JAMES BOANERGES;
THE SON OF ZEBEDEE.
HIS RANK AND CHARACTER.
Whatever may have been the peculiar excellences of this apostle’s character, as recognized by the searching eye of Him who knew the hearts of all men, the early close of his high career has prevented the full development of energies, that might, in the course of a longer life, have been made as fruitful in works of wonder and praise, as those of the other members of the elect TRIO, his friend and his younger brother; and his later years, thus prolonged, might have left similar recorded testimonies of his apostolic zeal. Much too, that truly concerns his brief life, is swallowed up in the long narrative of the eminent chief of the twelve, whose superiority was on all occasions so distinctly marked by Jesus, that he never imparted to this apostle any exalted favor in which Peter did not also share, and in the record of which his name is not mentioned first. In the first call,——in the raising of the daughter of Jairus to life,——at the transfiguration,——and on the apostolic roll,——James is uniformly placed after Peter; and such too, was the superior activity and talkative disposition of Peter, that whenever and wherever there was anything to be said, he was always the first to say it,——cutting off the sons of Zebedee from the opportunity, if they had the disposition, to make themselves more prominent. Yet the sons of Zebedee are not entirely unnoticed in the apostolic history, and even the early-martyred James may be said to have a character quite decidedly marked, in those few passages in the sacred record, where facts concerning him are commemorated. In the apostolic list given by Mark, it is moreover mentioned, that he with his brother had received a name from Jesus Christ, which being given to them by him, doubtless with a decided reference to their characters, serves as a valuable means of ascertaining their leading traits. The name of “Boanerges,”——“sons of thunder,” seems to imply a degree of decided boldness, and a fiery energy, not exactly accordant with the usual opinions of the characters of the sons of Zebedee; but it is an expression in the most perfect harmony with the few details of the conduct of both, which are given in the New Testament.
Boanerges.——This word is one, whose composition and derivation, (as is the case with many other New Testament proper names,) have caused great discussion and difference of opinion among the learned. It occurs only in Mark iii. 17, where it is incidentally mentioned in the list of the apostles, as a new name given to the sons of Zebedee by Jesus. Those who are curious, can find all the discussion in any critical commentator on the passage. Poole’s Synopsis, in one heavy folio column and half of another, gives a complete view of all the facts and speculations concerning this matter, up to his time; the amount of all which, seems to be, that, as the word now stands, it very nearly sets all etymologies at defiance,——whether Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldee or Arabic,——since it is impossible to say how the word should be resolved into two parts, one of which should mean “sons,” and the other “thunder;” so that it is well for us we have Mark’s explanation of the name, since without it, the critics would probably have never found either “son” or “thunder” in the word. As to the reason of the name’s being appropriated to James and John, conjectures equally numerous and various may be found in the same learned work; but all equally unsatisfactory. Lampe also is very full on this point. (Prolegomena to a Johannine Theology cap. I. lib. ii. §§ 9–15.
HIS FAMILY AND CALL.
Of the first introduction of this apostle to Jesus, it may be reasonably conjectured, that he formed an acquaintance with him at the same time with his brother John and the sons of Jonah, as already commemorated in the former lives, from the brief record in the first chapter of John’s gospel. After this, he and his brother, as well as Peter and Andrew, returned quietly to their honest business of fishing on the lake of Gennesaret, on whose shore, no doubt, was their home,——perhaps too, in Bethsaida or Capernaum, as their intimacy and fellowship with the sons of Jonah would seem to imply a vicinity of residence; though their common occupation might bring them frequently together in circumstances where friendly assistance was mutually needed; and the idea of their residence in some other of the numerous villages along the northern end of the lake, on either side, is not inconsistent with any circumstance specified in their history. In their occupation of fishing, they were accompanied by their father Zebedee, who it seems, was not so far advanced in years as to be unable to aid his sons in this very laborious and dangerous business; which makes it quite apparent that James and John being the sons of so active a man, must themselves have but just attained manhood, at the time when they are first mentioned. Respecting the character of this brisk old gentleman, unfortunately very few data indeed are preserved; and the vagueness of the impression made by his name, though so often repeated in connection with his sons, may be best conceived by reference to that deeply enigmatical question, with which grave persons of mature age are sometimes wont to puzzle the inquisitive minds of young aspirants after Biblical knowledge, “Who was the father of Zebedee’s children?”——a query which certainly implies a great deficiency of important facts, on which the curious learner could found a definite idea of this somewhat distinguished character. Indeed “the mother of Zebedee’s children” seems to posses in the minds of most readers of the gospels a much more prominent place than “the father of them;” for the simple occasion on which she presents herself to notice, is of such a nature as to show that she was the parent from whom the sons inherited at least one prominent trait,——that of high, aspiring ambition, with which, in them as well as in her, was joined a most decidedly comfortable degree of self-esteem, that would not allow them to suspect that other people could be at all behind them in appreciating those talents, which in their own opinion, and their fond mother’s, showed that they were “born to command.” Indeed it appears manifest, that there was much more “thunder” in her composition, than in her husband’s, and it is but fair to suppose, from the decided way in which she put herself forward in the family affairs, on at least one important occasion, without any pretension whatever on his part, to any right of interference or decision, that she must have been in the habit of having her own way in most matters;——a peculiar prominence in the domestic administration, very naturally resulting from the ♦circumstance, that her husband’s frequent long absences from home must have left the responsibilities of the family often upon her alone, and he, like a prudent man, on his return, may have valued domestic quiet above the maintenance of any very decided supremacy. If the supposition may be adopted, however, that Zebedee died soon after the call of his sons, the silence of the sacred record respecting him is easily accounted for, and the above conclusion as to his domestic management, may be considered unnecessarily derogatory to his dignity of character.
