Why was there a dispute with the people of Tyre and Sidon?
Acts 12:20 (ESV)
20Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food.
The cities of Tyre and Sidon were two free cities on the Phoenician (modern Lebanon) coast. They had done something to make Herod angry so that he prohibited/limited food shipments to their cities.1 They relied on Israel’s grain harvests for their food supplies.2
20 Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food.