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Discipleship courses that respectfully explore the Jewish foundation of Christianity, and your Israel connection. Explore the weekly Torah portions, commentaries, and listen to Scripture readings, and get the free Torah reading schedule. A community of Messianic youth strengthening the bonds of faith through events and learning opportunities. Torah Portions. What is the Meaning of the Fish? In the miraculous catch of fish in John 21, Simon Peter counted large fish in his net.
Is there some symbolic meaning behind the number ? Ezekiel Jerome believed that the miraculous represented the apostles bringing all nations into the kingdom. These relationships might be coincidental, but the Ezekiel 47 imagery of the river of life flowing from within the Temple informs other important passages in John: From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. We have seen only extensive speculation and much exegetical imagination.
But perhaps we should not be hasty in rejecting all these interpretations, even though strange in our view — alphabetical code and symbolic numbers are not totally foreign to the Scriptures: think of , and in Revelation, and of the code-words for Babylon in Jeremiah , ; How do we know? Many tried to link this miraculous catch to the words that Jesus spoke at the beginning of his ministry, that his disciples would be made into fishers not of fish but of men Mark As we have seen, this marvellous catch is then understood to point to the ingathering work of the apostles — in various ways, the is construed to signify the fullness of the church or the gathering of the host of the Gentiles.
Indeed, this would be a beautiful image — the risen Lord giving a last tangible sign of his blessing and presence to his disciples before they spread their gospel-nets to the ends of the earth. But does it work? When looking for numerical symbolism in the Scriptures, we should firstly consider the place of the reference in the book. Revelation, in which several symbolic numbers are found, is of course a book rich in symbolism.
For the alphabetical code that occurs in a couple instances in Jeremiah, we rely on old rabbinical tradition. In the gospel of John, do we have other numerical symbolism or cryptic code? On the contrary, John is uniquely a historical book.
It is emphasized that John is an eyewitness. And again at the close of the gospel,. Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples which are not recorded in this book. But these are written John The gospel of John confirms in many places that the one who wrote this account was present with Christ during his ministry. Scholars have pointed to, besides these obvious additions of detail, small traits in the account which testify to the keen recollection of an observer.
And so Peter hops out into the water who but an eyewitness would include the odd detail of Peter first wrapping his outer garment about him?
It is a lively picture in the early morning on the shores of Sea of Galilee, and one that the disciples would not soon forget. Here was their Lord again, appearing to them for the third time after He was raised from the dead! Their hope was being restored, for their Master was restored to them, still in power and glory.
What then of the fish? It is no exaggeration to say that so many were caught, for the net was completely full. It is no invented number to specify that were netted, for John, helped by the Holy Spirit John , clearly had a careful eye for detail. Thus, if we accept the notion that John provides logonumerical structure to his works, we can understand the quantity of fish right after the 1st stage of the Gospel's conclusion as providing "the one who has understanding" Rev with the key of the logonumerical structure of the Gospel, as:.
Finally, is the gematria value of "sons of God" in Hebrew "benei haElohim" [3], so that the catching of fish can be additionally understood as adding a textual signature to the 1st stage of the Gospel's conclusion as I indicate below within []:.
Text on word frequencies quoted and commented in: Steve Moyise , Word frequencies in the Book of Revelation. Moreover, larger numbers were usually treated as the sum or product of smaller numbers; and since various combinations could produce the same result, the interpretative possibilities expanded accordingly. Koester goes on to say the fish, the year illness, and the 5, who were fed are probably not symbolic; they just happen to be the number of fish, years, or people. Seven is recognized as symbolic because seven has previously been identified as a symbol.
If the number of the fish had been a recognizable symbol like 70, the size of the catch would be taken as symbolic. The potential flaw in failing to study as symbolic is really based on works of others, not what John has done.
It rejects symbolic meaning to in John despite John's use of numbers symbolically primarily on the basis of other's works. One may dismiss 5, as just a number especially since it is used in Matthew, Mark, and Luke in a similar context. In this case John can be seen as affirming the number and its prior use. But 38 and are specific suggesting they are not chance numbers and since these numbers are hardly if at all used elsewhere in Scripture, prior use contributes little to the question of how John uses these numbers.
If it can be demonstrated John uses unique numbers in a symbolic manner, then it follows the number should be examined for its symbolic use. The healing of the invalid at the pool of Bethesda and the blind man at the pool of Siloam can be used to demonstrate the number of years is symbolic in both cases.
First the healing at Bethesda:. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. John begins by describing a scene at the "House of Mercy" the meaning of Bethesda with five colonnades, or porches.
Augustine and others saw five as symbolic, representing the Mosaic Law. In this case, the number 38 takes on additional significance since it corresponds to the number of years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness after rebelling when they heard the report of the spies Numbers Now the healing parallels the history of Israel: just as the nation waited years with the Law in hand, the invalid had been waiting years to enter the pool first.
