A prophet of the early church, perhaps one of "the seventy" disciples of Christ. He foretold the famine, of which Suetonious and others speak, in the days of Claudius, A. D. 44. It was very severe in Judea; and aid was sent to the church at Jerusalem from Antioch, Ac 11:27. Many years after, Agabus predicted the sufferings of Paul at the hands of the Jews, Ac 21:10.

a "prophet," probably one of the seventy disciples of Christ. He prophesied at Antioch of an approaching famine (Ac 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 (Ac 21:10-12).

(from Hebrew agab, "he loved".) A Christian prophet (Ac 9:28; 21:10). He came from Judaea to Antioch while Paul and Barnabas were there, and foretold the famine which occurred the next year in Palestine (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.

A Christian prophet of Jerusalem (Ac 11:27 ff; Ac 21:10 f.), whose prediction of a famine over the (civilized) world occasioned the sending of alms from Antioch to Jerusalem. The famine happened, not simultaneously in all countries, in Claudius' reign (Suetonius, Tacitus). Agabus also foretold St. Paul's imprisonment, by binding his feet and hands with the Apostle's girdle (cf. Jer 13:1 ff.).

A. J. Maclean.

Ag'abus

A prophet who came from Jerusalem to Antioch, and foretold a famine "throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar." Ac 11:28. He also foretold that Paul would be bound at Jerusalem and delivered to the Gentiles; which also came to pass. Ac 21:10. In the former passage it is said that Agabus "signified by the Spirit" that there should be great dearth; and in the latter he said, "Thus saith the Holy Ghost," plainly showing that the prophetic spirit in man was under the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit, who now dwells in the Christian, to explain to him what was given to the prophets.

Ag'abus

(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.)

AGABUS, a prophet, and as the Greeks say, one of the seventy disciples of our Saviour. He foretold that there would be a great famine over all the earth; which came to pass accordingly, under the emperor Claudius, in the fourth year of his reign, A.D. 44, Ac 11:28.

Ten years after this, as St. Paul was going to Jerusalem, and had already landed at Caesarea, in Palestine, the same prophet, Agabus, arrived there, and coming to visit St. Paul and his company, he took this Apostle's girdle, and binding himself hand and feet, he said, "Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles," Ac 21:10. We know no other particulars of the life of Agabus. The Greeks say that he suffered martyrdom at Antioch.