In giving the minute details, we find that Luke has varied widely
from Matthew and Mark, in many particulars. Taking the accounts found
in each gospel separately, we make out the following three distinct
stories.
1. Matthew, in his fourth chapter, says that Jesus, after leaving
Nazareth, came and dwelt at Capernaum, where he began the great work
for which he came into the world,――preaching repentance and making
known the near approach of the reign of heaven on earth. In pursuance
of this great object, it would seem that he went forth from the city
which he made his home, and walked by the sea of Galilee, not for the
sake of merely refreshing his body with the fresh air of that broad
water, when languid with the confinement and closeness of the town, but
with the higher object of forwarding his vast enterprise. On this walk
he saw two brothers, Simon and Andrew, casting their net, or rather
seine, into the sea; for they were fishermen by trade, and not merely
occupied in this as an occasional employment, by way of diversion in
the intervals of higher business. Jesus directly addressed them in a
tone of unqualified command, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers
of men.” And they, without questioning his authority or his purpose,
immediately left their business at its most interesting and exciting
part, (just at the drawing of the net,) and followed him, as it
here seems at once, through Galilee, on his pilgrimage of mercy and
love. Matthew gives no other particulars whatever, connected with the
call of these two brothers; and had we been left to obtain the whole
gospel-history from him alone, we should have supposed that, before
this, Peter had no acquaintance, of a personal character at least,
with Jesus; and that the call was made merely in a private way, without
the presence of any other than ordinary accidental witnesses. From
Matthew we hear nothing further respecting Peter, until his name is
mentioned in the apostolic list, in the tenth chapter, except the
mention in chapter eighth, of the illness of his mother in-law at
his house. But the other gospel-writers give us many interesting
and important particulars in addition, which throw new light on the
previous circumstances, the manner and the consequences of the call.
2. Mark, in his first chapter, makes it appear as if, immediately after
the temptation of Christ, and before his entrance into Capernaum, he
met and summoned the two pairs of brothers, of which call the immediate
circumstances are given there, in words which are a very literal
transcript of those of Matthew, with hardly the slightest addition. But
the events which followed the summons are given in such a manner, as to
convey an impression quite different from that made by Matthew’s brief
and simple narrative. After the call, _they_, both Jesus and his four
disciples, entered into Capernaum, of which place Mark has before made
no mention; and going at once into the synagogue, Jesus preached, and
confirmed the wonderful authority with which he spoke, before the face
of the people, by the striking cure of a demoniac. From the synagogue
he went to the house of Simon and Andrew, by which it appears that they
already resided in Capernaum. Here a new occasion was given for the
display of the power and benevolence of the Messiah, in the case of
Simon’s mother-in-law, who, laboring under an attack of fever, was
instantly entirely relieved, upon the word of Jesus. This event is
given by Matthew in a totally different connection. Very early in the
next morning, Jesus retired to a neighboring solitude, to enjoy himself
in meditation apart from the busy scenes of the sabbath, in which the
fame of his power had involved him the evening before. To this place,
Simon and those with him, no doubt his brother and the sons of Zebedee
merely, (already it would seem so well acquainted with their great
master as to know his haunts,) followed him, to make known to him the
earnest wish of the admiring people for his presence among them. Jesus
then went out with them through the villages of Galilee, in the earnest
performance of the work for which he came. It is not till this place,
in the story of the leper healed, that the statements of Matthew
and Mark again meet and coincide. Mark evidently makes significant
additions to the narrative, and gives us a much more definite and
decided notion of the situation and conduct of those concerned in this
interesting transaction.
