FISH, NETS, HOOKS, FISHERMEN, THE GOSPEL & JUDGMENT
by Tuese Ahkiong
FISHING, NETS, HOOKS, FISHERMEN, THE GOSPEL have much to do with JUDGMENT of the Good and Evil upon the last generaton of The Old Covenant. The Fishermen were YHWH’s messengers, Apostles, Disciples called by Yeshua and sent to bring in the elect remnant of Israel in last days of The Old Covenant.
Below are several passages in which fishing is likened to judgment.
Ecclesiastes 9:12
For man does not know his time. LIKE FISH THAT ARE TAKEN IN AN EVIL NET, and like birds that are caught in a snare, SO THE CHILDREN OF MAN ARE SNARED AT AN EVIL TIME, WHEN IT SUDDENLY FALLS UPON THEM.
**Judgment
Isaiah 19:8
THE FISHERMEN WILL MOURN AND LAMENT, ALL WHO CAST A HOOK IN THE NILE; and they will languish who spread nets on the water.
Isaiah 51:20
Your sons have fainted; they lie at the head of every street LIKE AN ANTELOPE IN A NET; they are full of the wrath of the Lord, the rebuke of your God.
Jeremiah 16:14-18
The Lord Will Restore Israel
14 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 15 but ‘AS THE LORD LIVES WHO BROUGHT UP THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL OUT OF THE NORTH COUNTRY AND OUT OF ALL THE COUNTRIES WHERE HE HAD DRIVEN THEM.’ FOR I WILL BRING THEM BACK TO THEIR OWN LAND THAT I GAVE TO THEIR FATHERS.
16 “BEHOLD, I AM SENDING FOR MANY FISHERS, DECLARES THE LORD, AND THEY SHALL CATCH THEM. AND AFTERWARD I WILL SEND FOR MANY HUNTERS, AND THEY SHALL HUNT THEM FROM EVERY MOUNTAIN AND EVERY HILL, AND OUT OF THE CLEFTS OF THE ROCKS. 17 For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes. 18 But first I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations.”
***YHWH will call His Fishermen to fish for the elect remnant out of the Northern Kingdom regions. This happened when Christ came and commissioned His Apostles & Disciples.
Ezekiel 12:13
AND I WILL SPREAD MY NET OVER HIM, AND HE SHALL BE TAKEN IN MY SNARE. And I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, yet he shall not see it, and he shall die there.
**Jugdment.
Ezekiel 17:20
I WILL SPREAD MY NET OVER HIM, AND HE SHALL BE TAKEN IN MY SNARE, AND I WILL BRING HIM TO BABYLON AND ENTER INTO JUDGMENT WITH HIM THERE FOR THE TREACHERY HE HAS COMMITTED AGAINST ME.
**Judgment
Ezekiel 19:8
Then the nations set against him from provinces on every side; THEY SPREAD THEIR NET OVER HIM; he was taken in their pit.
**Judgment
Ezekiel 26:5
She shall be in the midst of the sea a place for THE SPREADING OF NETS, for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. And she shall become plunder for the nations,
**Judgment
Ezekiel 26:14
I will make you a bare rock. YOU SHALL BE A PLACE FOR THE SPREADING OF NETS. You shall never be rebuilt, for I am the Lord; I have spoken, declares the Lord God.
**Judgment
Ezekiel 32:3
Thus says the Lord God: I WILL THROW MY NET OVER YOU WITH A HOST OF MANY PEOPLES, AND THEY WILL HAUL YOU UP IN MY DRAGNET.
**Judgment
Ezekiel 47:10
FISHERMEN WILL STAND BESIDE THE SEA. From Engedi to Eneglaim IT WILL BE A PLACE FOR THE SPREADING OF NETS. ITS FISH WILL BE OF VERY MANY KINDS, LIKE THE FISH OF THE GREAT SEA.
**David was in the wilderness of Engedi 1 Samuel 24:1
Engedi (fount of kid, a baby goat), Eneglaim (fountain of 2 calves)
Northern kingdom involved in idolatry.
Amos 4:2
The Lord God has sworn by his holiness that, behold, the days are coming upon you, when THEY SHALL TAKE YOU AWAY WITH HOOKS, EVEN THE LAST OF YOU WITH FISHHOOKS.
**Judgment
Habakkuk 1
The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
Habakkuk's Complaint
2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
The Lord's Answer
5 “Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
6 FOR BEHOLD, I AM RAISING UP THE CHALDEANS,
THAT BITTER AND HASTY NATION,
WHO MARCH THROUGH THE BREADTH OF THE EARTH,
TO SEIZE DWELLINGS NOT THEIR OWN.
