The Lord Slays Herod by Disease

Acts 12:20-23; Herod Agrippa I, king in Jerusalem and Judea, died by the Lord's hand as surely as though a destroying angel had slain him with the sword of vengeance. Though such expressions as "destroying angel" and "sword of vengeance" may be figurative, they are intended to convey the reality that the Lord's hand is involved in what takes place and that he is using his powers to bring to pass his ends. Deity, for instance, slew the firstborn in all the houses of Egypt (Exodus 12:23, 29), and this is figuratively spoken of as having been done by "the destroying angel." (D&C 89:21.)

Acts 12:20-23; Though in this instance Herod may have been smitten by an angel in the literal sense, it is more probable to suppose that the angelic smitting is a figure of speech meaning that the Lord caused disease to destroy, in a dramatic and awesome way, the mortal body of one who had already slain James and who had chosen to make God his enemy. In any event the Lord does use diseases and other temporal disturbances and afflictions to carry out his purposes—the temporal destructions that occur being symbolical of the eternal spiritual disease and death which the wicked also inherit.

Acts 12:20-23; "Disease comes both because of failure to obey the laws of health and because of failure to keep the other commandments of God. Righteous persons frequently become ill and suffer bodily afflictions simply because they have been exposed to disease, and the contaminating germs have power over their bodies. Sometimes by faith the righteous escape plagues that are sweeping the land; and often, having become sick, the gift of healing restores the obedient to full physical well-being.

Acts 12:20-23; "But when the Lord's people rebel, he sends diseases upon them. To disobedient Israel came this curse: 'The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart.... The Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee. Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.' (Deuteronomy 28:27-28, 59-61; Mosiah 17:16; Alma 15:3-5.) On the other hand, the promise was that by obedience all this would be avoided. (Exodus 15:26; Deuteronomy 7:15, 28.)" (Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed., p. 199.)