There are other connections to the Old Testament:. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not walk in my statutes but rejected my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live; and my Sabbaths they greatly profaned. Ezekiel ESV. For years the house of Israel did not walk in His statutes and they greatly profaned His Sabbaths. Now Jesus heals a man who could not walk for years and who does not know Him. Clearly 38 is more than "just a number" of years and has been used to support the meaning of the overall passage.
It is a unique symbol. The sign comes after Jesus spits on the ground, makes mud, and tells the man to go wash in the pool of Siloam. He does and can see. Like the invalid of years, this healing occurred on the Sabbath. Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
This means he not only selected the specific sign, he chose the number seven , and determined their arrangement. The use of water and dust describe how man was created 2 and a later opening of the eyes is also part of the story of the first man Genesis Both the healing and the creation of the first man share common elements. This is reinforced when this sign is arranged as the sixth of seven signs.
In this case the failure to use a number is symbolic. Note the symbols only work if they described and arranged in the manner found. If the man had been blind years and the invalid paralyzed from birth, the symbolism dissolves. If the invalid of years was sent to Siloam where there are no colonnades, there is no corresponding significance to the number Likewise, if the man blind from birth was not the sixth sign, the symbolism fades. All of these taken together shows John has a symbolic use in view.
Since John uses numbers as established and unique symbols throughout, it is appropriate to consider the symbolic meaning of fish. In his book Koester sets forth his guidelines for understanding symbols:. Our approach has been to distinguish core from supporting symbols, so that if numbers do function symbolically, it is in a supporting capacity.
Numbers may acquire significance through association with the central images, persons, and actions in an episode, but the primary meaning of an episode never depends upon a number. The number may be a unique symbol, but it does not determine or change the message of the overall passage. Since John was written last the Gospel of Jesus Christ is brought to a close with the disciples making a great catch of fish, recalling an event at the beginning of the call to discipleship:.
But at your word I will let down the nets. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
Luke ESV. For Peter, John, James, and possibly others, their place within the collective Gospel narrative ends in a similar fashion to how it begins: with a miraculous catch after an unsuccessful night of fishing. There are common and different elements. Specifically John notes the fish remained in the net and were dragged to shore, not put into boats.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age… Matthew ESV.
The Kingdom of Heaven parable is drawn from the catching fish used in the context of judgement found in the Old Testament:. Amos NET. Jeremiah ESV. The catch in John has been constructed with parallels to the Kingdom of Heaven parable; in particular it is men who drew the full net ashore where the fish are counted.
These similarities suggest the significance of the number is to be found in the roles men will have in the judgement process. In John the main element is the exchange between Jesus and Peter where Jesus asks Peter three questions. After Peter responds Jesus gives Peter three different instructions:.
A symbolic use of the number should follow this pattern and be divided into three parts. Peter's instructions contain two types of work, feed and tend and two different animals, lambs and sheep.
This suggests the three parts are not identical. Rather two of the three should be the same. Of course all three numbers must have significance to judgment and relate to The ideal candidate for the two alike is the number It was the number of years the people were exiled to Babylon and is symbolic of judgment. This leaves a remainder of 13, a number which can be connected to both the disciples and judgement:.
Matthew ESV [also Luke ]. The symbols also work to support the three instructions Peter receives. The two different groups may represent Gentiles and Jewish people or new and mature believers.
Since Peter has fed them, he is better able to judge them. In fact there is a present tense sense of the meaning of judgment: judge whether someone is a lamb or a sheep and now feed them accordingly. If they do not know the Gospel, share with them; if they have believed, continue and make them into disciples of Jesus.
Similarly "tend My sheep" refines the interpretation when seen in the context of Peter's role as the leading disciple. Peter must also tend his fellow disciples. The distinction may be seen in the context between Christian witness and fellowship. The current disciples have already been fed by Jesus and have received the Spirit of Truth. The number 13 is amenable to other interpretations.
As Jesus is standing on the shore, He can be removed from the 13 and Paul could be added. Notes: 1. Craig R. Both water and dust are implied: " and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground The seven disciples dividing the fish, it is automatic for fishermen, found that it lacked 1 one fish for the perfect division, the total of , which divided for each disciple results in 22 fish, however, Jesus asked for a fish, resulting in two fish, the number 2 two There is evidence for the fish, and it is the number of the testimony of the bread that came down from heaven, of the fishing of men into the kingdom of heaven, and that even after all the persecutions, it was on fire.
According to Bauckham, Johns entire Gospel is structured around the numbers 17 and So the mention of this number is John 21 is not a coincidence. To Bauckham, the connection provides unity for the entire gospel.
This is unlikely to be accidental. There are not very many triangular numbers is the 17th of the series and they were well known to ancient people interested in such things. One other triangular number appears explicitly in the NT: the number of the beast Rev. The water flows east into the desert and brings the Dead Sea to life:. Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river.
When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Ezekiel Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading of nets.
As mentioned above, biblical authors regularly use numerical techniques within their writing for emphasis or connection. One of the best known is called Gematria. In Hebrew and Greek, the letters of the alphabet also serve as numerals, and so every word has a numerical value which is the sum of the numerical values of its letters. There is speculation, but nothing is certain.
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