THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE - Chapter 5 - Verse 7

Verse 7. They beckoned. They gave signs. Perhaps they were at a considerable distance, so that they could not be easily heard.

Their partners. James and John. See Lu 5:10. The following remarks of Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book, vol. it. p. 80,81) will furnish a good illustration of this passage. After describing the mode of fishing with the "hand-net" and the "drag-net," he adds:

"Again, there is the bag-net and basket-net, of various

kinds, which are so constructed and worked as to enclose

the fish out in deep water. I have seen them of almost

every conceivable size and pattern. It was with some

one of this sort, I suppose, that Simon had toiled all

night without catching anything, but which, when let

down at the command of Jesus, enclosed so great a

multitude that the net brake, and they filled two

ships with the fish until they began to sink. Peter

here speaks of toiling all night; and there are

certain kinds of fishing always carried on at night.

It is a beautiful sight. With blazing torch the boat

glides over the flashing sea, and the men stand gazing

keenly into it until their prey is sighted, when,

quick as lightning, they fling their net or fly

their spear; and often you see the tired fishermen come

sullenly into harbour in the morning, having toiled

all night in vain. Indeed, every kind of fishing is

uncertain. A dozen times the angler jerks out a

naked hook; the hand-net closes down on nothing; the

drag-net brings in only weeds; the bag comes up empty.

And then again, every throw is successful—every net is

full; and frequently without any other apparent reason

than that of throwing it on the right side of the

ship instead of the left, as it happened to the

disciples here at Tiberias."

{e} Ex 23:5; Ga 6:2; Pr 18:24