Sprung from such parents, and brought up by them on the shores and waters of Gennesaret, James had learned the humble business of his father, and was quietly devoting himself to the labors of a fisherman, probably never dreaming of an occasion that should ever call forth his slumbering energies in “thunder,” or hold up before his awakened ambition, the honors of a name that should outlast the wreck of kingdoms, and of the brightest glories of that age. But on the morning, when the sons of Jonah received the high call and commission to become “fishers of men,” James and his brother too,——at the solemn command, “Follow me,”——laid down their nets, and left the low labors and amusements of the fishing, to their father, who toiled on with his servants, while his sons went forth through Galilee, following him who had called them to a far higher vocation. No acts whatever are commemorated, as performed by them in this first pilgrimage; and it was not until after their return from the north of Galilee, and the beginning of their journey to Jerusalem, that the occasion arose, when their striking family trait of ambition was most remarkably brought out.
HIS AMBITIOUS CLAIMS.
Their intellectual and moral qualities being of a comparatively high order, had already attracted the very favorable attention of Jesus, during the first journey though Galilee; and they had already, on at least two occasions, received most distinguishing marks of his regard,——they alone of all the twelve, sharing in the honor of being present with Peter at the raising of the daughter of Jairus, and being still more highly favored by the view of the solemn events of the night of the transfiguration, amid the thunders of Hermon. On that occasion, the terrors of the scene overcame even their aspiring souls; and when the cloud burst over them, they both sunk to the earth, in speechless dread, along with Peter, too, who had previously manifested so much greater self-command than they, in daring to address in complaisant words the awful forms before them; while they remained silent with terror at a phenomenon for which their views of their Master’s character had but poorly prepared them. From all these prostrating terrors they had since, however, fully recovered, and were now completely restored to their former confidence in themselves, and were still rooted in their old views of the Messiah’s earthly glories,——in this particular, however, only sharing the common error of the whole twelve. In this state of mind, looking upon Jesus Christ only as an ambitious man, of powerful mind, vast knowledge, divine consecration, and miraculous gifts, which fitted him for the subversion of the Roman dominion, and the erection of a kingdom of his own,——their thoughts were all the while running on the division of the spoils and honors, which would be the reward of the chief followers of the conqueror; and in this state of mind, they were prepared to pervert all the declarations of Jesus, so as to make them harmonize with their own hopes and notions. While on this journey southward, to Jerusalem, after they had passed into the eastern sections of Judea, beyond the Jordan, Jesus was one day, in answer to an inquiry from Peter, promising his disciples a high reward for the sacrifices they had made in his service; and assuring them, that in return for houses or lands or relatives or friends, left for his name’s sake, they should all receive a return, a hundred-fold greater than the loss. Especially were their fancies struck by a vivid picture, which he presented to their minds, of the high rewards accruing to all the twelve, declaring that after the completion of the change which he was working, and when he had taken his own imperial throne, they should sit around him on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Here was a prospect, enough to satisfy the most aspiring ambition; but along with the hopes now awakened, arose also some queries about the preference of places in this throned triumph, which were not easily settled so as to satisfy all at once. In the proposed arrangement, it was perfectly evident, that of the whole circle of thrones, by far the most honorable locations would be those immediately on the right and left of the Messiah-king; and their low ambition set them at once contriving how to get these pre-eminent places for themselves. Of all the apostolic band, none could so fairly claim the right hand throne as Peter; already pronounced the Rock on which the church should be founded, and commissioned as the keeper of the keys of the kingdom. But Peter’s devotion to his Master seems to have been of too pure a character, to let him give any thought to the mere rewards of the victory, so long as he could feel sure of the full return of that burning affection to his Lord, with which his own ardent soul glowed; and he left it to others to settle points of precedency and the division of rewards. On no occasion throughout his whole life, is there recorded any evidence of the slightest disposition to claim the mere honors of a pre-eminence, though his superior force of character made the whole band instinctively look to him for guidance, on all times of trouble and danger, after the ascension. His modest, confiding, disinterested affection for his Master, indeed, was the main ground of all the high distinctions conferred on him so unsparingly by Jesus, who would have been very slow to honor thus, one who