View source for Wedding Feast in Cana

== Simon of Cana ==
[[Simon the Cananean|Simon]] is not, as the King James Version has him, a Canaanite. However the Greek manuscripts of [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] were indeed divided on the issue at an early time. The almost equally ancient codices [[Codex Sinaiticus|Sinaiticus]] and [[Codex Vaticanus|Vaticanus]] have Canaanite and Cananaean respectively, and they each have roughly equal support from manuscripts which are nearly as old. However in Mark 3:18 where this same list occurs, all of the ancient codices have Simon as a Cananaean, except the [[Codex Alexandrinus]] which has Canaanite (and which is wanting most of Matthew's gospel). Let it be said that in both Matthew and in [[Gospel of Mark|Mark]], the [[Codex Ephraemi Syri]], which usually agrees with the Alexandrinus, has Simon as a Cananaean, and so even the Alexandrian tradition is split on this matter. One thing is clear, however, and that is that the manuscripts which the [[King James Version]] has followed are quite close to the Alexandrian tradition, which the passage in Mark demonstrates. Something else which is quite certain is that the corruption of texts upon which the [[New Testament]] is based was attempted at the earliest time, whether purposely or not. Here the preponderance of the evidence, considering both Matthew and Mark, is that Simon was a Cananaean.

Luke calls Simon “the zealot”, which many errant commentators take that as a meaning of the word “Canaanite”, however this is highly unlikely. The Hebrew word, according to Strong, comes from a verb meaning ''to humiliate''. It is much more plausible that Simon was from the city Cana, where Yahshua attended the [[Wedding Feast in Cana|wedding]] described in the opening chapters of [[Gospel of John|John's gospel]], and was therefore a Cananaean, and that “zealot” was just a nickname.