The reader will doubtless have noticed the singular analogy between this parable and the saying of our Lord, "I have piped to you, and ye have not danced."
This is the net that is mentioned in Matt. iv. 18: "And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net (amphiblêstron) into the sea."
The second word, diktuon (δίκτυον), is derived from another word signifying to throw; so that if we use the expression "casting-net" for the word amphiblêstron, and "throwing-net" for the word diktuon, we shall be tolerably accurate. Practically both words are used for the same net, as we find by proceeding further with the sacred narration.
After mentioning that the future Apostles were casting a net (amphiblêstron), St. Matthew proceeds as follows: "And He said unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.
"And they straightway left their nets (diktua), and followed Him" (ver. 19, 20). In the following verse, where James and John are mentioned as being occupied in mending their nets after the wont of all practical fishermen, the word which is translated as "nets" is diktua.
If we turn to John xxi. we find the same word employed.
After the Resurrection, the fisher Apostles were pursuing their craft by night, as is still the custom, and had caught nothing—a very serious loss to them. Then at daybreak they saw their risen Lord standing on the seashore, and, as was several times the case after the Resurrection, did not recognise Him. He then told them to cast the net (diktuon) over the right hand of the boat, and as soon as that was done the net was filled with Fishes.
Now the knowledge of the real meaning of the word diktua gives to this passage a signification which it would not otherwise possess.
In ver. 11, St. John (who was one of the actors in the scene, and who therefore writes with the precision of an eye-witness) states that the number of large Fishes was a hundred and fifty-three, and yet the net was not broken. Knowing that the casting-net is comparatively small, we now see that a hundred and fifty-three large Fishes would completely fill a net which could be cast by one man, and that the miraculous element was twofold.
Firstly, the complete filling of the net with large Fishes, whereas six or seven small Fishes are the usual complement of a casting-net; and, secondly, the fact that the net which was held merely by a single rope in the middle, and which retained its contents simply by the weight of the leads round its margin, did not give way, and allow the enclosed Fish to escape.