Luke 5:7

And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, In our exposition of Matthew 4:18, we have shown, as it appears to us, that this was quite a different occasion from that, and consequently that the calling of the disciples there and here recorded were different callings. This one, as we take it, was neither their first call, recorded in John 1:35; nor their second, recorded in Matthew 4:18; but their third and last before their appointment to the apostleship. These calls are to be viewed as progressive stages in their preparation for the great work before them, and something similar is observable in the providential p...

1-11 When Christ had done preaching, he told Peter to apply to the business of his calling. Time spent on week days in public exercises of religion, need be but little hinderance in time, and may be great furtherance to us in temper of mind, as to our worldly business. With what cheerfulness may we go about the duties of our calling, when we have been with God, and thus have our worldly employments sanctified to us by the word and prayer! Though they had taken nothing, yet Christ told them to let down their nets again. We must not abruptly quit our callings because we have not the success in them we desire. We are likely to speed well, when we follow the guidance of Christ's word. The draught of fishes was by a miracle. We must all, like Peter, own ourselves to be sinful men, therefore Jesus Christ might justly depart from us. But we must beseech him that he would not depart; for woe un...

Verse Luke 5:7. _THEY BECKONED UNTO THEIR PARTNERS_] Had not these been called in to assist, the net must have been _broken_, and all the fish lost. What a pity there should be such envious separation among the different sects that profess to believe in Christ Jesus! Did they _help each other_ in the spirit of Christian fellowship, more souls would be brought to the knowledge of the truth. Some will rather leave souls to perish than admit of _partners_ in the sacred work. It is an intolerable pride to think nothing well done but what we do ourselves; and a diabolic envy to be afraid lest others should be more successful than we are. _THEY - FILLED BOTH THE SHIPS_] Both the boats had as many as they could carry, and were so heavily laden that they were ready to sink. As one justly observes, "There are fish plenty to be taken, were there skilful hands

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 Luke 5:10. The following remarks of Dr. Thomson (“_The Land and the Book_,” vol. ii. p. 80, 81) will furnish a good illustration of this passage. After describing the mode of fishing with the “hand-net” and the “dragnet,” he adds: “Again, there is the bag-net and basket-net, of various kinds, which are so constructed and worked as to inclose 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, inclosed so great a multitude that the net broke, and they filled two ships with the f

EXPOSITION When St. Luke compiled his Gospel, many of the circumstances connected with the early relations of the leaders of Christianity with their Founder were so well known, and had been so often repeated, that it seemed unnecessary to rehearse them afresh; hence to us the seeming abruptness of the introduction of Simon (Peter), James, and John in the scene now about to be related. In the preceding, the healing of Simon's wife's mother of a great fever is related without any explanation, as though Simon Peter's connection with the Lord was a fact too well known to require any comment or explanation. The association of Jesus and these chosen men seems to have commenced as follows: Simon (Peter) and his brother Andrew (sons of Jona), John and James (the sons of Zebedee and Salome), belonged to fisher families dwelling on the banks of the Lake of Gennesaret. They seemed to have been fas...

AND THEY BECKONED UNTO THEIR PARTNERS,.... Zebedee, and his two sons, James and John; Luke 5:10 who were at some distance from them, probably lay at anchor near the shore, not having put out to sea when the other vessel did, and so were not within call; but they were obliged to make signs to them, and beckon with their hands to come to them: WHICH WERE IN THE OTHER SHIP; mentioned in Luke 5:2 which lay by the shore: THAT THEY SHOULD COME AND HELP THEM; take up the net, and take the fish out of it: AND THEY CAME AND FILLED BOTH THE SHIPS; with the fishes they took out of the net, as full as they could hold, and which they were not well able to carry: SO THAT THEY BEGAN TO SINK; or "were almost immersed", as Beza's ancient copy, and another manusc

Luke 5:1. _And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, and saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets._ Before folding them up, as if they intended to do no more with them just then, as they had been working all night in vain. Luke 5:3. _And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land._ It is very difficult to speak effectively when the people come too close to the speaker; and, sometimes, a little inconvenience like that may interfere with the flow of the speaker's thoughts and words. Even the Saviour seems to have felt that he needed a little breathing space between himself an

CHAPTER 5 _ 1. The Miraculous Drought of Fishes. (Luke 5:1)_ 2. The Leper Healed. (Luke 5:12) 3. The Paralytic Healed. (Luke 5:17) 4. The Call of Matthew and the Feast (Luke 5:27) 5. The Scribes and Pharisees Answered (Luke 5:30) 6. The Parable of the Garment and the Bottle. (Luke 5:36 .) Luke 5:1 Two miraculous draughts of fishes are found in the Gospels. The one he

THE CALL OF THE FIRST DISCIPLES (_cf._ Mark 1:16 *, Matthew 4:18 *). The eager crowds that attend Jesus show His need of assistants. The simpler story of Mk. and Mt. is here replaced by one which introduces a miraculous catch of fish. The similarity with John 21 leads us to think that Lk. (who has no Galilean appearances of the Risen Jesus) may have used that incident here. Nor is it difficult to discern symbolism in the story; the deep water is the Gentile world, but Peter, though the preaching of the Gospel to the Jews had been a failure, is reluctant to enter on a wider mission (_cf._ Acts 11:1). The concentration of the narrative on Peter (James and John are only just mentioned, Andrew not at all), may be due to th

Jesus was standing on the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret while the crowds pressed in upon him to listen to the word of God. He saw two boats riding close to the shore. the fishermen had disembarked from them and were washing their nets. He embarked on one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to push out a little from the land. He sat down and continued to teach the crowds from the boat. When he stopped speaking, he said to Simon, "Push out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Simon answered, "Master, we have toiled all night long and we caught nothing; but, if you say so, I will let down the nets." When they had done so they enclosed a great crowd of fishes; their nets were torn with the numbers; so they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and they rifled both the boats so that they began to sink. When Simon...