Agabus (Greek: Ἄγαβος) or Agabo was an early follower of Christianity mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as a prophet. He is traditionally remembered as one of the Seventy Disciples described in Luke 10:1-24.

Biblical and other traditional accounts:

According to extra-biblical tradition, Agabus appears to have been a resident of Jerusalem. He is said to have been one of the seventy disciples, mentioned in the Gospel of Luke, commissioned to preach the gospel.^[1]David Miall Edwards, in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia entry: Agabus http://biblehub.com/topical/a/agabus.htm accessed 24 September 2015 It is said that Agabus was with the twelve apostles in the upper room on the day of Pentecost.^[2]“The Martyrdom of St. Agabus, One of the Seventy Disciples”, Coptic Orthodox Church Network

According to Acts 11:27-28, he was one of a group of prophets who travelled from Jerusalem to Antioch. Agabus had received the gift of prophecy, and predicted a severe famine which the author of Acts says occurred during the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius.^[3]Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1907). “Agabus“. Catholic Encyclopedia. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

Also, according to Acts 21:10-12, ‘a certain prophet’, (Greek: τις) named Agabus met Paul the Apostle at Caesarea Maritima in 58 AD. He was, according to the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary, ‘no doubt the same’ Agabus as had been mentioned in Acts 11:27-28,^[4]Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary on Acts 21 http://biblehub.com/commentaries/jfb/acts/21.htm accessed 15 October 2015 and Heinrich Meyer stated that ‘there is no reason against the assumed identity of this person with the one mentioned in Acts 11:28.^[5]Meyer’s NT Commentary on Acts 21 http://biblehub.com/commentaries/meyer/acts/21.htm accessed 15 October 2015 Agabus warned Paul of his coming capture; he bound his own hands and feet with Paul’s belt to demonstrate what would happen if he continued his journey to Jerusalem, stating the message of the Holy Spirit:

“So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles”.

Paul, however, would not be persuaded to stay away.^[6]Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1907). “Agabus“. Catholic Encyclopedia. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

Agabus’ symbolic action has been compared^[7]Expositor’s Greek Testament on Acts 21 http://biblehub.com/commentaries/egt/acts/21.htm accessed 15 October 2015 with the Jewish prophet Jeremiah:

Thus the LORD said to me, “Go and buy yourself a linen waistband and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.” So I bought the waistband in accordance with the word of the LORD and put it around my waist … For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the LORD, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honor.^[8]Jeremiah 13:1-2;11

Tradition says that Agabas went to many countries, teaching and converting many. This moved the Jews of Jerusalem to arrest him, and they tortured him by beating him severely, and putting a rope around his neck. He was dragged outside the city and stoned to death.^[9]“The Martyrdom of St. Agabus, One of the Seventy Disciples”, Coptic Orthodox Church Network Maas says he was martyred at Antioch.^[10]Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1907). “Agabus“. Catholic Encyclopedia. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

Place of Birth: Antioch, Turkey

Place of Died: Antioch, Turkey

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia:^[11]D. Miall Edwards http://www.biblestudytools.com/encyclopedias/isbe/agabus.html

ag’-a-bus (Agabos): A Christian prophet of Jerusalem, twice mentioned in Acts.

(1) In Acts 11:27, 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 A.D., 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.

(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.

(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 A.D. (Ant., XX, ii, 6; v, 2), which probably reached its climax circa 46 A.D.

(2) In Acts 21:10 we find Agabus at Caesarea warning Paul, by a vivid symbolic action (after the manner of Old Testament prophets; compare Jeremiah 13:1;Ezekiel 3; Ezekiel 4) of the imprisonment and suffering he would undergo if he proceeded to Jerusalem.

(3) In late tradition Agabus is included in lists of the seventy disciples of Christ.

MATTHEW HENRY’S CONCISE COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLE

Paul at Cesarea. The prophecy of Agabus, Paul at Jerusalem.^[13]https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/Matthew-Henry/Acts/Paul-Cesarea-Prophecy-Agabus

Paul had express warning of his troubles, that when they came, they might be no surprise or terror to him. The general notice given us, that through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God, should be of the same use to us. Their weeping began to weaken and slacken his resolution Has not our Master told us to take up our cross? It was a trouble to him, that they should so earnestly press him to do that in which he could not gratify them without wronging his conscience.

When we see trouble coming, it becomes us to say, not only, The will of the Lord must be done, and there is no remedy; but, Let the will of the Lord be done; for his will is his wisdom, and he doeth all according to the counsel of it. When a trouble is come, this must allay our griefs, that the will of the Lord is done; when we see it coming, this must silence our fears, that the will of the Lord shall be done; and we ought to say, Amen, let it be done. It is honourable to be an old disciple of

Jesus Christ, to have been enabled by the grace of God to continue long in a course of duty, stedfast in the faith, growing more and more experienced, to a good old age. And with these old disciples one would choose to lodge; for the multitude of their years shall teach wisdom. Many brethren at Jerusalem received Paul gladly. We think, perhaps, that if we had him among us, we should gladly receive him; but we should not, if, having his doctrine, we do not gladly receive that.

(Ac 21:19-26)