JAMES

Son of Zebedee

Matt 4:18-22
    As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."  At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. 
NIV

Mark 5:37-43
     He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James.  When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, "Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep."  But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child's father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was.  He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum!" (which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!"). Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat. 
NIV

Acts 12:1-2
     It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.
NIV

REFERENCES

The son of Zebedee (Matt 4:21; Mark 1:19; Luke 5:10) and Salome (cf. Matt 27:56; Mark 15:40; 16:1), and the elder brother of John the evangelist (Mark 5:37).

James appears first in the sacred narrative as a fisherman, he and his brothers being partners with Simon Peter (Luke 5:10). When called by our Lord to be His followers in the spring or summer (A.D. 27), James and his brother responded with an eagerness that renders them models of obedience (Matt 4:21-22; Mark 1:19-20). We find him named among the twelve who received (A.D. 28) a call to apostleship (Matt 10:2; Mark 3:14,17; Luke 6:13-14; Acts 1:13). These brothers and Peter seemed for some reason to be especially fitted to live in close intimacy with the Master and were with Him on several interesting occasions. They alone were present at the transfiguration (Matt 17:1; Mark 9:2; Luke 9:28), at the raising of Jairus's daughter (Mark 5:37; Luke 8:51), and at the Garden of Gethsemane during our Lord's agony (Matt 26:37; Mark 14:33). With Andrew they listened to the Lord's private discourse on the fall of Jerusalem (13:3). Through mistaken views of the Messiah's kingdom and an ambition to share in its glory, they joined in the request made to Jesus by their mother (Matt 20:20-23; Mark 10:35-40). James was the first of the apostles to suffer martyrdom, being slain with a sword at the command of Herod (Acts 12:2), A.D. 44.

From the desire to punish the inhabitants of a certain village in Samaria because they declined to receive Jesus (Luke 9:52-54), we infer that James and John were warm and impetuous in temperament. They were called by our Lord (Mark 3:17) "Boanerges"-sons of thunder-probably because of their boldness and energy in discharging their apostleship.
(from The New Unger's Bible Dictionary. Originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois. Copyright (c) 1988.)
 

James was the first disciple to be martyred and is one of two disciples whose death is mentioned in scripture. The other is Judas. James was ordered executed by King Herod Agrippa I  in approximately A.D. 42-44.
 

                    Life size bronze sculpture by Bill McCown, Edition of 3, Price on request.