CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>Matthew 4:19 Commentaries: And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/newcom.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader.js'></script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../vmenus/matthew/4-19.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmcom/matthew/4-19.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="http://biblehub.com/commentaries/">Commentaries</a> > Matthew 4:19</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../matthew/4-18.htm" title="Matthew 4:18">◄</a> Matthew 4:19 <a href="../matthew/4-20.htm" title="Matthew 4:20">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="topverse">And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.</div><div id="jump">Jump to: <a href="/commentaries/alford/matthew/4.htm" title="Henry Alford - Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary">Alford</a> • <a href="/commentaries/barnes/matthew/4.htm" title="Barnes' Notes">Barnes</a> • <a href="/commentaries/bengel/matthew/4.htm" title="Bengel's Gnomen">Bengel</a> • <a href="/commentaries/benson/matthew/4.htm" title="Benson Commentary">Benson</a> • <a href="/commentaries/illustrator/matthew/4.htm" title="Biblical Illustrator">BI</a> • <a href="/commentaries/calvin/matthew/4.htm" title="Calvin's Commentaries">Calvin</a> • <a href="/commentaries/cambridge/matthew/4.htm" title="Cambridge Bible">Cambridge</a> • <a href="/commentaries/chrysostom/matthew/4.htm" title="Chrysostom Homilies">Chrysostom</a> • <a href="/commentaries/clarke/matthew/4.htm" title="Clarke's Commentary">Clarke</a> • <a href="/commentaries/darby/matthew/4.htm" title="Darby's Bible Synopsis">Darby</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ellicott/matthew/4.htm" title="Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers">Ellicott</a> • <a href="/commentaries/expositors/matthew/4.htm" title="Expositor's Bible">Expositor's</a> • <a href="/commentaries/edt/matthew/4.htm" title="Expositor's Dictionary">Exp Dct</a> • <a href="/commentaries/egt/matthew/4.htm" title="Expositor's Greek">Exp Grk</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gaebelein/matthew/4.htm" title="Gaebelein's Annotated Bible">Gaebelein</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gsb/matthew/4.htm" title="Geneva Study Bible">GSB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gill/matthew/4.htm" title="Gill's Bible Exposition">Gill</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gray/matthew/4.htm" title="Gray's Concise">Gray</a> • <a href="/commentaries/guzik/matthew/4.htm" title="Guzik Bible Commentary">Guzik</a> • <a href="/commentaries/haydock/matthew/4.htm" title="Haydock Catholic Bible Commentary">Haydock</a> • <a href="/commentaries/hastings/matthew/4-4.htm" title="Hastings Great Texts">Hastings</a> • <a href="/commentaries/homiletics/matthew/4.htm" title="Pulpit Homiletics">Homiletics</a> • <a href="/commentaries/icc/matthew/4.htm" title="ICC NT Commentary">ICC</a> • <a href="/commentaries/jfb/matthew/4.htm" title="Jamieson-Fausset-Brown">JFB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/kelly/matthew/4.htm" title="Kelly Commentary">Kelly</a> • <a href="/commentaries/king-en/matthew/4.htm" title="Kingcomments Bible Studies">King</a> • <a href="/commentaries/lange/matthew/4.htm" title="Lange Commentary">Lange</a> • <a href="/commentaries/maclaren/matthew/4.htm" title="MacLaren Expositions">MacLaren</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhc/matthew/4.htm" title="Matthew Henry Concise">MHC</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhcw/matthew/4.htm" title="Matthew Henry Full">MHCW</a> • <a href="/commentaries/meyer/matthew/4.htm" title="Meyer Commentary">Meyer</a> • <a href="/commentaries/parker/matthew/4.htm" title="The People's Bible by Joseph Parker">Parker</a> • <a href="/commentaries/pnt/matthew/4.htm" title="People's New Testament">PNT</a> • <a href="/commentaries/poole/matthew/4.htm" title="Matthew Poole">Poole</a> • <a href="/commentaries/pulpit/matthew/4.htm" title="Pulpit Commentary">Pulpit</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sermon/matthew/4.htm" title="Sermon Bible">Sermon</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sco/matthew/4.htm" title="Scofield Reference Notes">SCO</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ttb/matthew/4.htm" title="Through The Bible">TTB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/vws/matthew/4.htm" title="Vincent's Word Studies">VWS</a> • <a href="/commentaries/wes/matthew/4.htm" title="Wesley's Notes">WES</a> • <a href="#tsk" title="Treasury of Scripture Knowledge">TSK</a></div><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="comtype">EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/ellicott/matthew/4.htm">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</a></div>(19) <span class= "bld">Follow me.