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Mat_10:3. Βαρθολομαῖος ] áÌÇø úÌÈìÀîÇé , son of Tolmai, LXX. 2Sa_13:37, patronymic. His proper name was Nathanael; see note on Joh_1:46, and Keim, II. p. 311.
Θωμᾶς ] úÌÀàÉí , Δίδυμος , twin (Joh_11:16; Joh_20:24; Joh_21:2), perhaps so called from the nature of his birth. In Eusebius and the Acts of Thomas he is called (see Thilo, p. 94 ff.) Ἰούδας Θωμᾶς ὁ καὶ Δίδυμος .
ὁ τελώνης ] In reference to Mat_9:9 without any special object.
ὁ τοῦ Ἀλφαίου ] Matthew’s father was likewise called Alphaeus (Mar_2:14), but this is a different person; see Introduction, sec. 1.
Λεββαῖος ] who must be identical with Judas Jacobi,[441] Luk_6:16 (comp. Joh_14:22), Act_1:13; who, however, is not the author of the New Testament epistle bearing that name. Lebbaeus (the courageous one, from ìÅá ), according to our passsage, had become his regular apostolic name. According to Mar_3:18, he had the apostolic name of ΘΑΔΔΑῖΟς (which must not be taken as the correct reading of the present passage; see the critical notes), and it is in vain to inquire how this twofold appellation has arisen. The name Thaddaeus, however, is not “deflexio nominis Judae, ut rectius hic distingueretur ab Iscariota” (Lightfoot, Wetstein), but the independent name çãàé , which is also currently used in the Talmud (Lightfoot, Schoettgen, Wetstein). There is the less reason to seek for an etymology of ΘΑΔΔ . such as will make the name almost synonymous with ΛΕΒΒ ., as if from úÌÇø (which, however, signifies mamma), or even from ùÑÇøÌÇé , one of the names of God, and meaning potens (Ebrard). For the apocryphal but ancient Acts of Lebbaeus, see Tischendorf, Acta ap. apocr. p. 261 ff. According to these, he received the name Θαδδαῖος when John the Baptist baptized him, and was previously known by the name of Lebbaeus. This is in accordance with the reading of the Received text in the case of the present passage, and with the designation in the Constit. apost., Λεββαῖος ὁ ἐπικληθεὶς Θαδδαῖος , 6. 14. 1, 8. 25,—a circumstance which, at the same time, goes to show that the name of the apostle as given in Mark is to be preferred to that found in Matthew
[441] On the relation of the genitive in Judas Jacobi (not brother, but son), see note on Luk_6:16; Act_1:13. Comp. Nonnus, Joh_14:22 : Ἰούδας υἱὸς Ἰακώβοιο . The view that this Judas is a different person from Lebbaeus, and that he had succeeded to the place rendered vacant, probably by the death of Lebbaeus (Schleiermacher, Ewald), cannot possibly be entertained, for this reason, that in that case the statement in Luk_6:13 ( ἐκλεξάμενος , etc.) would be simply incorrect, which is not to be supposed in connection with a matter so important and generally known (Rufinus, in Praef. ad Origen in ep. ad Rom.). According to Strauss, only the most prominent of the Twelve were known, while the others had places assigned them in conformity with the various traditions that prevailed.