Difficult Passages On Death

There are a few deaths and an incident of blindness in the historical book of Acts that most believers have credited to God.

Ananias and Sapphira - Death (Acts 5)

Elymas - Blindness (Acts 13)

Herod - Death (Acts 12)

I think we shouldn't avoid the difficult passages, but rather, go deeper with them. Out of these three passages, only Herod's one is more challenging, because Luke attributed it to God; whereas the other two passages were NOT attributed to God. Nowhere in Acts 5 and Acts 13 said that God did it or approved it. It was simply men who used the authority and the power they had been given to do it.

A policeman represents the local government. He has been given authority (police badge) and power (weapon). He can use them whether the government approves his action or not.

Next, we come to Herod.

And immediately, because he had not given the glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. - Acts 12:23

This is pretty difficult, and it's one that I'm still learning.

According to Josephus, the Jewish historian, who wrote an account of Herod's death in Antiquities 19.8.2 343-361, he said, 

"But he shortly afterward looked up and saw an owl sitting on a certain rope over his head, and immediately understood that this bird was the messenger of ill tidings, just as it had once been the messenger of good tidings to him; and fell into the deepest sorrow. A severe pain arose in his belly, striking with a most violent intensity. He therefore looked upon his friends, and said, "I, whom you call a god, am commanded presently to depart this life; while Providence thus reproves the lying words you just now said to me; and I, who was by you called immortal, am immediately to be hurried away by death. But I am bound to accept what Providence allots, as it pleases God; for we have by no means lived ill, but in a splendid and happy manner." When he had said this, his pain became violent. Accordingly he was carried into the palace, and the rumor went abroad everywhere that he would certainly die soon."

While this seems to give us more clue that God isn't the one who brought the death, it doesn't give us an explicit understanding either.

If you happen to have more resources, please share with us.