7 They are dreaded and fearsome;
their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards,
more fierce than the evening wolves;
their horsemen press proudly on.
Their horsemen come from afar;
they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
9 They all come for violence,
all their faces forward.
They gather captives like sand.
10 At kings they scoff,
and at rulers they laugh.
They laugh at every fortress,
for they pile up earth and take it.
11 Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
guilty men, whose own might is their god!”
Habakkuk's Second Complaint
12 ARE YOU NOT FROM EVERLASTING,
O LORD MY GOD, MY HOLY ONE?
WE SHALL NOT DIE. O LORD, YOU HAVE ORDAINED THEM AS A JUDGMENT, AND YOU, O ROCK, HAVE ESTABLISHED THEM FOR REPROOF.
13 YOU WHO ARE OF PURER EYES THAN TO SEE EVIL AND CANNOT LOOK AT WRONG, WHY DO YOU IDLY LOOK AT TRAITORS AND REMAIN SILENT WHEN THE WICKED SWALLOWS UP THE MAN MORE RIGHTEOUS THAN HE?
14 YOU MAKE MANKIND LIKE THE FISH OF THE SEA, LIKE CRAWLING THINGS THAT HAVE NO RULER.
15 HE BRINGS ALL OF THEM UP WITH A HOOK; HE DRAGS THEM OUT WITH HIS NET; HE GATHERS THEM IN HIS DRAGNET;
SO HE REJOICES AND IS GLAD.
16 THEREFORE HE SACRIFICES TO HIS NET
AND MAKES OFFERINGS TO HIS
DRAGNET; FOR BY THEM HE LIVES IN LUXURY, AND HIS FOOD IS RICH.
17 IS HE THEN TO KEEP ON EMPTYING HIS NET AND MERCILESSLY KILLING NATIONS FOREVER?
**YHWH ordains the Chaldeans to bring His judgment upon His people.
Matthew 4:18-22
18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, CASTING A NET INTO THE SEA, FOR THEY WERE FISHERMEN.19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I WILL MAKE YOU FISHERS OF MEN.”20 IMMEDIATELY THEY LEFT THEIR NETS AND FOLLOWED HIM. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
**see Jeremiah 16:16 in which YHWH calls His fishers.
Matthew 13:47-50
47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like A NET THAT WAS THROWN INTO THE SEA AND GATHERED FISH OF EVERY KIND. 48 WHEN IT WAS FULL, MEN DREW IT ASHORE AND SAT DOWN AND SORTED THE GOOD INTO CONTAINERS BUT THREW AWAY THE BAD. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
**see Jeremiah 16:16 in which YHWH calls His fishers.
Mark 1:16-19
16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, FOR THEY WERE FISHERMEN. 17 AND JESUS SAID TO THEM, “FOLLOW ME, AND I WILL MAKE YOU BECOME FISHERS OF MEN.” 18 AND IMMEDIATELY THEY LEFT THEIR NETS AND FOLLOWED HIM. 19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who WERE IN THEIR BOAT MENDING THE NETS.
**see Jeremiah 16:16 in which YHWH calls His fishers.
Luke 5:1-11
On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the FISHERMEN had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “PUT OUT INTO THE DEEP AND LET DOWN YOUR NETS FOR A CATCH.” 5 AND SIMON ANSWERED, “MASTER, WE TOILED ALL NIGHT AND TOOK NOTHING! BUT AT YOUR WORD I WILL LET DOWN THE NETS.” 6 And when they had done this, THEY ENCLOSED A LARGE NUMBER OF FISH, AND THEIR NETS WERE BREAKING. 7 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. 8 But WHEN SIMON PETER SAW IT, HE FELL DOWN AT JESUS' KNEES, SAYING, “DEPART FROM ME, FOR I AM A SINFUL MAN, O LORD.” 9 FOR HE AND ALL WHO WERE WITH HIM WERE ASTONISHED AT THE CATCH OF FISH THAT THEY HAD TAKEN, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “DO NOT BE AFRAID; FROM NOW ON YOU WILL BE CATCHING MEN.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
**Peter, a Jewish fisherman, aware of the Old Testament Scriptures of when the Messiah would arrive, Daniel 9, and the language of fishing throughout Scripture
see Jeremiah 16:16 in which YHWH calls His fishers.