was disposed to grow proud or overbearing under the possession of these favors. But this very character of modesty and uncalculating affection, gave occasion also to the other disciples, to push themselves forward for a claim to those peculiar exaltations, which his indifference to personal advancement seemed to leave unoccupied, for the more ambitious to assume. In this instance, particularly, James and John were so far moved with the desire of the enviable distinction of this primacy, that they made it a matter of family consultation, and accordingly brought the case before their fondly ambitious mother, who instantly determined that the great object should be achieved before any one else could secure the chance for the place; and resolved to use her influence in favor of her darling sons. On the first favorable opportunity she therefore went with them to Jesus; and, as it would appear by the combination of the accounts of Matthew and Mark, both she and they presented the request at once and together,——James and John, however, prefacing the declaration of their exact purpose by a general petition for unlimited favor,——“Master, we would that thou shouldst do for us whatever we desire?” To this modest petition, Jesus replied by asking, “What would ye that I should grant?” They, with their mother, falling down at his feet in fawning, selfish worship, then urged their grand request:——“Grant,” said the ambitious Salome, “that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left, when thou reignest in thy glory.” Jesus, fully appreciating the miserable state of selfish ignorance which inspired the hope and the question, in order to show them their ignorance, and to make them express their minds more fully, assured them that they knew not the meaning of their own request, and asked them whether they were able to drink of the cup that he should drink of, and be baptized with the baptism that he should be baptized with? With unhesitating self-conceit, they answered, “We are able.” But Jesus replied in such a tone as to check all further solicitation of this kind from them, or from any other of his hearers. “Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on my right hand and on my left, is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared by my father.”——“The cup of sorrow, and suffering, and agony,——the baptism of spirit, fire, and blood,——of these you shall all drink in a solemn and mournful reality, which you are now far from conceiving; but the high places of the kingdom which I come to found, are not to be disposed of to those who think to forestall my personal favor; they are for the blessed of my father, who, in the time appointed in his own good pleasure, will give it to them, in the end of days.” The disappointed family of Zebedee retired, quite confounded with the rejection of their petition, and with the darkly told prophecy that accompanied it, dooming them to some mysterious fate of which they could form no idea whatever. The rest of the twelve, hearing of the ambitious attempt of the sons of Zebedee to secure the supremacy, by a secret movement, and by family influence, were moved with great indignation against the intriguing aspirants, and expressed their displeasure so decidedly, that Jesus called them around him, to improve this manifestation of folly and passion, to their advantage; and said, “You know that the nations are governed by princes and lords, and that none exercise authority over them but the great ones of the land. Now it shall not be so among you; but he who will be great among you, must be your servant; and he who shall be your chief, shall be the slave of all the rest. For even the Son of Man himself came not to make others his slaves, but to be himself a slave to many, and even to sacrifice his life in their service.”
Salome.——The reason for the supposition that this was really the name of the mother of James, consists in the comparison of two corresponding passages of Matthew and Mark. In Matthew xxvii. 56, it is said that among the women present at the crucifixion, were “Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children.” In the parallel passage, Mark xv. 40, they are mentioned as “Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James and Joses, and Salome.” In Mark xvi. 1, Salome is also mentioned among those who went to the sepulcher. This is not proof positive, but it is reasonable ground for the supposition, more especially as Matthew never mentions Salome by name, but repeatedly speaks of “the mother of Zebedee’s children.”
If, as is probable then, Salome and the mother of Zebedee’s children were identical, it is also reasonable to suppose, as Lampe does, that Zebedee himself may have died soon after the time when the call of his sons took place. For Salome could hardly have left her husband and family, to go, as she did, with Jesus on his journeys, ministering to his necessities,——but if her husband was really dead, she would have but few ties to confine her at home, and would therefore very naturally be led, by her maternal affection, and anxiety for her sons, to accompany them in their wandering life. The supposition of Zebedee’s death is also justified by the circumstance, that John is spoken of in his own gospel, (John xix. 27,) as possessing a house of “his own,” which seems to imply the death of his father; since so young a man would hardly have acquired property, except by inheritance.