3. Luke has given us a view of the circumstances, very different, both
in order and number, as well as character, from those of the former
writers. His account of the first call of the disciples, seems to
amount to this; giving the events in the order in which he places
them in his fourth and fifth chapters. The first mention which is here
made of Simon, is in the end of the fourth chapter, where his name
is barely mentioned in connection with the account of the cure of his
mother-in-law, which is brought in without any previous allusion to any
disciple, but is placed in other respects, in the same connection as
in Mark’s narrative. After a full account of this case, which is given
with the more minuteness, probably from the circumstance that this
writer was himself a physician, he goes on to relate the particulars
of Simon’s call, in the beginning of the fourth chapter, as if it
was a subsequent event. The general impression from the two preceding
narratives, would naturally be, that Jesus went out on his walk by the
shore of the lake, by himself, without any extraordinary attendance.
But it now appears, that as he stood on the shore, he was beset by an
eager multitude, begging to hear from him the word of God. On this,
casting his eyes about for some convenient place to address them, he
noticed two fishing vessels drawn up near him by the shore, and the
owners disembarked from them, engaged in washing their nets. He then
first spoke to Simon, after going on board of his boat, to beg him to
push off again a little from the land, and his request being granted,
he sat down, and from his seat in the boat, taught the multitude
gathered on the shore. After the conclusion of his discourse,
perhaps partly, or in some small measure, with the design of properly
impressing his hearers by a miracle, with the idea of his authority to
assume the high bearing which so characterized his instructions, and
which excited so much astonishment among them, he urged Simon to push
out still further into deep water, and to open his nets for a draught.
Simon, evidently already so favorably impressed respecting his visitor,
as to feel disposed to obey and gratify him, did according to the
request, remarking, however, that as he had toiled all night without
catching any thing, he opened his net again only out of respect to his
Divine Master, and not because, after so many fruitless endeavors, so
long continued, it was reasonable to hope for the least success. Upon
drawing in the net, it was found to be filled with so vast a number
of fishes, that having been used before its previous rents had been
entirely mended, it broke with the unusual weight. They then made known
the difficulty to their friends, the sons of Zebedee, who were in the
other boat, and were obliged to share their burden between the two
vessels, which were both so overloaded with the fishes as to be in
danger of sinking. At this event, so unexpected and overwhelming, Simon
was seized with mingled admiration and awe; and reverently besought
Jesus to depart from a sinful man, so unworthy as he was to be a
subject of benevolent attention from one so mighty and good. As might
be expected, not only Peter, but also his companions,――the sons of
Zebedee,――were struck with a miracle so peculiarly impressive to them,
because it was an event connected with their daily business, and yet
utterly out of the common course of things. But Jesus soothed their
awe and terror into interest and attachment, by telling Simon that
henceforth he should find far nobler employment in taking men.
4. John takes no notice whatever of this scene by the lake of Galilee,
but gives us, what is not found in the first three gospels, an
interesting account, already quoted, of the first introduction of Peter
to Christ, not choosing to incumber his pages with a new repetition or
variation of the story of his direct call.
The office of an apostolic historian becomes at once most arduous and
most important, and the usefulness of his labors is most fully shown
in such passages as this, where the task of weaving the various threads
and scraps of sacred history in one even and uniform text, is one to
which few readers, taking the parts detailed in the ordinary way, are
competent, and which requires for its satisfactory achievement, more
aids from the long accumulated labors of the learned of past ages, than
are within the reach of any but a favored few. To pass back and forth
from gospel to gospel, in the search after order and consistency,――to
bring the lights of other history to clear up the obscurities, and
show that which fills up the deficiencies of the gospel story,――to add
the helps of ancient and modern travelers in tracing the topography
of the Bible,――to find in lexicons, commentaries, criticisms and
interpretations, the true and full force of every word of those
passages in which an important fact is expressed,――these are a few of
the writer’s duties in giving to common readers the results of the
mental efforts of the theologians of this and past ages, whose humble
copyist and translator he is. Often aiming, however, at an effort
somewhat higher than that of giving the opinions and thoughts of others,
he offers his own account and arrangement of the subject, in preference
to those of the learned, as being free from such considerations as are
involved in technicalities above the appreciation of ordinary readers,
and as standing in a connected narrative form, while the information
on these points, found in the works of eminent biblical scholars, is
mostly in detached fragments, which, however complete to the student,
require much explanation and illustration, to make them useful or
interesting to the majority of readers. Thus in this case, having given
the three different accounts above, he next proceeds to arrange them
into such a narrative as will be consistent with each, and contain all
the facts. In the discussion of particular points, reference can be
properly made to the authority of others, where necessary to explain
or support.
