Question: Could we have a few words of explanation on the names and surnames of “The Twelve”?
ENQUIRER.
Answer: Simon or Symeon (2 Peter 1:1) had the patronymic of Bar, that is, son of Jona or Jonas, (Matt. 16:17; John 20:15-17), and was given by the Lord the name of Kephas (Aramaic), or Petros (Greek)=Stone or Rockman (John 1:43, confirmed solemnly later in Matt. 16:18).
Andrew is a Greek name (as Philip also in another case) and seemingly answers to the Hebrew Adam. He was Simon’s brother and the means of leading him, afterward far more famous than himself, to the Lord, as we read in John 1, before their public call (Matt. 4; Luke 5).
John, “the beloved disciple,” was in Hebrew Johanan, “the gift of Jehovah.”
James is our English form of Jacob, who, like John, was son of Zebedee or Zabdi. They were surnamed by our Lord (Mark 3:17) Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder.
Philip, of Bethsaida like the foregoing, answers in Greek to the Hebrew name Susi, father of Gaddi (Num. 13:11). It means “fond of horses.”
Bartholomew is the patronymic, meaning son of Tolmai; his personal name was Nathaniel (gift of God).
Thomas in Hebrew, like Didymus, means “a twin.”
Levi and Matthew were both Hebrew names of the same apostle who wrote the first Gospel.
Jacob son of Alphmus or Clopas (Chalpai) is the second apostolic James.
Jude or Judas, Lebbmus, and Thaddmus are the three names of the apostle who wrote the so called catholic Epistle (Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18).
Simon was called Zelotes (Luke 6:15, Acts 1:13), answering to the Hebrew word translated “Cananean,” as it should be, not meaning either of Canaan or of Cana, but “zealot,” one of that well-known fierce party of Jews.
Judas finally seems designated “Iscariot,” meaning man of Kerioth in the south of Judea, alas! the traitor.