Indeed, the very fact that a casting-net took such a multitude of Fishes at once opened the eyes of St. John, who exclaimed to his fellow Apostles, "It is the Lord." St. Peter, with the impetuous zeal of his nature, acknowledged the truth of the exclamation, and, too impatient to wait until the boats could land, girt his fisher's tunic upon him, leaped into the sea, and swam ashore.
The third Greek word which is translated as "net" is sagênê (σαγήνη), a word which still survives in our term "Seine."
The Sagene, or seine-net, was made in lengths, any number of which could be joined together, so as to enclose a large space of water. The upper edge was kept at the surface of the water by floats, and the lower edge sunk by weights.
This net was always taken to sea in vessels, and when "shot" the various lengths were joined together, and the net extended in a line, with a boat at each end. The boats then gradually approached each other, so as to bring the net into a semicircle, and finally met, enclosing thereby a vast number of Fishes in their meshen walls. The water was then beaten, so as to frighten the Fishes and drive them into the meshes, and the net was then either taken ashore, or lifted by degrees on board the boats, and the Fish removed from it.
As in a net of this kind Fishes of all sorts are enclosed, the contents are carefully examined, and those which are unfit for eating are thrown away. Even at the present day much care is taken in the selection, but in the ancient times the fishermen were still more cautious, every Fish having to be separately examined in order that the presence both of fins and scales might be assured before the captors could send it to the market.
It is to this custom that Christ alludes in the well-known parable of the net: "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind;
"Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away." Compare also Habakkuk i. 14-17.
The important part taken by Fish in the earlier scriptural days is shown by the fact that in Jerusalem there was not only a fish-market, but that the gate which opened upon that market was called the Fish-gate. See 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14: "Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish-gate."
Afterwards, when Nehemiah obtained permission from Artaxerxes to rebuild the burnt and broken-down walls of Jerusalem, he restored the Fish-gate as it had been before: "But the fish-gate did the sons of Hassenaah build, who also laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof" (Neh. iii. 3).