</span>—The command came, as we have seen, to those who were not unprepared. Short as it was, it was in some sense the first parable in our Lord’s teaching, the germ of an actual parable (<a href="/matthew/13-47.htm" title="Again, the kingdom of heaven is like to a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:">Matthew 13:47</a>). It suggested a whole circle of thoughts. The sea is the troubled and evil world (<a href="/isaiah/57-20.htm" title="But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.">Isaiah 57:20</a>), and the souls of men are the fish that have to be caught and taken from it, and the net is the Church of Christ. The figure had been used before (<a href="/jeremiah/16-16.htm" title="Behold, I will send for many fishers, said the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.">Jeremiah 16:16</a>), but then it had presented its darker aspect, and the “fishers of men” were their captors and enslavers. The earliest extant hymn of the Church, by Clement of Alexandria, dwells on the image with a rich and suggestive playfulness. Christ is thus addressed:—<p>“Fisher of men, the blest,<p>Out of the world’s unrest,<p>Out of sin’s troubled sea<p>Taking us, Lord, to Thee;<p>Out of the waves of strife,<p>With bait of blissful life,<p>Drawing Thy nets to shore<p>With choicest fish, good store.”<p><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/benson/matthew/4.htm">Benson Commentary</a></div><span class="bld"><a href="/context/matthew/4-19.htm" title="And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men....">Matthew 4:19-20</a></span>. <span class="ital">He saith unto them </span>— Namely, after some previous circumstances, an account of which is given, <a href="/context/luke/5-1.htm" title="And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed on him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret,...">Luke 5:1-11</a>. <span class="ital">Follow me</span> — That is, not only now and then, as you have hitherto done, since my baptism, <a href="/john/1-37.htm" title="And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.">John 1:37</a>; but now leave your ordinary employments, and become my constant attendants; that by continually hearing my doctrine, and seeing my miracles, you may be fitted, in due time, to become my messengers to mankind. It is observable that, when God has called men to offices of dignity and usefulness among his people, or has particularly appeared in their favour, they have generally been engaged in some honest employment. Saul was seeking his father’s asses, and David was keeping his father’s sheep, when the Lord called them to the kingdom. The shepherds were feeding their flocks when they received information from the angel, accompanied by the heavenly host, of the birth of Christ. God called Amos from the flock, Gideon from the threshing floor, and the apostles here from their fishing. God does not encourage idleness, nor despise persons in mean employments. <span class="ital">And I will make you fishers of men</span> — You shall gather men into the gospel net, and gain them over to the faith; and such abundant success will I give you, that the number of souls converted by you, shall be greater than that of the fishes you have been used to catch. See notes on <a href="/context/ezekiel/37-6.htm" title="And I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD....">Ezekiel 37:6-10</a>. Observe, reader! The work of ministers is here set forth. They are not to fish for a livelihood, much less for honour and applause to themselves, but to win souls to God, and are to bait their hooks and order their nets for this end: which, however, will never be answered if, either by mere general discourses, they make the meshes so wide that sinners will find an easy passage through them, or, by abstract reasonings, and fine-spun speculations, they make the threads so small that they can easily break them; or, if they neglect to close the net upon those they have enclosed, by a proper and pointed application of their subject. Nor will all our art or labour make us fishers of men, without the divine blessing. Without this, like the disciples of old, we may toil all day and all night, but we shall catch nothing, or nothing to purpose. And it is to be observed further, that the apostles were not immediately to enter upon the work of the ministry, but were first to <span class="ital">follow Jesus. </span>And the apostles, in the choice of one to succeed Judas, limited themselves in their election to those that had <span class="ital">companied with them all the time the Lord Jesus had gone in and out among them, </span><a href="/acts/1-21.htm" title="Why of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,">Acts 1:21</a>. Those who do not observe this become fishers for something else rather than the souls of men. <span class="ital">They straightway left their nets and followed him </span>— Influenced by the power of his word, and struck with the wonderful miracle recorded <a href="/context/luke/5-6.htm" title="And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net broke....">Luke 5:6-9</a>. It is not of indispensable necessity that those who are called to the ministry of the word should have nothing else to do. Paul’s hand ministered to his necessities and those of his companions. But it is very desirable that they should be so supported as to be able to give themselves wholly up to the work of the Lord.