Simon Peter went up
Either to the sea, that being higher than the land, or to the
ship which lay by the shore: he went aboard it, and
drew the net to land full of great fishes;
not alone, but others of the disciples with him; though he only
is mentioned, being the leading person in this affair; an emblem
of the whole number of God's elect being brought safe to shore,
to Christ, and to heaven, through various tribulations and
afflictions in the world, fitly signified by the waves of the
sea. What mystery there may be in the number, I know not. The
conjecture of Grotius, that it is a figure of the proselytes in
the days of David and Solomon, seems to be without foundation;
since they were not only so many thousands, but six hundred over.
And as little to be regarded is the thought of others, that the
larger number, one hundred, regards the converted among the
Gentiles, and the lesser those among the Jews; much better is the
observation of others, that it may design a collection, out of
all sorts of people, to Christ, and his church.
And for all there were so many;
in number, and these so large and big, and the weight of them so
great. The Syriac reads (arqwy
hlk) (anhb) , "with
all this weight", or "burden", and so the Persic; but the Arabic,
"with such a number"; both ideas of number and weight are to be
preserved, to make what follows the more observable:
yet was not the net broken;
which must be ascribed to the divine power of Christ; and is an
emblem of the power of God attending the Gospel to the
regeneration, conversion, and salvation of his people, and of the
great usefulness of it, however mean and despicable it may be in
the eyes of men, and of its permanence and duration, until all
the elect of God are gathered in by it.