James Son of Zebedee
A Galilean fisherman, brother of John and one of the three disciples closest to Jesus. Herod Agrippa I had him killed with the sword, the only death of one of the Twelve told in the New Testament apart from that of Judas.
James and his brother John were fishing partners of Simon Peter. Jesus called them from their boat, and they left their father Zebedee to follow him (Mark 1:19–20) (Luke 5:10). Mark says that Jesus named the two Boanerges, “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17). With Peter, Mark says, they were present at the raising of Jairus’s daughter, at the transfiguration, and in Gethsemane (Mark 5:37; 9:2; 14:33). Luke tells that the brothers wanted to call down fire on a Samaritan village that refused Jesus (Luke 9:51–56), and Mark that they asked for the seats at his right and left in his glory; Jesus answered that they would drink the cup that he drank (Mark 10:35–40).
Acts reports that “King Herod”, that is Herod Agrippa I, killed James with the sword and then, at Passover, arrested Peter (Acts 12:1–3). Josephus says that Agrippa ruled Judea for three years under Claudius before he died, which places the execution between AD 41 and 44 (Josephus, Antiquities 19.343, 350–351). He is to be distinguished from James the son of Alphaeus, another of the Twelve, and from James the Just, the brother of the Lord.
In the timeline
- c. AD 28–29, estimated dateJesus Begins His Ministry in Galilee
Mark and Matthew tell how, after John’s arrest, Jesus returns to Galilee, announces that the kingdom of God is at hand, calls four fishermen and makes Capernaum, on the lake, the centre of his teaching and healing.
- c. AD 28–29, estimated dateJesus Appoints the Twelve
From his wider following Jesus chooses twelve men to be with him and to be sent out to preach and heal. Mark, Matthew and Luke list their names from Simon Peter to Judas Iscariot; Acts lists the eleven who remained.
- c. AD 29 or 32, estimated dateThe Transfiguration
Mark, Matthew and Luke tell how three disciples on a high mountain see Jesus changed in appearance, his clothes shining white, with Moses and Elijah beside him, and hear a voice from a cloud call him “my beloved Son”. The Gospels do not name the mountain.
- AD 44, firm dateHerod Agrippa Kills James and Dies at Caesarea
Acts says that King Herod Agrippa I had the apostle James, son of Zebedee, put to death and imprisoned Peter, who escaped. The king died suddenly at Caesarea. Acts and Josephus both describe his death, and the figures Josephus gives put it in AD 44.