For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.
References
- Acts 24:24
- Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, xx.7.2.
- NT Character Podcast on Felix
Birth
- Born in Rome (?) 38 AD
- The youngest of three daughters of Herod Agrippa I (grandson of Herod the Great), who had killed the apostle James (Acts 12).
- She was apparently quite beautiful.
Marriage
- Married as a teenager.
- Accepted an invitation to leave her lawful husband to marry Felix. Felix engaged the services of a Jewish Cypriot magician (similar to the sorcerer of Acts 13?) to persuade her to leave her husband.
- Thus she ignored the clear teaching of Judaism on marriage.
- Felix and Drusilla had a son, Marcus Antonius Agrippa, as well as a daughter, Antonia Clementiana.
Death
- Died 24 August 79 in Pompeii, with the famous eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
- Two famous people died in the eruption: Drusilla and Pliny the elder. (He was a personal friend of the emperor Vespasian)--who died trying to rescue a friend.
Lessons
- Cultivate character, not only the outward self.
- Remain faithful to your spouse.
- Judgment will eventually overtake us all.
