Zebedee in Fausset's Bible Dictionary
A fisherman of Galilee; father of James and John. In easy
circumstances, for he owned a boat and hired servants
(Matthew 4:21; Mark 1:20). Salome his wife ministered to
Jesus (Matthew 27:55-56; Mark 15:40-41). His
disinterestedness and favorable disposition towards Christ
appear in his allowing without objection his sons to leave
him at Christ's call; Zebedee ("gift of Jehovah") is
equivalent in meaning to John (gift or favor of Jehovah);
the father naturally giving his son a name similar in
meaning to his own. John's acquaintance with Annas the high
priest implies the good social position of the family.
In Matthew 4:21, at the call of James and John,
Zebedee was alive; at Matthew 20:20 the peculiar phrase "the
mother of Zebedee's children" implies Zebedee was no longer
alive, for otherwise she would be called the wife of Zebedee
or the mother of James and John. In Matthew 8:21 the
disciple's request, "Lord, suffer me first to go (home) and
(wait until the death of, and) bury my father," may possibly
refer to Zebedee; for the name "disciple" was given to but
few, and a boat contained all the disciples Matthew 9:37;
Matthew 8:23). If so, it will be an undesigned coincidence
marking genuineness (Blunt, Undesigned Coincidences, Part
4).
Read More about Zebedee in Fausset's Bible Dictionary