Welcome and thank you for taking a bible break to test your knowledge of God's word. This week's question:

Oh those Herod's, starting with king Herod the Great who was asked by the magi from the east, "Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east, and have come to worship Him. And when Herod the king heard it, he was troubled , and all of Jerusalem with him." (Matthew 2:2-3). He asked the magi to tell him when they found the Child, but they were warned by God in a dream to go another way. When he realized he had been tricked by them, he had all the male children in Bethlehem and its area two years and younger killed. Thus fulfilling prophecy and the Child then came up out of Egypt (Matthew 2:12-21). When Jesus was teaching, He was warned by some Pharisees to leave Israel because Herod wanted to kill Him, and Jesus replied, "Go and tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I reach My goal.'" (Luke 13:32).

That brings us to our question. "Who forgot to let Peter in when he knocked?". King Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, wanted to mistreat some of the church members and had the apostle James, brother of John, put to death with a sword (Acts 12:1-2). When king Agrippa saw that this pleased the Jews, he had Peter arrested during the feast of Unleavened Bread, and he intended to bring Peter before the people after the feast. The Christians were greatly troubled at the sudden death of one of the apostles. Then the imprisonment of Peter and being chained between two guards and guarded by four squads of soldiers (Acts 12:1-4).

Fervent prayers were offered up by the church for Peter and on that very night that Peter was to be brought out, an angel of the Lord appeared and he struck Peter in the side and said to him, "'Get up quickly'. And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, 'Gird yourself and put on your sandals.' And he did so. And he said to him, 'Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.' And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision." (Acts 12:8-9).

They passed the guards and came to an iron gate that opened itself As they came to a street, the angel of the Lord was gone immediately. Peter then recognized this was not a vision and that he was rescued from king Herod and all that the people were expecting to be done to him that very morning (Acts 12:10-11).

"And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and praying. And when he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. And when she recognized Peter's voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the gate. And they said to her, 'You are out of your mind!' But she kept insisting that it was so. And they kept saying, 'It is his angel.' But Peter continued knocking and when thy opened the door, they saw him and were amazed." (Acts 12:12-16).

So there we have the answer to our question, as the one who did not open the door for Peter was a servant girl named Rhoda! Needless to say, king Herod was not very happy to see that Peter somehow escaped so great a number of guards, chains, and a locked iron gate! So he had the guards put to death after questioning them with no satisfaction as to what happened to their prisoner. Then later king Herod was struck by an angel of the Lord for not giving glory to God and was eaten of worms (Acts 12:18-24).

May we show as much joy of the Lord and His word each day as we continue nearer our final rest!