XX. KING AGRIPPA SALUTES FESTUS

Acts 25:13.—“And after certain days King Agrippa and Bernice came unto Cæsarea to salute Festus.”

This Agrippa (Agrippa Minor) had succeeded, by permission of Claudius, to the territories of his uncle Herod; at least, Trachonitis, Batanæa, and Abilene, were confirmed to him. From this passage in the Acts it appears, as might be expected, that he was anxious to be well with the Roman Government, and accordingly that he lost no time in paying his respects to Festus, the new representative of that government in Judæa. It is a singular and minute coincidence well worth our notice, that Josephus records instances of this same Agrippa’s obsequiousness to Roman authorities, of precisely the same kind. “About this time,” says he, “King Agrippa went to Alexandria, to salute Alexander, who had been sent by Nero to govern Egypt.”—Bell. Jud. ii. 15. § 1.

And again (what is yet more to our purpose) we read on another occasion, that Bernice accompanied Agrippa in one of these visits of ceremony; for having appointed Varus to take care of their kingdom in their absence, “they went to Berytus with the intention of meeting Gessius (Florus), the Roman governor of Judæa.”—Josephus’s Life, § 11.

This is a case singularly parallel to that in the Acts: for Gessius Florus held the very same office, in the same country, as Felix.