Blastus

Blastus (meaning: that buds or brings forth) was the personal chamberlain of King Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great who ruled Judea from AD 41-44 and is mentioned in Acts 12 as the king who executed James the apostle and imprisoned Peter. Blastus appears in Acts 12:20 in the account of the delegation from Tyre and Sidon who sought a peaceful resolution to Herod's anger toward their cities, for which they depended on Herod's territory for their food supply.

The Tyrians and Sidonians, having made Blastus their ally—presumably through bribery or personal persuasion—used his influence to secure an audience with Herod and petition for peace. The subsequent account records that when Herod addressed the assembled crowd in his royal robes, the people shouted that it was the voice of a god and not of a man, and immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down because he did not give God the glory. He was eaten by worms and died. Blastus is significant only as the intermediary through whom the coastal cities gained access to the king, but his position as the chamberlain—the gatekeeper of royal access—gave him considerable informal influence in the Herodian court.