- verses
- 7
- first named
- Matthew 10:3
- last named
- Acts 1:13
- period
- the New Testament
- tribe
- Judah
Description
Who was Alphaeus?
Alphaeus, also known as Cleopas, is mentioned in the New Testament as the father of two of Jesus' apostles, James and Matthew (Levi). James, the son of Alphaeus, is listed among the twelve apostles chosen by Jesus. (Mat.10.3; Mrk.3.18; Luk.6.15; Act.1.13) He is often referred to as "James the Less" or "James the Younger" to distinguish him from James, the son of Zebedee, and James, the brother of Jesus.
Matthew, also known as Levi, is identified as the son of Alphaeus in the account of his calling as a disciple. Jesus encountered Matthew at the tax collector's booth and called him to follow him, which Matthew did, leaving behind his profession. (Mrk.2.14)
In the Gospel of John, a woman named Mary is described as standing near the cross of Jesus, along with his mother and other women. This Mary is identified as the wife of Clopas (an alternative spelling of Cleopas or Alphaeus). (Jhn.19.25) Some scholars suggest that this Mary may have been the mother of James and Matthew, but this is not explicitly stated in the text.
Additionally, in the Gospel of Luke, a man named Cleopas is mentioned as one of the two disciples who encountered the risen Jesus on the road to Emmaus. (Luk.24.18) While some traditions identify this Cleopas with Alphaeus, the father of James and Matthew, there is no clear evidence in the biblical text to support this connection.
The limited information provided about Alphaeus in the Gospels and Acts focuses primarily on his relationship to his sons, James and Matthew, who became followers of Jesus and members of the twelve apostles. His mention in the biblical text serves to identify and distinguish these two disciples from others with similar names.
Relations
Direct connections
Every entity the graph places in a stated relation with this one, grouped by the kind of link. Each relation is authored once and its inverse derived, so both ends always agree. Rows marked “registry” come from the identity spine rather than from a verse, and a row marked “which bearer is the source’s decision” is one where the name could have meant more than one person. The last group is not a relation at all — it counts the events two entities stand in together.
Places
Where this happens
A person is placed by the events they take part in, and an event has to clear three things to place them: it must say where it happened, that place must be one the gazetteer can put a coordinate on, and the verse must report it rather than foretell, command or ask it. Nothing anchored here clears all three. Where the text names a setting no gazetteer surveys — a vineyard, a palace, a plot of ground — it is left off rather than guessed at; where a place is named only in a prophecy, the map does not draw what was said to be coming as though it had happened; and a place reached only through a relation is not inherited, because standing beside somebody is not being somewhere.
No verse Atlas has read as a report puts this person anywhere.
Not read yet
The pattern
Where Alphaeus is named
Every book of the corpus in the order it is read, each as wide as the chapters it holds. A bar is the verses of that book which write the name, and the flat stretches are as much of the answer as the bars.
7 verses across 5 of 66 books; 61 write the name nowhere. Named in Matthew (1), Mark (2), Luke (2), John (1) and Acts (1).
Read it
Where to read it
Every verse of the text carried here that names this entity — 7, across 5 books.
Onward
Where this page goes
Not the direct relations above — these are one hop further out, ranked so that a rare shared connection outweighs a common one. Descriptions by STEPBible TIPNR.
Sources