Manaen and Herod - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2026

In the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius (and) Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch.
Acts 13:1.

Manaen and Herod
Two names, the first one unknown, the second well known in history. These two men had grown up together. In today's verse God acquaints us with these two persons. Manaen was a teacher in the early Christian company in Antioch. He had received Jesus Christ as his Saviour and Lord and learned to love and serve Him. He was thus very useful for the early Christians.

Herod, on the other hand, had known the Son of God personally. Jesus Christ was brought before him as a prisoner before His crucifixion. We read this in the gospel of Luke: "Herod, with his men of war, treated him with contempt and mocked him, arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him back to Pilate" (Luk. 23:11).

It was not the soldiers who were the motive power, but Herod himself. His thirst for a sensation was not quenched, since Jesus did not perform a miracle, as he had hoped: So he treated Him meanly and let Him feel it.

What value do we today place on the Son of God? Do we resemble Manaen or Herod? One was a blessing for the people of God; the other despised the One whom God sent to be our Saviour.

Like the people of Israel, we today have to make our choice:

"I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that you may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Today's reading: Genesis 44:1-17 · Psalms 31:10-17