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="mhc" id="mhc"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/mhc/matthew/4.htm">Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary</a></div>4:18-22 When Christ began to preach, he began to gather disciples, who should be hearers, and afterwards preachers of his doctrine, who should be witnesses of his miracles, and afterwards testify concerning them. He went not to Herod's court, not to Jerusalem, among the chief priests and the elders, but to the sea of Galilee, among the fishermen. The same power which called Peter and Andrew, could have wrought upon Annas and Caiaphas, for with God nothing is impossible. But Christ chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. Diligence in an honest calling is pleasing to Christ, and it is no hinderance to a holy life. Idle people are more open to the temptations of Satan than to the calls of God. It is a happy and hopeful thing to see children careful of their parents, and dutiful. When Christ comes, it is good to be found doing. Am I in Christ? is a very needful question to ask ourselves; and, next to that, Am I in my calling? They had followed Christ before, as common disciples, Joh 1:37; now they must leave their calling. Those who would follow Christ aright, must, at his command, leave all things to follow him, must be ready to part with them. This instance of the power of the Lord Jesus encourages us to depend upon his grace. He speaks, and it is done.<a name="bar" id="bar"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/barnes/matthew/4.htm">Barnes' Notes on the Bible</a></div>Fishers of men - Ministers or preachers of the gospel, whose business it shall be to win souls to Christ. <a name="jfb" id="jfb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/jfb/matthew/4.htm">Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary</a></div>19. And he saith unto them, Follow me—rather, as the same expression is rendered in Mark, "Come ye after Me" (Mr 1:17).<p>and I will make you fishers of men—raising them from a lower to a higher fishing, as David was from a lower to a higher feeding (Ps 78:70-72).<div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/poole/matthew/4.htm">Matthew Poole's Commentary</a></div> Here was their call to the office of apostles. It is observable that God’s calls of men to places of dignity and honour, and his appearances of favour to them, have ordinarily been when they have been busied in the honest employments of their callings. Saul was seeking his father’s asses, David keeping his father’s sheep, when the Lord called them to the kingdom. The shepherds were feeding their flocks when they had the revelation of Christ. He calleth four apostles from their fishery; Amos from amongst the herdmen of Tekoa; Matthew from the receipt of custom; Moses when keeping Jethro’s flock, <span class="bld"><a href="/exodus/3-1.htm" title="Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.">Exodus 3:1</a>,2</span>; Gideon from the threshing floor, <span class="bld"><a href="/judges/6-11.htm" title="And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites.">Judges 6:11</a></span>. God never encourages idleness, but despiseth not persons in meanest employments. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Follow me, </span> that is, to return no more to your employment. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">I will make you fishers of men:</span> here is the work of ministers set out, to gain souls to God; they are not to fish merely for a livelihood, much less for honour and applause to themselves, but to win souls to God, and are to bait their hooks and order their nets to this end, which they will never serve, if either by general discourses they make the meshes so wide that all will dart through them, or if by their wit and learning they make their discourses so fine and curious that few or none of their hearers can understand them. Nor will all our art make us fishers of men: <span class="ital">I will make you, </span> saith Christ. Paul may plant, and Apollos may water, God must give the increase. But yet we must order our nets rationally and probably in order to our end, and without that cannot expect God’s blessings. Nor were the apostles presently to enter upon the work of the ministry, but first to <span class="ital">follow</span> him. And indeed such should all gospel ministers be. In the choice of Matthias, Peter limited the people in their election to <span class="ital">those that had accompanied with them all the time the Lord Jesus went in and out amongst them, </span><span class="bldvs"> <a href="/acts/1-21.htm" title="Why of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,">Acts 1:21</a></span>. Other ministers commonly prove fishers for something else, not for the souls of men. