agabus Summary and Overview

a "prophet," probably one of the seventy disciples of Christ. He prophesied at Antioch of an approaching famine (Acts 11:27, 28). Many years afterwards he met Paul at Caesarea, and warned him of the bonds and affliction that awaited him at Jerusalem should he persist in going thither (Acts 21:10-12).

(a locust), a Christian prophet in the apostolic age, mentioned in #Ac 11:28| and Acts 21:10 He predicted, #Ac 11:28| that a famine would take place in the reign of Claudius. Josephus mentions a famine which prevailed in Judea in the reign of Claudius, and swept away many of the inhabitants. (In #Ac 21:10| we learn that Agabus and Paul met at Caesarea some time after this.)

AG'ABUS (possibly locust), a prophet who foretold in Antioch while Paul and Barnabas were there, A. D. 43. Acts 11:28. A famine took place the following year. It was probably limited to Judaea, where it was severe. The poor Jews were relieved by Helena, the queen of Adiabene, who bought corn for them out of Alexandria. Aid was sent to the Christians in Jerusalem from Antioch. Acts 11:29. Many years after, Agabus met Paul at Cesarea, and warned him of the sufferings he would endure if he went to Jerusalem. Acts 21:10.

(from Hebrew agab, "he loved".) A Christian prophet (Acts 9:28; Acts 21:10). He came from Judaea to Antioch while Paul and Barnabas were there, and foretold the famine which occurred the next year in Israel (for a Jew would mean the Jewish world, by "throughout all the world.".) Josephus records that Helena, queen of Adiabene, a proselyte then at Jerusalem, imported provisions from Egypt and Cyprus, wherewith she saved many from starvation. The famine was in the procuratorship of Cuspius Fadus and Tiberius Alexander, A.D. 44, and lasted four years. In the wider sense of "the world," as the prophecy fixes on no year, but "in the days of Claudius Caesar," it may include other famines elsewhere in his reign, one in Greece, two in Rome.