Thus he laid out before them all the indispensable qualities of the man who aspired to the dangerous, painful and unenviable primacy among them,——humility, meekness and laborious industry. But vain were all the earnest teachings of his divine spirit. Schemes and hopes of worldly eminence and imperial dominion, were too deeply rooted in their hearts, to be displaced by this oft-repeated view of the labors and trials of his service. Already, on a former occasion too, had he tried to impress them with the true spirit of the apostleship. When on the way to Capernaum, at the close of this journey through Galilee, they had disputed among themselves on the question, which of them should be the prime minister of their Messiah-king, when he had established his heavenly reign in all the dominions of his father David. On their meeting with him in the house at Capernaum, he brought up this point of difference. Setting a little child before them, (probably one of Peter’s children, as it was in his house,) and taking the little innocent into his arms, he assured them that unless they should become utterly changed in disposition and in hope, and become like that little child in simplicity of character, they should have no share whatever, in the glories of that kingdom, which was to them an object of so many ambitious aspirations. But neither this charge nor the repetition of it, could yet avail to work that necessary change in their feelings. Still they all lived on in vain and selfish hope, scheming for personal aggrandizement, till the progress of events bringing calamity and trial upon them, had purified their hearts, and fully fitted them for the duties of the great office to which they had so unthinkingly devoted themselves. Then indeed, did the aspiring James receive, in a deeper sense than he had ever dreamed of, the reward for which he now longed and begged;——drinking first of the cup of agony, and baptized first in blood, he ascended first to the place on the right hand of the Messiah in his eternal kingdom. But years of toil and sorrow, seen and felt, were his preparation for this glorious crown.
James has also been made the subject of a long series of fables, though the early termination of his apostolic career would seem to leave no room whatever, for the insertion of any very great journeys and labors upon the authentic history. But the Spaniards, in the general rage for claiming some apostle as a national patron saint, long ago got up the most absurd fiction, that James, the son of Zebedee, during the period intervening between Christ’s ascension and his own execution at Jerusalem, actually performed a voyage over the whole length of the Mediterranean, into Spain, where he remained several years, preaching, founding churches, and performing miracles, and returned to Jerusalem in time for the occurrence of the concluding event, as recorded in the twelfth chapter of Acts. This story probably originated in the same manner as that suggested to account for the fables about Andrew; that is,——that some preacher of Christianity, of this name, in a later age, actually did travel into Spain, there preaching the gospel, and founding churches; and that his name being deservedly remembered, was, in the progress of the corruptions of the truth, confounded with that of the apostle James, son of Zebedee,——this James being selected rather than the son of Alpheus, because the latter had already been established by tradition, as the hero of a story quite inconsistent with any Spanish journey, and being also less dignified by the Savior’s notice. Be that as it may, Saint James (Santo Jago) is to this day esteemed the patron saint of Spain, and his tomb is shown in Compostella, in that kingdom; for they will have it, that, after his decapitation by Herod Agrippa, his body was brought all the way over the sea, to Spain, and there buried in the scene of his toils and miracles. A Spanish order of knighthood, that of St. Jago de Compostella, takes its name from this notion.
The old romancer, Abdias Babylonius, who is so rich in stories about Andrew, has much to tell about James, and enters at great length into the details of his crucifixion; crowning the whole with the idle story, that when he was led to death, his accuser, Josiah, a Pharisee, suddenly repenting, begged his forgiveness and professed his faith in Christ,——for which he also was beheaded along with him, after being baptized by James in some water that was handed to him by the executioner, in a calabash. (Abdias Babylonius, History of the Apostolical Contest, IV. § 9.)
From the time of this event, there occurs no mention whatever of any act of James, until the commemoration of the occasion of his exit; and even this tragic circumstance is mentioned so briefly, that nothing can be learned but the mere fact and manner of his death. On the occasion fully described above, in the life of Peter, Herod Agrippa I. seized this apostle, and at once put him to death by the executioner’s sword. The particular grounds, on which this act of bloody cruelty was justified by the tyrant and his friends, are wholly unknown. Probably there was a pretence at a set accusation of some crime, which would make the act appear less atrocious at the time, than appears from Luke’s silence as to the grounds of the proceeding. The remarkable prominence of James, however, was enough to offer a motive to the popularity-seeking Agrippa, whose main object, being to “please the Jews,” led him to seize those who had most displeased them, by laboring for the advancement of the Nazarene heresy. And that this actually was his governing principle in selecting his victims, is made further apparent by the circumstance that Peter, the great chief of the band, was next marked for destruction. Though no particular acts of James are recorded as having made him prominently obnoxious to the Jews, yet there is every reason to believe, that the exalted ardor and now chastened ambition of this Son of Thunder, had made him often the bold assaulter of sophistry and hypocrisy,——a heroism which at once sealed his doom, and crowned him with the glory of THE APOSTOLIC PROTO-MARTYR.