles would time their visit by the feast, both from a natural
desire to be present at these great annual celebrations, and also because that
was the very time at which the vast concourse of visitors would render their
aid most timely and indispensable.
They arrived, therefore, at a period of extreme peril to the little Church at
Jerusalem, which had now enjoyed some five years of unbroken peace. 2
Herod Agrippa I., of whom we have already had some glimpses, was one
of those singular characters who combine external devotion with moral laxity.
I have elsewhere told the strange story of the part which on one memorable day
he played in Roman history, 3 and how his supple address and determination
saved Rome from a revolution, and placed the uncouth Claudius on his
nephew's throne. Claudius, who with all his pedantic and uxorious eccentricity
was not devoid either of kindness or rectitude, was not slow to recognise that
he owed to the Jewish prince both his life and his empire. It was probably
due, in part at least, to the influence of Agrippa that shortly after his accession
he abolished the law of "Impiety" on which Gaius had so vehemently
insisted, 4 and which attached the severest
imperial
penalties to any neglect of the
cult. But the further extension of the power of Agrippa was
fraught with disastrous consequences to the Church of Christ. For the Jews
were restored to the fullest privileges which they had ever enjoyed, and
Agrippa set sail for Palestine in the flood-tide of imperial favour and with
'the splendid additions of Judaea and Samaria, Abilene, and the district
of Lebanon 6 to Herod Philip's tetrarchy of Trachonitis, which he had
received at the accession of Gains. 6
It is natural that a prince of Asmonaean blood, 7 who thus found himself in
1 Oros. vii. 6 ; Jos. Antt. xx. 2, 5. Helena is also said to have given to the Temple
a golden candlestick, and a golden tablet inscribed with the " "
trial of jealousy { Yoma,
37 a).
2
Caligula's order to place his statue in the Temple was given in A.D. 39. Herod
Agrippa died in A.D. 44.
3 Se6kers *
after God, p. 76.
Dion. be. 3, 5,
* Jos. Antt. xix. 5, 2, 3. Id. xviii. 5, 4.
7
Agrippa I. was the grandson of Herod the Great and Mariamne. Mariamne was the
granddaughter of Hyrcanus II., who was a grandson of Hyrcanus I., who was a son of
Simon, the elder brother of Judas Maccabseus. Some of the Rabbis were, however,
anxious to deny any drop of Asmonaean blood to the Herodian family. They relate that
Herod the Great had been a slave to one of the Asmonseans, and one day heard a Bath
Kol
"
saying, Every slave that now rebels will succeed." Accordingly, he murdered all
the family, except one young maiden, whom he reserved for marriage. But she mounted
to the root, cried out that " anyjme who asserted himself to be of the Asmonsean Louso