If I may be so bold, and make Charles Wilson proud, might I offer an alternative suggestion.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 wrote:
1 Now concerning the [royal] coming of our Lord Jesus Christ [this might be an expectation that deposed king Antipas, in exile, would triumph and be appointed king in place of Agrippa I] and our assembling to meet him, we beg you, brethren,
2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord [Herod Agrippa] has come.
3 Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the [expected] rebellion [of Agrippa I, see Ant 19:326-327, & 338-341] comes first, and the man of lawlessness [Agrippa I] is revealed [i.e., exposed for what he is], the son of perdition,
4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship [in his lavish building programs], so that he takes his seat in the temple of God [see Jos. Ant. 19:331-332, where he is said to delight in living full time in Jerusalem and quick to disarm criticism of his legitimacy, and if so this would have to be symbolic, not factual], proclaiming himself to be God [an allusion to his glittering outfit and the accepting the flatteries of his gentile subjects, see Ant. 19:344-346a].
5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you this?
6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it [Claudius, who suspected that Agrippa was planning revolt, see above] will do so until he [Claudius] is out of the way.
8 And then the lawless one [i.e., Agrippa I] will be revealed [as a rebel], and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming.
9 The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, [witness Agrippa's extreme luck in escaping imprisonment as a debtor to the emperor, or being released by Gaius from the prison that Tiberius had condemned him to upon Tiberius' death, and made a king to boot!]
10 and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth [that Agrippa I was bad, very baaaad] and so be saved.
11 Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false,
12 so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in [Agrippa's] unrighteousness.
This would suggest that Paul was a former retainer of Herod Antipas, and this would date the episode the between 41 & 44 CE, probably closer to the latter date. Josephus has Agrippa's glittering clothes debacle where he didn't give glory to God, occurring almost immediately before he died, but there could have been a delay of some months in reality. The moral to be learned is far far far far more important than any fact, as any apologist knows.
In reality I do not put a lot of credibility in such a reconstruction, but only offer it as an example of what pretty much anyone can do with almost nothing here on this message board.
Amen
Ohh, look, he even has footnotes!
Ant 18: wrote:155 So he [Agrippa] was reduced to the utmost necessity, and came to Ptolemais; and, because he knew not where else to get a livelihood, he thought to sail to Italy; but as he was restrained from so doing by lack of money, he desired Marsyas, who was his freedman, to find some method for procuring him so much as he wanted for that purpose, by borrowing such a sum of some person or other.
156 So Marsyas desired of Peter, who was the freedman of Bernice, Agrippa's mother, and by the right of her will was bequeathed to Antonia, to lend so much upon Agrippa's own bond and security;
157 but he accused Agrippa of having defrauded him of certain sums of money, and so obliged Marsyas, when he made the bond of twenty thousand Attic drachmas, to accept twenty-five hundred drachma as less than what he desired, which the agreed to, because he could not prevent it.
158 Upon the receipt of this money, Agrippa came to Anthedon, and took shipping, and was going to set sail; but Herennius Capito, who was the procurator of Jamnia, sent a band of soldiers to demand of him three hundred thousand drachmas of silver, which were by him owing to Caesar's treasury while he was at Rome, and so forced him to stay. 159 He then pretended that he would do as he bade him; but when night came on, he cut his cables, and went off, and sailed to Alexandria
Ant 19: wrote: 236 Now, as soon as Gaius was come to Rome, and had brought Tiberius' dead body with him, and had made a sumptuous funeral for him, according to the laws of his country, he was much disposed to set Agrippa [who, still a private citizen, was in jail because he had too freely expressed his desire that Tiberius would soon die and Gaius would then be emperor] at liberty that very day; but Antonia hindered him, not out of any ill will to the prisoner, but out of regard to decency in Gaius, lest that should make men believe that he received the death of Tiberius with pleasure, when he loosed one whom he had bound immediately.
237 However, there did not many days pass ere he sent for him to his house, and had him shaved, and made him change his raiment; after which he put a diadem upon his head, and appointed him to be king of the tetrarchy of Philip. He also gave him the tetrarchy of Lysanias, ...
238 Now, in the second year of the reign of Gaius Caesar, Agrippa desired permission to sail home, and settle the affairs of his government; and he promised to return again, when he had put the rest in order, as it ought to be put.
239 So, upon the emperor's permission, he came into his own country, and appeared to them all unexpectedly as a king, and thereby demonstrated to the men that saw him the power of fortune, when they compared his former poverty with his present happy affluence; so some called him a happy man; and others could not well believe that things were so much changed with him for the better.
...
326 As for the walls of Jerusalem that were adjoining to the New City [Bezetha], he [Agrippa I] repaired them at the expense of the public, and built them wider in breadth, and higher in height; and he had [almost] made them too strong for all human power to demolish, unless Marcus, the then governor of Syria, had by letter informed Claudius Caesar of what he was doing. 327 And when Claudius had some suspicion of attempts for sedition, he sent to Agrippa to stop the building of those walls presently. So he obeyed, as not thinking it proper to oppose Claudius.
