This word is neither Hebrew nor Syriac, and some have thought
that the transcribers have not exactly copied it, and that the word was
_benereen_, βενερεὲν, which expresses the sound of the Hebrew of the
phrase, “sons of thunder.” Parkhurst judges the word to be the Galilean
pronunciation of the Hebrew בנירעש expressed in Greek letters. Now, רעש
properly signifies a violent trembling or commotion, and may therefore
be well rendered by βροντὴ, _thunder_, which is a violent commotion in
the air; so, _vice versâ_, any violent commotion is figuratively, and
not unusually, in all languages, called thunder. When our Saviour named
the sons of Zebedee, Boanerges, he perhaps had an eye to that prophecy
of Haggai, “Yet once, and I will shake the heavens and the earth,” ii,
6; which is by the Apostle to the Hebrews, xii, 26, applied to the great
alteration made in the economy of the Jews by the publication of the
Gospel. The name Boanerges, therefore, given to James and John, imports
that they should be eminent instruments in accomplishing the wondrous
change, and should, like an earthquake or thunder, mightily bear down
all opposition, by their inspired preaching and miraculous powers. That
it does not relate to their _mode_ of preaching is certain; for that
clearly appears to have been calmly argumentative, and sweetly
persuasive--the very reverse of what is usually called a thundering
ministry.
that the transcribers have not exactly copied it, and that the word was
_benereen_, βενερεὲν, which expresses the sound of the Hebrew of the
phrase, “sons of thunder.” Parkhurst judges the word to be the Galilean
pronunciation of the Hebrew בנירעש expressed in Greek letters. Now, רעש
properly signifies a violent trembling or commotion, and may therefore
be well rendered by βροντὴ, _thunder_, which is a violent commotion in
the air; so, _vice versâ_, any violent commotion is figuratively, and
not unusually, in all languages, called thunder. When our Saviour named
the sons of Zebedee, Boanerges, he perhaps had an eye to that prophecy
of Haggai, “Yet once, and I will shake the heavens and the earth,” ii,
6; which is by the Apostle to the Hebrews, xii, 26, applied to the great
alteration made in the economy of the Jews by the publication of the
Gospel. The name Boanerges, therefore, given to James and John, imports
that they should be eminent instruments in accomplishing the wondrous
change, and should, like an earthquake or thunder, mightily bear down
all opposition, by their inspired preaching and miraculous powers. That
it does not relate to their _mode_ of preaching is certain; for that
clearly appears to have been calmly argumentative, and sweetly
persuasive--the very reverse of what is usually called a thundering
ministry.