Jesus Calls Four Fishermen to Follow Him.

  4 And when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Put out draught. ["Put out" is in the singular, being addressed to Simon alone; "let down" is plural, being addressed generally to those in the boat.]

  5 And Simon answered and said, Master, we have toiled all the night, and took nothing: but at thy word I will let down the nets. ["Master" is a broader word than "Rabbi"; it indicates a superior, but does not confine his superiority to matters of instruction. The words of Peter show a willingness to oblige or honor Jesus, but are devoid of hope as to the thing proposed. Night was the time for fishing ( John 21:3 ); and the proper place to cast the net was near the shore; but if Jesus wished to fish by daylight in the middle of the lake, Simon was not too weary to humor the wish.]

  6 And when they had done this, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes; and their nets were breaking [that is, the nets began to snap when they tried to lift them out of the water];

  7 and they beckoned unto their partners in the other boat, that they should come and help them. [This indicates that they were well out into the lake, where it was easier to beckon than to shout explanations. Some think the marvel wrought by Jesus made them speechless, but they were so engrossed in the magnitude and value of the catch that the full glory of the miracle had not yet come upon them.] And they came, and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. [They probably ran a second net under the one which enclosed the fishes, and by thus doubling the strength of the net were able to draw the fish up between the boats. A great load thus suddenly dumped in the side of a boat will cause it to list, dip water and threaten to sink. Such appears to have been the case here until the loads were so distributed as to right the ships.]

  8 But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

  9 For he was amazed, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken

[This miracle came home to the soul of Peter because it was wrought in Religion is only powerful as it becomes personal. Peter's request shows how deeply the miracle impressed him. It gave him that sense of the divine presence which never fails to overwhelm the hearts of men. No man can behold God in his glory and live ( Exodus 33:20-23 ; Exodus 20:18 Exodus 20:19 ); and though there have been exceptions where men have seen God or his representatives and lived ( Exodus 24:9-11 ; 6:21-23 ; 13:22 13:23 ; Isaiah 6:1-5 ; Daniel 10:16-19 ; Genesis 32:30 ); yet no man, not even the purest, has ever stood in the presence of God or his ministers without feeling such a sense of weakness and sinfulness as to almost extinguish life-- Revelation 1:17 ; Job 42:5 Job 42:6 ];

  9 For he was amazed, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken

  10 and so were also James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. [Jesus here shows the purpose for which this miracle had been wrought. It was a prophetic type or picture which foreshadowed the triumphs of the day of Pentecost and other seasons when the apostles had great ingatherings of souls through the preaching of the gospel.]

  11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they ^a straightway ^c left all [that is to say, Peter and Andrew], ^b left the nets [but James and John],

^a left the boat and their father, ^b Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after him. {^c followed him} [The four partners, boats, different kinds of nets, hired servants, etc., and the fact that Salome, the wife of Zebedee, was one of those who ministered to Christ out of her substance ( Matthew 27:55 Matthew 27:56 ; Luke 8:3 ), all indicate a business of respectable proportions: a fact which suggests that the church of Christ would catch more souls if all its parts were in partnership. Evidently when the four men left the boats and nets Zebedee took charge of them. While the four rightly recognized that the divine call was superior to their earthly obligations, there is nothing which leads us to imply that their sudden departure discomfited Zebedee. The call of Christ here marks a change in their relationship to him. Hitherto business, but this present call separated them from their occupation, and prepared them for the call to be apostles which came later, and which required them to be his constant companions-- Mark 3:14 .]