...
331 Accordingly, he loved to live continually at Jerusalem, and was exactly careful in the observance of the laws of his country. He therefore kept himself entirely pure; nor did any day pass over his head without its appointed sacrifice.
332 However, there was a certain man of the Jewish nation at Jerusalem, who appeared to be very accurate in the knowledge of the law. His name was Simon. This man got together an assembly, while the king was absent at Caesarea, and had the insolence to accuse him of being unclean, and that he might justly be excluded out of the temple, since it belonged only to native Jews. ... 333 So the king [Agrippa I] sent for him; and, as he was sitting in the theatre, he bade him sit down by him, and said to him with a low and gentle voice, "What is there done in this place that is contrary to the law?'' 334 But he had nothing to say for himself, but begged his pardon.
So the king was more easily reconciled to him than one could have imagined, as esteeming mildness a better quality in a king than anger, and knowing that moderation is more becoming in great men than passion. So he made Simon a small present, and dismissed him.
...
338 ... Now, he was in great esteem among other kings. Accordingly there came to him Antiochus, king of Commagene, Sampsigeramus, king of Emesa, and Cotys, who was king of the Lesser Armenia, and Polemo, who was king of Pontus, as also Herod his brother, who was king of Chalcis.
339 All these he treated with agreeable entertainments, and after an obliging manner, and so as to exhibit the greatness of his mind, and so as to appear worthy of those respects which the kings paid to him, by coming thus to see him. 340 However, while these kings stayed with him, Marcus, the governor of Syria, came there.
So the king, in order to preserve the respect that was due to the Romans, went out of the city to meet him, as far as a mile. 341 But this proved to be the beginning of a difference between him and Marcus; for he took with him in his chariot those other kings as his companions.
But Marcus had a suspicion what the meaning could be of so great a friendship of these kings one with another, and did not think so close an agreement of so many potentates to be for the interest of the Romans. He therefore sent some of his domestics to everyone of them, and enjoined them to go their ways home without further delay.
...
343 Now when Agrippa had reigned three years over all Judea, he came to the city of Caesarea, which was formerly called Strato's Tower; and there he held shows in honour of Caesar, upon his being informed that there was a certain festival celebrated to make vows for his safety.
At which festival a great multitude was gotten together of the principal persons, and such as were of dignity through his province.
344 On the second day of these shows he put on a garment made wholly of silver, and of a texture truly wonderful, and came into the theatre early in the morning; at which time the silver of his garment being illuminated by the fresh reflection of the sun's rays upon it, shone out after a surprising manner, and was so resplendent as to spread a horror over those who looked intently upon him: 345 and presently his flatterers cried out, one from one place, and another from another, (though not for his good) that he was a god; and they added, "Be merciful to us; for although we have hereto reverenced you only as a man, yet shall we henceforth own you as superior to mortal nature.'' 346a Upon this the king did neither rebuke them, nor reject their impious flattery. ... 348 When he said this, his pain was become violent. Accordingly, he was carried into the palace [in Caesarea? or Jerusalem?]; and the rumour went abroad everywhere that he would certainly die in a short time.
348b But the multitude presently sat in sackcloth, 349a with their wives and children, after the law of their country, and besought God for the king's recovery. All places were also full of mourning and lamentation. 349b Now, the king rested in a high chamber, and as he saw them below lying prostrate on the ground, he could not himself forbear weeping.
350 And when he had been quite worn out by the pain in his belly for five days, he departed this life, being in the fifty-fourth year of his age, and in the seventh year of his reign; 351 for he reigned four years [37 CE - 41 CE] under Gaius Caesar, three of them [37 CE - 40 CE] were over Philip's tetrarchy only, and, on the fourth [ca. 40 CE], he had that of Herod [Antipas, who had ruled Galilee & Perea, after Antipas was deposed by Gaius] added to it; and he reigned, besides those, three years [ca 41 CE - his death in 44 CE] under the reign of Claudius Caesar: in which time [starting at the beginning of Claudius' reign, 41 CE] he reigned over the before mentioned countries, and also had Judea added to them, as well as Samaria and Caesarea [that is, all of the realms formerly ruled by Herod the Great]
Acts 12:19 wrote:19 ... Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and remained there. 20 Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; and they came to him in a body [while at Caesarea], and having persuaded Blastus, the king's chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king's country for food. 21 On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and made an oration to them. 22 And the people shouted, "The voice of a god, and not of man!" 23 Immediately an angel of the Lord smote him, because he did not give God the glory; and he was eaten by worms and died.
The story of how Agrippa I was eaten from inside after he failed to "give the glory [heaped upon him by the flatterers] to God" is told differently by Josephus and by the author of Acts.
DCH