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="gil" id="gil"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gill/matthew/4.htm">Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible</a></div>And he saith unto them, follow me,.... These two brethren had been the disciples of John, as Theophylact thinks, and which seems agreeable to <a href="/john/1-35.htm">John 1:35</a> and though through John's pointing out Christ unto them, they had some knowledge of him, and conversation with him, yet they abode with him but for that day, <a href="/john/1-37.htm">John 1:37</a> and afterwards returned to their master; and upon his imprisonment, betook themselves to their former employment: from whence Christ now calls them to be his disciples, saying "follow me", or "come after me": that is, be a disciple of mine; see <a href="/luke/14-27.htm">Luke 14:27</a>. And to encourage them to it, makes use of this argument; "and", or "for", I "will make you fishers of men": you shall be fishers still, but in a higher sense; and in a far more noble employment, and to much better purpose. The net they were to spread and cast was the Gospel, see <a href="/matthew/13-47.htm">Matthew 13:47</a> for Christ made them not , "fishers of the law", to use the words of Maimonides (g), but fishers of the Gospel. The sea into which they were to cast the net was first Judea, and then the whole world; the fish they were to catch were the souls of men, both among Jews and Gentiles; of whose conversion and faith they were to be the happy instruments: now none could make them fishers in this sense, or fit them for such service, and succeed them in it, but Christ; and who here promises it unto them. <p>(g) Hilcot. Talmud. Torah, c. 1. sect. 12. so Dr. Lightfoot cites the phrase, but in Ed. Amsterd. it is , "the judgments of the law". <a name="gsb" id="gsb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gsb/matthew/4.htm">Geneva Study Bible</a></div><span class="cverse2">And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.</span></div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><div class="comtype">EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/meyer/matthew/4.htm">Meyer's NT Commentary</a></div><a href="/context/matthew/4-19.htm" title="And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men....">Matthew 4:19-20</a>. <span class="greekheb">Δεῦτε ὀπίσω μου</span>] <span class="ital">come here after me!</span> <span class="greekheb">לְכוּ אַחֲרַי</span> (<a href="/2_kings/6-19.htm" title="And Elisha said to them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek. But he led them to Samaria.">2 Kings 6:19</a>; <a href="/1_kings/11-5.htm" title="For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.">1 Kings 11:5</a>), be my pupils. The disciples were in constant attendance on their teacher; Schoettgen, Hor. in loc.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="greekheb">ποιήσω</span> … <span class="greekheb">ἀνθρώπων</span>] I will put you in a position to gain men, that they may become members of the kingdom of the Messiah. Words borrowed from the domain of hunting and fishing (<a href="/jeremiah/16-16.htm" title="Behold, I will send for many fishers, said the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.">Jeremiah 16:16</a>) often denote the winning over of souls for themselves or others. Wetstein and Loesner, Hemsterhusius, ad Lucian. Dial. Mort. viii.; Burmann, ad Phaedr. iv. 4. Comp. on <a href="/2_corinthians/11-20.htm" title="For you suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.">2 Corinthians 11:20</a>. Here the typical phraseology suggested itself from the circumstances.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="greekheb">εὐθέως</span>] belongs to <span class="greekheb">ἀφέντες</span>, not to <span class="greekheb">ἠκολ</span>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="greekheb">ἠκολ</span>.] as disciples.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="greekheb">καταρτίζ</span>., either arranging (Bengel) or repairing (Vulgate and most commentators). We cannot determine which; Luke has <span class="greekheb">ἀπέπλυναν</span>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span> REMARK.