Taking up the apostolic history, then, where it is left by John, as
referred to above, and taking the facts from each gospel in what seems
to be its proper place and time; the three narratives are thus combined
into one whole, with the addition of such circumstances as may be
inferred by way of explanation, though not directly stated.
Leaving Nazareth, Jesus had come to Capernaum, at the northwestern
end of the lake, and there made his home. About this time, perhaps on
occasion of his marriage, Simon had left Bethsaida, the city of his
birth, and now dwelt in Capernaum, probably on account of his wife
being of that place, and he may have gone into the possession of a
house, inherited by his marriage, which supposition would agree with
the circumstance of the residence of his wife’s mother in her married
daughter’s family, which would not be so easily explainable on the
supposition that she had also sons to inherit their father’s property,
and furnish a home to their mother. It has also been suggested, that
he probably removed to Capernaum after his introduction to Christ, in
order to enjoy his instructions more conveniently, being near him. This
motive would no doubt have had some weight. Here the two brothers dwelt
together in one house, which makes it almost certain that Andrew was
unmarried, for the peculiarity of eastern manners would hardly have
permitted the existence of two families, two husbands, two wives in the
same domestic circle. Making this place the center of their business,
they industriously devoted themselves to honest labor, extending their
fishing operations over the lake, on which they toiled night and day.
It seems that the house of Simon and Andrew was Jesus’s regular place
of abode while in Capernaum, of which supposition the manifest proofs
occur in the course of the narrative. Thus when Jesus came out of the
synagogue, he went to Simon’s house,――remained there as at a home,
during the day, and there received the visits of the immense throng
of people who brought their sick friends to him; all which he would
certainly have been disposed to do at his proper residence, rather than
where he was a mere occasional ♦visitor. He is also elsewhere mentioned,
as going into Peter’s house in such a familiar and habitual kind of way,
as to make the inference very obvious, that it was his home. On these
terms of close domestic intimacy, did Jesus remain with these favored
disciples for more than a year, during which time he continued to
reside at Capernaum. He must have resided in some other house, however,
on his first arrival in Capernaum, because, in the incident which
is next given here, his conduct was evidently that of a person much
less intimately acquainted with Simon than a fellow-lodger would be.
The circumstances of the call evidently show, that Peter, although
acquainted with Christ previously, in the way mentioned by John, had
by no means become his intimate, daily companion. We learn from Luke,
that Jesus, walking forth from Capernaum, along the lake, saw two boats
standing by the lake, but the fishers having gone out of them, were
engaged in putting their nets and other fishing tackle in order. As
on his walk the populace had thronged about him, from curiosity and
interest, and were annoying him with requests, he sought a partial
refuge from their friendly attacks, on board of Simon’s boat, which
was at hand, and begging him to push out a little from the land, he
immediately made the boat his pulpit, in preaching to the throng on
shore, sitting down and teaching the people out of the boat. When he
had left off speaking, he said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep, and
let down your nets for a draught.” And Simon answered, “Master, we have
toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless, at thy word I will
let down the net.” As soon as they did so, they took into the net a
great multitude of fishes, and the net broke. They then beckoned to
their partners, who were in the other vessel, that they should come and
help them. And they came and filled both vessels, so that they began to
sink. When Simon saw what was the result, he fell down at Jesus’s knees,
saying, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For both he,
and they that were with him, Andrew, James and John, were astonished
at the draught of fishes they had taken. But Jesus said to Simon, “Fear
not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men;” and then gave both to him
and his brother a distinct call, “Follow me――come after me, and I will
make you fishers of men.” And as soon as they had brought their ships
to land, they forsook their nets, ships and all, and followed him,
not back into Capernaum, but over all Galilee, while he preached to
wondering thousands the gospel of peace, and set forth to them his high
claims to their attention and obedience, by healing all the diseased
which his great fame induced them to bring in such multitudes. This was,
after all, the true object of his calling his disciples to follow him
in that manner. Can we suppose that he would come out of Capernaum,
in the morning, and finding there his acquaintances about their honest
business, would call on them, in that unaccountable manner, to follow
him back into their home, to which they would of course, naturally
enough, have gone of their own accord, without any divine call, for
a simple act of necessity? It was evidently with a view to initiate
them, at once, into the knowledge of the labors to which he had called
them, and to give them an insight into the nature of the trials and
difficulties which they must encounter in his service. In short, it was
to enter them on their apprenticeship to the mysteries of their new and
holy vocation. On this pilgrimage through Galilee, then, he must have
been accompanied by his four newly chosen helpers, who thus were daily
and hourly witnesses of his words and actions, as recorded by all the
first three evangelists. (Matthew chapters iv.‒viii. Mark, chapters
i.‒iii. &c. Luke, chapters v.‒vi.)
