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14. Σίμωνα. Lists of the twelve Apostles are given in four passages of Scripture in the following order:
Mat 10:2-4. Mar 3:16-19. Luk 6:14-16. Act 1:13.
Simon Simon Simon Peter
Andrew James Andrew James
James John James John
John Andrew John Andrew
Philip Philip Philip Philip
Bartholomew Bartholomew Bartholomew Thomas
Thomas Matthew Matthew Bartholomew
Matthew Thomas Thomas Matthew
James of Alphaeus James of Alphaeus James of Alphaeus James of Alphaeus
Lebbaeus Thaddaeus Simon Zelotes Simon Zelotes
Simon the Kananite Simon the Kananite Jude of James Jude of James
Judas Iscariot Judas Iscariot Judas Iscariot [Judas Iscariot]
In reading these four independent lists several facts are remarkable.
i. Each list falls into three tetrads, and the last two tetrads are arranged in slightly varying pairs. “The Apostolic College was formed of three concentric circles—each less closely intimate with Jesus than the last.” Godet.
ii. In each tetrad the names refer to the same persons though the order is different.
iii. In each list the first of each tetrad is the same—viz. Simon, Philip, and James son of Alphaeus; not as ‘supreme among inferior, but as first among equals.’
iv. In each list Simon stands first; and Judas Iscariot last, as the ‘son of perdition.’
v. Not only do the Apostles seem to be named in the order of their eminence and nearness to Christ, but the first four seem to stand alone (in the Acts the first four are separated by “and;” the rest are ranged in pairs). The first four were the ἐκλεκτῶν ἐκλεκτότεροι—the chosen of the chosen; the ecclesiola in ecclesia. Andrew, who is named last in St Mark and the Acts, though belonging to the inmost band of Apostles (Mar 13:3) and though the earliest of them all (Joh 1:40) was yet less highly honoured than the other three (who are the θεολογικώτατοι at the healing of Jairus’s daughter, Mar 5:37; at the Transfiguration, Mat 17:1; and in Gethsemane, Mat 26:37). He seems to have been a link of communication between the first and second tetrads (Joh 12:22; Joh 6:8).
vi. The first five Apostles were of Bethsaida; and all the others seem to have been Galilaeans with the single exception of Judas Iscariot, who belonged to a Jewish town (see Luk 6:15). The only Greek names are those of Philip and Andrew (see Joh 12:21-22). At this time however many Jews bore Greek names.
vii. In the second tetrad it may be regarded as certain that Bartholomew (the son of Tolmai) is the disciple whom St John calls Nathanael. He may possibly have been Philip’s brother. St Matthew puts his own name last, and adds the title of reproach the tax-gatherer. In the two other Evangelists he precedes St Thomas. The name Thomas merely means ‘a twin’ (Didymus), and one tradition says that he was a twin-brother of Matthew, and that his name too was Jude (Euseb. H.E. I. 13).
viii. In the third tetrad we find one Apostle with three names. His real name was Jude, but as there was already one Jude among the Apostles, and as it was the commonest of Jewish names, and as there was also a Jude who was one of the ‘brethren of the Lord,’ he seems to have two surnames—Lebbaeus, from lebh, ‘heart,’ and Thaddaeus (another form of Theudas, Act 5:36), from thad, ‘bosom’—possibly, as some have conjectured, from the warmth and tenderness of his disposition. (Very few follow Clemens of Alexandria and Ewald in trying to identify Lebbaeus and Levi.) This disciple is called by St Luke (viz. here and in Act 1:13). “Jude of James,” or “James’s Jude,” and the English Version supplies the word “brother” (see Winer, p. 238). There is however no more decisive reason to supply “brother” (which is at any rate a very unusual ellipse) than in the former verse, where James is called “James of Alphaeus” (Chalpai, Klôpa, Joh 19:25, perhaps also Kleopas (Luk 24:18), since Jews often Graecised the form of their names). The word ‘brother,’ where needed, is expressed, as in Luk 6:14. This three-named disciple was probably a son of James (compare Nonnus Joh 14:22 Ἰουδὰς υἱὸς Ἰακώβοιο), and therefore a grandson of Alphaeus, and a nephew of Matthew and Thomas. James the son of Alphaeus is sometimes called “the Less;” but this seems to be a mistaken rendering of ὁ μικρὸς (Mar 15:40), which means ‘the short of stature.’ The other James is never called ‘the Great.’