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>The want of harmony between <a href="/matthew/4-18.htm" title="And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.">Matthew 4:18</a> ff. and <a href="/john/1-35.htm" title="Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples;">John 1:35</a> ff. is to be recognised, and is not (as the Fathers of the church, Kuinoel, Gratz, Olshausen, Hoffmann, Krabbe, Neander, Ebrard, Arnoldi, Luthardt, Bleek, Riggenbach, Lange, Ewald, Hausrath, Märcker, have attempted) to be removed by supposing that in Matthew it is a <span class="ital">second</span> calling of the apostles in question that is recorded, viz. that they had already been at an earlier date (<a href="/john/1-35.htm" title="Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples;">John 1:35</a> ff.) disciples of Jesus in the wider sense of the word, but that now for the first time they had become so in the narrower sense—that is, had become apostles. Comp. on <span class="ital">John</span>, remark after ch. 1. Matthew does not even agree with <a href="/luke/5-4.htm" title="Now when he had left speaking, he said to Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.">Luke 5:4</a> ff. See remarks on the passage, and Keim, <span class="ital">Gesch. J</span>. II. p. 215. We must in any case (in answer to Baur, Hilgenfeld) seek the true history of the occurrence in John, in whose account a merely preliminary adherence to Jesus is the less to be thought of, that immediately afterwards <span class="greekheb">οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ</span> go with Him to Cana (ii. 2), to Capernaum (ii. 12), and to Jerusalem (ii. 17, 22). This also in, answer to Liicke on <span class="ital">John</span>, I. p. 466 f., and to Wieseler, who distinguishes a <span class="ital">threefold act</span> in the selection of the disciples: the preliminary calling in <a href="/john/1-35.htm" title="Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples;">John 1:35</a> ff.; the setting apart to be constant attendants, <a href="/matthew/4-18.htm" title="And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.">Matthew 4:18</a> ff; <a href="/matthew/9-9.htm" title="And as Jesus passed forth from there, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said to him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.">Matthew 9:9</a> ff.; and the selection of the Twelve to be apostles, <a href="/context/matthew/10-2.htm" title="Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;...">Matthew 10:2-4</a>. Wieseler (<span class="ital">chronol. Synopse</span>, p. 278) lays especial weight on the circumstance that John names <span class="greekheb">τοὺς δώδεκα</span> for the first time in <a href="/john/6-67.htm" title="Then said Jesus to the twelve, Will you also go away?">John 6:67</a>. But John in general, with the exception of this passage (and the <a href="/john/6-70.htm" title="Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?">John 6:70</a> and <a href="/john/6-71.htm" title="He spoke of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.">John 6:71</a> belonging to it), only once again expressly mentions the <span class="greekheb">τοὺς δώδεκα</span> (viz. in <a href="/john/20-21.htm" title="Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be to you: as my Father has sent me, even so send I you.">John 20:21</a>), which is determined by the antithetic interest in the context. Especially in <a href="/john/6-67.htm" title="Then said Jesus to the twelve, Will you also go away?">John 6:67</a> are the Twelve opposed to those others, many of whom had deserted Him. Previously, however, John had no opportunity, where this or any other antithetical relation might give him occasion, to give prominence to the number of the Twelve.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>Besides, the history of the calling in Matthew, if it were not in contradiction to John, would by no means bear <span class="ital">in itself</span> a mythical character (Strauss finds in it a copy of the call of Elisha by Elijah, <a href="/1_kings/19-19.htm" title="So he departed there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle on him.">1 Kings 19:19</a> ff.), but is to be explained from the great, directly overwhelming impression made by the appearance of Jesus on minds prepared for it, which Matthew himself experienced (<a href="/matthew/9-9.htm" title="And as Jesus passed forth from there, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said to him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.">Matthew 9:9</a>); and this also is to be applied to the Johannine account. This narrative, which Schenkel and Keim relegate to the sphere of free invention, does not exclude the profound and certainly original words, “fishers of men,” which may have proceeded from the mouth of Jesus to His first called disciples on that day, <a href="/john/1-40.htm" title="One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.">John 1:40</a>; and upon the basis of these words the narrative of the call, as it is preserved in Matthew and Mark, might easily be formed.