♦ “visiter” replaced with “visitor”
The accounts which Matthew and Mark give of this call, have
seemed so strikingly different from that of Luke, that Calmet,
Thoynard, Macknight, Hug, Michaelis, Eichhorn, Marsh, Paulus,
(and perhaps some others,) have considered Luke’s story in v.
1‒11, as referring to a totally distinct event. See Calmet’s,
Thoynard’s, Macknight’s, Michaelis’s, and Vater’s harmonies,
in loc. Also Eichhorn’s introduction, 1. § 58, V. II.,――Marsh’s
dissertation on the origin of the three gospels, in table
of coincident passages,――Paulus’s “Commentar weber das Neue
Testament.” 1 Theil xxiii. Abschnitt; compare xix. Abschnitt,
――Hug’s “Einleitung in das Neue Testament,” Vol. II. § 40.
“Erste auswanderung, Lucas, iii.,” compare Mark.
These great authorities would do much to support any arrangement
of gospel events, but the still larger number of equally
high authorities on the other side, justifies my boldness
in attempting to find a harmony, where these great men could
see none. Lightfoot, Le Clerc, Arnauld, Newcome, with all his
subsequent editors, and Thirlwall, in their harmonies, agree in
making all three evangelists refer to the same event. Grotius,
Hammond, Wetstein, Scott, Clarke, Kuinoel, and Rosenmueller,
in their several commentaries in loco,――also Stackhouse in his
history of the Bible, and Horne in his introduction, with many
others, all take the view which I have presented in the text,
and may be consulted by those who wish for reasons at greater
length than my limits will allow.
“_Peter and Andrew dwell together in one house._”――This appears
from Mark i. 29, where it is said that, after the call of the
brothers by Jesus, “they entered the house of Simon and Andrew.”
“_Sat down and taught the people out of the ship_,” verse 3.
This was a convenient position, adopted by Jesus on another
occasion also. Matthew xiii. 2. Mark iv. 1.
“_Launch out._”――Luke v. 4. Επαναγαγε, (Epanagage,) the same
word which occurs in verse 3, there translated in the common
English version, “_thrust_ out.” It was, probably, a regular
nautical term for this backward movement, though in the classic
Greek, Εξαναγειν, (exanagein,) was the form always used to
express this idea, insomuch that it seems to have been the
established technical term. Perhaps Luke may have intended this
term originally, which might have been corrupted by some early
copyist into this word, which is in no other place used with
this meaning.――“_Let down_,” (Χαλασατε, khalasate, in the plural;
the former verb singular.) More literally, “_loosen_,” which is
the primary signification of the verb, and would be the proper
one, since the operation of preparing the net to take the fish,
consisted in _loosening_ the ropes and other tackle, which, of
course, were drawn tight, when the net was not in use, closing
its mouth. “MASTER, _we have toiled_,” &c. verse 5. The word
Επιστατα, (Epistata,) here translated _Master_, is remarkable,
as never occurring in the Testament, except in this gospel.