ix. Simon Zelotes is called by St Matthew ‘the Kananite’ (ὁ Κανανίτης), or according to the better readings ‘the Kananean.’ The word does not mean “Canaanite,” as our Version incorrectly gives it, nor yet ‘inhabitant of Kana in Galilee,’ but means the same thing as ‘the Zealot,’ from Kineáh, ‘zeal.’ He had therefore once belonged to the sect of terrible fanatics—the Carbonari of Palestine—who thought any deed of violence justifiable for the recovery of national freedom. He may have been one of the wild followers of Judas the Gaulonite. (Jos. B. J. IV. 3, § 9, and passim.) The name ‘Zealot’ was derived from 1Ma 2:50, where the dying Mattathias, father of Judas Maccabaeus, says to the Assidaeans (Chasidim, i.e. ‘all such as were voluntarily devoted to the law’) “Be ye zealous for the Law, and give your lives for the covenant of your fathers” (comp. 2Ma 4:2). It shews our Lord’s divine wisdom and fearless universality of love that He should choose for Apostles two persons who had once been at such deadly opposition as a tax-gatherer and a zealot.
x. For “Judas Iscariot who also betrayed him” St Luke uses the milder description, ὃς ἐγένετο προδότης, ‘who became a traitor.’ The name Iscariot has nothing to do with askara, ‘strangulation,’ or sheker, ‘lie,’ but is in all probability Eesh Kerioth, ‘man of Kerioth,’ just as Istôbos stands in Josephus (Antt. VII. 6, § 1) for ‘man of Tôb.’ Kerioth (Jos 15:25) is perhaps Kuryetein, ten miles from Hebron, in the southern border of Judah. If the reading “Iscariot” is right in Joh 6:71; Joh 13:26 (אBCGL), as applied also to Simon Zelotes, then, since Judas is called “son of Simon” (Joh 6:71), the last pair of Apostles were father and son. If Judas Iscariot had ever shared the wild Messianic patriotism of his father it would partly account for the recoil of disgust and disappointment which helped to ruin his earthly mind when he saw that he had staked all in the cause of one who was rejected and despised. Yet even Judas was a witness, and a very important one, to the perfect innocence of his Lord (Mat 27:4).
xi. It is a deeply interesting fact, if it be a fact (and although it cannot be made out with certainty because it depends on data which are conjectural, and on tradition which is liable to error—it is still far from improbable) that so many of the Apostles were related to each other. Simon and Andrew were brothers; James and John were brothers, and, if Salome was a sister of the Virgin (comp. Mar 15:40; Joh 19:25), they were first cousins of our Lord; Philip and Bartholomew may have been brothers; Thomas, Matthew, and James were perhaps brothers and first cousins of our Lord; Lebbaeus, or ‘Jude of James,’ was His second cousin; Simon Zelotes and Judas Iscariot were perhaps father and son. Thus no less than half of the Apostles would have been actually related to our Lord, although His brethren did not believe on Him (Joh 7:5). The difficulty however of being sure of these combinations rises in part from the paucity of Jewish names, and therefore the extreme commonness of Simon, Jude, James, &c.
xii. The separate incidents in which individual Apostles are mentioned are as follows:
Peter: Prominent throughout; Luk 12:41, Luk 22:31; Mat 16:16; Mat 17:24; Mat 19:27, &c.
James, John: } Both prominent throughout. Boanerges; calling down fire; petition for precedence, &c.
James was the first Apostolic martyr; John the last survivor (Act 12:2; Joh 21:22).
Andrew: the first disciple, Joh 1:40; with Jesus on Olivet, Mar 13:3.
Philip: “Follow me,” Joh 1:43; his frankness, Joh 6:7; the Greeks, id. Luk 12:22 : “shew us the Father,” id. Luk 14:8.
Bartholomew: “an Israelite indeed,” Joh 1:47; of Cana, Joh 21:2.
Matthew: his call, Luk 5:27-28.
Thomas: despondent yet faithful, Joh 11:16; Joh 14:5; Joh 20:25; Joh 21:2.
James son of Alphaeus: no incident.
Jude son of James: his perplexed question, Joh 14:22.
Simon Zelotes: no incident.
Judas Iscariot: the betrayal and ultimate suicide.