What does Boanerges mean in Mark 3:17?
Mark 3:13 - 21
ESV - 13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach
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Asked November 21 2021
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Jack Gutknecht
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Tim Maas
"Boanerges" is the Greek rendering of an Aramaic term that is anglicized as "bene-reghesh", meaning "sons of thunder". This was a term that Jesus applied to the apostles James the Greater and John, who were brothers, and whose father was named Zebedee (as recorded in Mark 1:19). The term referred to the brothers' sharing of a quick temper that was easily roused to an extreme, as when James and John asked Jesus whether they should call down fire from heaven to destroy a Samaritan village that had refused entry to Jesus and the apostles, because Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem in Judea, with which the Samaritans were at enmity (Luke 9:52-54). (Jesus rebuked James and John for this (Luke 9:55).) (Another account that I have read in the book The Day Christ Died by the author Jim Bishop (although it is not specifically recorded in Scripture) indicates that the name "Sons of Thunder" may also have referred to James' and John's inheritance of their temper from their father Zebedee, who supposedly reacted in great anger when James and John walked away from the work as fishermen that the three of them shared, in response to Jesus' call to James and John to follow Him (Matthew 4:21-22; Mark 1:19-20).).
Janet Hegna
Sons of thunder, someone with a powerful voice. Mark 3:17: The name (a nickname) was given to the two sons of Zebedee, James and John.
Jack Gutknecht
James and John became Boanerges [bone-er-gess] - “Sons of Thunder.” The people in the village rejected Jesus and rejected the messengers of Jesus. How do we react when people reject our offer of telling them about Jesus? Can't you just hear James and John? “How dare these dirty Samaritans refuse to show us hospitality? What an insult! We'll just call down fire from heaven and burn them to filthy ashes!” Now you know why Jesus called these two brothers “The sons of Thunder.” Jesus rebuked their hateful, vengeful spirit. He informed them they have the wrong kind of spirit. It was a bitter, angry, hateful spirit, and it certainly wasn't the Holy Spirit! Jesus didn't come to destroy them; He came to save them! —Lowell Johnson James’ and John’s response to the Samaritans reveals a fervency, impetuosity, and anger that could properly be called “thunderous”—and we can be sure that there were other times when James and John lived up to their nickname. —Houdmann "He [Jesus] appointed the twelve: a Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder);..."
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