Grotius remarks, (_in loc._) that doubtless Luke, (the most
finished and correct Greek scholar of all the sacred writers,)
considered this term as a more faithful translation of the
Hebrew רבי, (_Rabbi_,) than the common expressions of the
other evangelists, Κυριε, (_Kurie_, _Lord_,) and διδασκαλε,
(_didaskale_, _teacher_.) It was a moderate, though dignified
title, between these two in its character, rather lower than
“Lord,” and rather higher than “Teacher.” It is used in the
Alexandrian version, as the proper term for a “steward,” a
“military commander,” &c. (See Grotius theol. op. Vol. II. p.
372; or Poole’s Synopsis on this passage.) “_Toiled all night._”
This was the best time for taking the fish, as is well known to
those who follow fishing for a living.
On this journey, they saw some of his most remarkable miracles, such
as the healing of the leper, the paralytic, the man with the withered
hand, and others of which the details are not given. It was also
during this time, that the sermon on the mount was delivered, which
was particularly addressed to his disciples, and was plainly meant for
their instruction, in the conduct proper in them as the founders of the
gospel faith. Besides passing through many cities on the nearer side,
he also crossed over the lake, and visited the rude people of those
wild districts. The journey was, therefore, a very long one, and must
have occupied several weeks. After he had sufficiently acquainted them
with the nature of the duties to which he had consecrated them, and had
abundantly impressed them with the high powers which he possessed, and
of which they were to be the partakers, he came back to Capernaum, and
there entered into the house of Simon, which he seems henceforth to
have made his home while in that city. They found, that, during their
absence, the mother-in-law of Simon had been taken ill, and was then
suffering under the heat of a violent fever. Jesus at once, with a word,
pronounced her cure, and immediately the fever left her so perfectly
healed, that she arose from her sick bed, and proceeded to welcome
their return, by her grateful efforts to make their home comfortable
to them, after their tiresome pilgrimage.
“_Immediately the fever left her._”――Matthew viii. 15: Mark
i. 31: Luke iv. 39. It may seem quite idle to conjecture the
specific character of this fever; but it seems to me a very
justifiable guess, that it was a true intermittent, or fever and
ague, arising from the marsh influences, which must have been
very strong in such a place as Capernaum,――situated as it was,
on the low margin of a large fresh water lake, and with all the
morbific agencies of such an unhealthy site, increased by the
heat of that climate. The immediate termination of the fever,
under these circumstances, was an abundant evidence of the
divine power of Christ’s word, over the evil agencies, which
mar the health and happiness of mankind.
During some time after this, Peter does not seem to have left his home
for any long period at once, until Christ’s long journeys to Judea
and Jerusalem, but no doubt accompanied Jesus on all his excursions
through Galilee, besides the first, of which the history has been here
given. It would be hard, and exceedingly unsatisfactory, however, to
attempt to draw out from the short, scattered incidents which fill
the interesting records of the gospels, any very distinct, detailed
narrative of these various journeys. The chronology and order of
most of these events, is still left much in the dark, and most of the
pains taken to bring out the truth to the light, have only raised the
greater dust to blind the eyes of the eager investigator. To pretend
to roll all these clouds away at once, and open to common eyes a clear
view of facts, which have so long confused the minds of some of the
wisest and best of almost every Christian age, and too often, alas!
in turn, been confused by them,――such an effort, however well meant,
could only win for its author the contempt of the learned, and the
perplexed dissatisfaction of common readers. But one very simple, and
comparatively easy task, is plainly before the writer, and to that
he willingly devotes himself for the present. This task is, that of
separating and disposing, in what may seem their natural order, with
suitable illustration and explanation, those few facts contained in the
gospels, relating distinctly to this apostle. These facts, accordingly,
here follow.