Cananaean
Cananaean
CANANaeAN.Cananaean ( Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 , following the reading adopted by Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, WH [Note: Hestcott and Horts text.] , and modern scholars generally) or Canaanite (Authorized Version , following the TR [Note: Textus Receptus.] reading ) is a description applied by St. Matthew (Mat 10:4) and St. Mark (Mar 3:18) in their lists of the Twelve to the second of the two Apostolic Simons, who is thus distinguished from Simon Peter. There can be no doubt that Canaanite, which means an inhabitant of Canaan, is a false rendering. The Gr. for Canaan is (Act 7:11; Act 13:19), and for Canaanite, (Mat 15:22) not . Transliterating the of the TR [Note: R Textus Receptus.] , the Authorized Version should have spelled the word Cananite, as indeed was done in the Geneva Version, and in some editions of the Authorized Version , though not in that of 1611. But it is practically certain that (which in the text of Mk. especially is very strongly supported, e.g. by ) is the correct reading. The word seems to be a construction from the plural form of the late Heb. , corresponding to the Biblical , jealous (see Schrer, HJP [Note: JP History of the Jewish People.] , i. ii. 80 f.; and note that the noun , which in the Heb. text of the OT is used in the sense of zeal as well as of jealousy, is sometimes rendered in the LXX Septuagint by [Isa 9:6; Isa 26:11]). This is borne out by the fact that St. Luke, on the two occasions on which he gives a list of the Apostles (Luk 6:15, Act 1:13), employs , instead of , to describe Simonwhich seems to show that the two epithets are synonymous.
Jerome, who in the Vulgate adopts the from Cananaeus, in his Com. in Matt. interprets it de vico Chana Galilaeae; and he has been followed by many scholars in modern times, who have taken the name to be a corruption of , and to mean a man of Cana, probably Cana in Galilee. This view, however, now obtains little support, though Cheyne (Encyc. Bibl. ii. col. 2624, iv. col. 4535) appears to favour it. Meyer (Com. on Matt. [Note: Matthews (i.e. prob. Rogers) Bible 1537.] , in loc.), while holding that the form of the word makes the derivation from Cana impossible, maintains that it is nevertheless derived from the name of some place or other; and would explain its use in Mt. and Mk. from the fact that Simon, as a quondam zealot, bore the surname , , a name which was correctly interpreted by Luke; but, according to another tradition, was erroneously derived from the name of a place, and accordingly came to be rendered . This is ingenious, but seems needlessly far-fetched. It is quite arbitrary, too, to say that the form must be derived from the name of a place. The termination – is common in the Grecized rendering of names of sects (e.g. , , ; see Grimm-Thayer, Lexicon, s.v. ). And from is as natural as from , stat. emphat. of Aramaic for Heb. (see Schrer, HJP [Note: JP History of the Jewish People.] ii. ii. 19).
J. C. Lambert.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Cananaean
CANANAN or CANAANITE occurs in Mat 10:4 and Mar 3:18 as a designation of Simon, one of the disciples of Jesus. The first is the correct reading, the Gr. Kananaios being the transliteration of kannayy (a late Heb. derivative from kann = jealous). It is rendered in Luk 6:15 and Act 1:13 by Zlts (zealot). The Cananans or Zealots were a sect founded by Judas of Gamala, who headed the opposition to the census of Quirinius (a.d. 6 or 7). They bitterly resented the domination of Rome, and would fain have hastened by the sword the fulfilment of the Messianic hope. During the great rebellion and the siege of Jerusalem, which ended in its destruction (a.d. 70), their fanaticism made them terrible opponents, not only to the Romans, but to other factions amongst their own countrymen.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Cananaean
Cananae’an. Mat 10:4. Used, in the Revised Version, in place of “Canaanite.” See Canaanite, The.