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/cambridge/matthew/4.htm">Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</a></div><span class="bld">19</span>. <span class="ital">fishers of men</span>] A condensed parable explicitly drawn out, ch. <a href="/context/matthew/13-47.htm" title="Again, the kingdom of heaven is like to a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:...">Matthew 13:47-50</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/bengel/matthew/4.htm">Bengel's Gnomen</a></div><a href="/matthew/4-19.htm" title="And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.">Matthew 4:19</a>. <span class="greekheb">Δεῦτε</span>, <span class="ital">come ye</span>) This word has the force of calling combined with the idea of the present moment; see <a href="/matthew/11-28.htm" title="Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.">Matthew 11:28</a>, <a href="/matthew/21-38.htm" title="But when the farmers saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.">Matthew 21:38</a>, etc. This is evident from the singular <span class="greekheb">δεῦρο</span>, <span class="ital">hither</span>.—<span class="greekheb">ποιήσω</span>, <span class="greekheb">κ</span>.<span class="greekheb">τ</span>.<span class="greekheb">λ</span>., <span class="ital">I will make</span>, etc.) The authority of Jesus Christ [is here asserted].—<span class="greekheb">ἁλιεῖς</span>, <span class="ital">fishers</span>) See <a href="/jeremiah/16-16.htm" title="Behold, I will send for many fishers, said the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.">Jeremiah 16:16</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="pul" id="pul"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/matthew/4.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 19.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Follow me</span>; come <span class="accented">ye after me</span> (Revised Version); <span class="greek">δεῦτε ὀπίσω μου</span>. There is no thought of continuous following from place to place (<span class="greek">ἀκολουθεῖν</span>) , but of immediate detachment from the present sphere of their interest and of attachment to Jesus as their leader. <span class="cmt_word">And I will make you fishers of men</span>; Mark, "to become fishers of men," laying more stress on the change in their character necessary for success in this new kind of fishing. <a href="/luke/5-10.htm">Luke 5:10</a> brings out the change in the nature of the work(<span class="greek">ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν</span>). <span class="accented">Fishers.</span> The word suggests care, patience, skill, besides habits of life fitted for endurance of privation and fatigue. The same promise is, as it seems, related in <a href="/luke/5-10.htm">Luke 5:10</a>, where notice: <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> It is connected with the miracle of the draught of fishes. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> It is not verbally identical with this: <span class="greek">Μὴ φοβοῦ ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν ἀνθρώπους</span> <span class="greek">ἔσῃ ζωγρῶν</span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(3)</span> The words are addressed individually to Simon. Matthew 4:19<div class="vheading2">Links</div><a href="/interlinear/matthew/4-19.htm">Matthew 4:19 Interlinear</a><br /><a href="/texts/matthew/4-19.htm">Matthew 4:19 Parallel Texts</a><br /><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/niv/matthew/4-19.htm">Matthew 4:19 NIV</a><br /><a href="/nlt/matthew/4-19.htm">Matthew 4:19 NLT</a><br /><a href="/esv/matthew/4-19.htm">Matthew 4:19 ESV</a><br /><a href="/nasb/matthew/4-19.htm">Matthew 4:19 NASB</a><br /><a href="/kjv/matthew/4-19.htm">Matthew 4:19 KJV</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="http://bibleapps.com/matthew/4-19.htm">Matthew 4:19 Bible Apps</a><br /><a href="/matthew/4-19.htm">Matthew 4:19 Parallel</a><br /><a href="http://bibliaparalela.com/matthew/4-19.htm">Matthew 4:19 Biblia Paralela</a><br /><a href="http://holybible.com.cn/matthew/4-19.htm">Matthew 4:19 Chinese Bible</a><br /><a href="http://saintebible.com/matthew/4-19.htm">Matthew 4:19 French Bible</a><br /><a href="http://bibeltext.com/matthew/4-19.htm">Matthew 4:19 German Bible</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><br /></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td align="center"><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><br /><br /> </div> <div id="left"><a href="../matthew/4-18.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Matthew 4:18"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Matthew 4:18" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../matthew/4-20.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Matthew 4:20"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Matthew 4:20" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div> <div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhnew2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>