This name, signifying “sons of thunder,” was given by the Lord to James and John the sons of Zebedee (Mark 3:17), perhaps because of their urgent zeal, as was manifest when, indignant at the treatment of their Lord, they asked if they should call down fire from heaven (Luke 9:54). It was John who told the Lord that they had forbidden one who was casting out demons in His name, because he followed not with them (Mark 9:38). This act of the apostles was condemned by the Lord, but it is to be feared that similar prohibition has often been repeated by others since those days.