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Selected Verse: Mark 3:17 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Mr 3:17 |
King James |
And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder: |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917] |
James
(See Scofield) - (Mat 4:21). |
Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
Although Mark mentions that the apostles were sent: out in pairs (Mar 6:7), he does not classify them here in pairs. But he alone throws Peter and James and John, the three who shared the Lord's particular intimacy, into one group. Matthew and Luke both introduce Andrew between Peter and James.
He surnamed them Boanerges (ἐπέθηκεν αὐτοῖς ὄνομα Βοανηργές)
Lit., he put upon them the name. Some uncertainty attaches to both the origin and the application of the name. Most of the best texts read ὀνόματα, names, instead of name. This would indicate that each of the two was surnamed a "son of thunder." Some, however, have claimed that it was a dual name given to them as a pair, as the name Dioscuri was given to Castor and Pollux. The reason of its bestowal we do not know. It seems to have been intended as a title of honor, though not perpetuated like the surname Peter, this being the only instance of its occurrence; possibly because the inconvenience of a common surname, which would not have sufficiently designated which of them was intended, may have hindered it from ever growing into an appellation. It is justified by the impetuosity and zeal which characterized both the brothers, which prompted them to suggest the calling of fire from heaven to consume the inhospitable Samaritan village (Luk 9:54); which marked James as the victim of an early martyrdom (Act 12:2); and which sounds in the thunders of John's Apocalypse. The Greek Church calls John Βροντόφωνος, the thunder-voiced. The phrase, sons of, is a familiar Hebrew idiom, in which the distinguishing characteristic of the individual or thing named is regarded as his parent. Thus sparks are sons of fire (Job 5:7); threshed corn is son of the floor (Isa 21:10). Compare son of perdition (Joh 17:12); sons of disobedience (Eph 2:2; Eph 5:6). |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Sons of thunder - A Hebraism for thunderers; probably so named because of their zeal and power in preaching the Gospel.
The term Boanerges is neither Hebrew nor Syriac. Calmet and others think that there is reason to believe that the Greek transcribers have not copied it exactly. בני רעם beney raam, which the ancient Greeks would pronounce Beneregem, and which means sons of thunder, was probably the appellative used by our Lord: or בני רעש beni reges, sons of tempest, which comes nearest to the Boanerges of the evangelist. St. Jerome, on Daniel 1, gives בני רעם (which he writes Benereem, softening the sound of the ע ain) as the more likely reading, and Luther, supposing our Lord spoke in Hebrew, gives the proper Hebrew term above mentioned, which he writes Bnehargem. Some think that the reason why our Lord gave this appellative to the sons of Zebedee was, their desire to bring fire down from heaven, i.e. a storm of thunder and lightning, to overturn and consume a certain Samaritan village, the inhabitants of which would not receive their Master. See the account in Luk 9:53, Luk 9:54 (note). It was a very usual thing among the Jews to give surnames, which signified some particular quality or excellence, to their rabbins. See several instances in Schoettgen. |
21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
10 O my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard of the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.
7 Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
2 And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?
7 And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;
54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?
53 And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.