Bible Dictionary
Agabus
Agabus was a Christian prophet who foretold a widespread famine during Claudius’s reign and later warned Paul of imprisonment and suffering in Jerusalem.
Definition
Agabus was a Christian prophet in the apostolic age. He foretold a great famine and later warned Paul through a symbolic action about imprisonment and suffering in Jerusalem.
Biblical Usage
At Antioch, Agabus predicted a famine during the reign of Claudius, prompting the Christians to send relief to believers in Judea. At Caesarea, he warned Paul of the bonds and affliction awaiting him if he went to Jerusalem.
Historical Background
The famine prediction is associated with severe regional famines during Claudius’s reign and a great dearth in Judea during the procurators Cuspius Fadus and Tiberius Alexander. Later tradition included Agabus among the seventy disciples.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
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).
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(a locust), a Christian prophet in the apostolic age, mentioned in (Acts 11:28) and Acts 21:10 He predicted, (Acts 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 (Acts 21:10) we learn that Agabus and Paul met at Caesarea some time after this.)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>ag'-a-bus (Agabos): A Christian prophet of Jerusalem, twice mentioned in Acts.</p><p>(1) In Ac 11:27 f, we find him at Antioch foretelling "a great famine over all the world," "which," adds the historian, "came to pass in the days of Claudius." This visit of Agabus to Antioch took place in the winter of 43-44 AD, and was the means of urging the Antiochian Christians to send relief to the brethren in Judea by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. Two points should be noted.</p><p>(a) The gift of prophet's here takes the form of prediction. The prophet's chief function was to reveal moral and spiritual truth, to "forth-tell" rather than to "foretell"; but the interpretation of God's message sometimes took the form of predicting events.</p><p>(b) The phrase "over all the world" (practically synonymous with the Roman Empire) must be regarded as a rhetorical exaggeration if strictly interpreted as pointing to a general and simultaneous famine. But there is ample evidence of severe periodical famines in various localities in the reign of Claudius (eg. Suet Claud. 18; Tac. Ann. xii.43), and of a great dearth in Judea under the procurators Cuspius Fadus and Tiberius Alexander, 44-48 AD (Ant., XX, ii, 6; v, 2), which probably reached its climax circa 46 AD.</p><p>(2) In Ac 21:10 f we find Agabus at Caesarea warning Paul, by a vivid symbolic action (after the manner of Old Testament prophets; compare Jer 13:1 ff; Eze 3; 4) of the imprisonment and suffering he would undergo if he proceeded to Jerusalem.</p><p>(3) In late tradition Agabus is included in lists of the seventy disciples of Christ.</p><p>D. Miall Edwards</p>