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ALPHÆUS.—1. The father of James the Apostle (Mat_10:3 = Mar_3:18 = Luk_6:15 = Act_1:13), commonly identified with James the Little, son of Mary and brother of Joses or Joseph (Mar_15:40 = Mat_27:56). The identification is confirmed by Joh_19:25, if it be allowed that Clopas is the same name as Alphæus. And this is most likely. Both names probably represent the Aramaic Chalphai (cf. 1Ma_11:70). St. John’s ‘Clopas’ is almost a transliteration, while ‘Alphæus’ is the name in a Greek dress, the disguise being more apparent if it be written, with WH [Note: H Westcott and Hort’s text.] , ‘Halphæus.’
2. The father of Levi the tax-gatherer (Mar_2:14), afterwards Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist (Mat_9:9; Mat_10:3). It is remarkable that in Mar_2:14 Codex Bezæ and some cursives read James for Levi, and there is a tradition (Chrysost. in Matth. xxxiii.) that the Apostles Matthew and James had both been tax-gatherers. It is perhaps possible that Alphæus the father of James was identical with Alphæus the father of Levi, and that the two tax-gatherer Apostles were brothers. Nothing is recorded of Alphæus; yet, if these identifications be allowed, great was his glory. He was evidently himself a believer; his son Joses, though undistinguished, was evidently a believer also; his son James was an Apostle; his son Matthew was an Apostle and an Evangelist; and his wife Mary was one of the faithful women who stood by the Cross and visited the Sepulchre (Mar_16:1).
David Smith.