<p>12:6 <em>And when Herod was about to bring him out, that same night</em>- This reflects how the Jewish day began at sunset. That night was the day in which Herod intended to 'bring him out' to death. In this kind of careful congruence we see evidence of inspiration and every verisimilitude. The language of 'bringing him out' naturally recalls the trial of the Lord Jesus before His death.</p><p><em>Peter was sleeping</em>- A great essay in faith and the peace which comes from it. For it seemed obvious that that night would be his last, and death awaited him in the morning.</p><p><em>Between two soldiers</em>- Recalling the Lord's death between two thieves.</p><p><em>Bound with two chains</em>- The record gives much detail about Peter's binding and guarding by the soldiers. We learn there were four squads of four soldiers guarding him (:4), there is the apparently unnecessary repetition of the fact he was guarded (:5), and now we learn that he slept with a separate chain connecting him to a separate soldier. All that was humanly possible had been done, to ensure there was no escape. All this sets the scene for the amazing deliverance wrought by the Lord that night. Significantly, the Lord overruled it that Paul was later likewise bound with two chains (Acts 21:33); encouraging Paul to see his ministry as parallel to that of Peter. However, as I have elsewhere suggested, Paul seems to have pretended to Peter's ministry to the Jews, rather than accepting that his ministry was to be parallel to Peter's, but not identical with it. See on 12:7 <em>And an angel of the Lord stood by him</em>. It's also noteworthy that Peter later chose to describe the essence of condemnation as being in chains, in darkness, awaiting judgment (2 Pet. 2:4). He surely wrote that with recollection of how he had been left in exactly the same position that night in prison- and been saved out of it.</p><p><em>And guards before the door were guarding the prison</em>- Another example of apparently excessive detail about the guarding. See on <em>Bound with two chains</em>. It also recalls the guards guarding the Lord's tomb. This is the second time in Acts that the &quot;guards before the door&quot; have been rendered powerless (Acts 5:23 uses the same Greek words).</p>