Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

As noted in the verse cited in the question, Zebedee (whose name means "the LORD has bestowed") was the father of the apostles James (the Greater) and John, and (like James and John prior to their calling by Jesus) was a fisherman who lived at or near Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee. Zebedee's wife was named Salome. As far as I am aware, all direct mentions of him in the Bible refer only to his role as being James and John's father, and Salome's husband. 

To my knowledge, the only other information that might be inferred about him from the Bible would be that he was possibly a man of some wealth (since he had hired servants (Mark 1:20)), and also that he had a quick and explosive temper, which he apparently passed on to his sons. That was why Jesus referred to James and John as "sons of thunder" (for which the Greek term was Boanerges). 

James and John also demonstrated this characteristic when they asked Jesus whether He would allow them to call fire down from heaven to destroy a village of Samaria (Luke 9:51-55). (Because of the long-standing enmity between Samaritans and Jews, the people of the village had refused to allow Jesus to enter because He and the apostles were in the process of traveling to Jerusalem in Judea.) Jesus mildly rebuked James and John by telling them that He had not come to earth to destroy people's lives, but to save them.

February 23 2018 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report