FISHING FOR EXILES

Every Christian today is familiar with, or should be familiar with, Jesus’ call for his disciples to be “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19; Mark 1:17; Luke 5:10). In its immediate context, the disciples that Jesus was calling were literally fishermen who were catching fish, so the analogy to his mission of “catching” people with the gospel is obvious. But is there possibly more to the story that isn’t immediately obvious? Are there scriptural references to “fishers of men” elsewhere in the Old Testament that Jesus could possibly be drawing on? Like all of Jesus’ teachings, he drew on the only “Bible'' that he knew: the Hebrew Scriptures. It is likely that, with such an important calling placed on his followers, that he would have some scriptural reason for using this terminology.

Unfortunately, most believers are limited in looking at the passages from which Jesus may have been drawing, given that there are neither side notes or commentary in most of our modern Bibles to direct our attention to such passages (for another example, see John 7:38). However, as good Bereans who want to take scripture and Jesus’ teachings seriously (see Acts 17:11), we should make every attempt to reconcile both Old and New Testament teachings wherever possible. With that, we will turn our attention to the very possible, and likely, passage that Jesus was drawing from in this instance: Jeremiah 16.

In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet was constantly warning the Israelite people of the imminent threat of exile upon the land. Because of their blatant idolatry, grotesque practices, and constant ignorance of God’s commands, Yehovah [YHWH] was going to punish His own people by casting them out of the land He promised to their ancestors for 70 years.

In chapter 16 of Jeremiah, the warnings of exile was consistently emphasized. However, starting in verse 14, we start to see a glimmer of hope for the Israelite people, as God promised that He would eventually restore them from their captivity and bring them back into the Promised Land (Jeremiah 16:14-15).

Jeremiah 16: closes with yet more hope, that all the nations will eventually come to Jerusalem and acknowledge Yehovah [YHWH] as the one true God, as opposed to the false idols -gods that they have been following (Jeremiah 16:19-21).

What is most relevant to our discussion is that, sandwiched between these two great promises of restoration and glory, is a command from God that He was going to send “many fishermen” to fish for His people (Jeremiah 16:16). Could this possibly be what Jesus is calling to memory in his commission for his disciples to “fish” for men

Now, the immediate context of Jeremiah demands that this reference to “fishers of men” be taken in the negative light of God’s judgment. He was sending fishermen to drag off His own people into exile, along with hunters to “hunt” for those who fled the initial gathering of exiles (see also Ezekiel 12:13; Amos 4:2-3, 9:2-4; Habakkuk 1:14-17).

Given that it is so readily apparent that this passage is describing judgment, many commentaries and translators may have missed the possible connection to Jesus’ teachings, but not all of them.

Given the position of this passage between two promises of restoration from exile, multiple commentators are beginning to notice a connection. Below is a sampling of what some scholars are saying about this possible connection:

These are either enemy soldiers who will catch all refugees (Ezekiel 12:13; 29:4-5; Amos 4:2; 9:1-4; Habakkuk 1:14- 17) or God’s servants who will pluck people out of exile (cf. Matthew 4:19; Mark 1:17).1

The metaphor “fishers of men” glances back to the work of the two being called. It may also be reminiscent of Jeremiah 16:16. There Yehovah sends “fishermen” to gather His people for the exile; here Jesus sends “fishermen” to announce the end of the exile ...and the beginning of the messianic reign. Just as an aside a question comes to my mind: Could the two witnesses who arrive at the beginning of the last 3 1/2 years of this age; whose presence takes place right before the lord Messiah Jesus will take his place on the throne of David at Zion; be considered "fishermen" gathering Yehovah's people at the end of their exile?

In the Jewish mind; which still held true in Jesus’ time; was that the exile had not truly ended. They were still waiting on the Righteous Branch who would reunite God’s people and usher in God’s kingdom (Ezra 9:8-9; Isaiah 11:1-12).

The word of judgment proclaimed by Jeremiah’s life was further emphasized by the image of “fishers” and “hunters” roving throughout the land to round up all the people for exile (Jeremiah 16:16-18). When Jesus used the metaphor of "fishermen" to describe the mission of his disciples (see Mark 1:17; Matthew 4:19), he was reversing its meaning from that intended by Jeremiah. Jeremiah’s fishers caught men for judgment; Jesus’ fishers caught them for salvation - deliverance.

The position of this article is to back these commentaries on this passage, and undoubtedly others, in emphasizing that Jesus reversed Jeremiah’s initial call to take people into exile, and instead, used “fishermen” to call people out of exile.

While this may sound “fishy” to some and anachronistic to others, consider first three truths about the gospel message of Jesus.

“Exile” has been God’s way of punishing mankind for their sins since the beginning in the Garden of Eden (see Genesis 3), as He cast them out of His presence into foreign territory outside the peace of the garden. This isn’t just an ancient Israelite issue. This is an issue for humanity.

We are all living in exile from our homeland in God’s perfect paradise because of our constant idolatry and grotesque sins (see Romans 1:18-32).

Even after their return to Jerusalem under the reign of Cyrus of Persia in 539 BC, many did not return (see Ezra-Nehemiah). In fact, only people within the tribes of Judah and Benjamin chose to return from exile for various reasons (see Ezra 1:5). However, the promise of God was that all of Israel and Judah would be restored again together to the Promised Land as one tribe (Jeremiah 23:5-6; 50:4-5).

The gospel message that Jesus proclaimed about the kingdom of God would naturally have been understood in a first-century Jewish context to be referring to the time when God would finally end their exile under foreign dominion, and bring about the reign of God over His people in complete peace.

The author N.T. Wright writes:

“But at least we can be sure of this: anyone who was heard talking about the reign of Israel’s God would be assumed to be referring to the fulfilment of Israel’s long-held hope. The covenant God - Yehovahd would act to reconstitute His people, to end their exile, to forgive their sins. When that happened, Israel would no longer be dominated by the pagans. She would be free.”

Jesus has given all of his disciples, including you and I, a tremendous call and function within God’s plan to save humanity: to go out and fish for exiles.

All of us at one point were separated from a loving, covenant God - Yehovah because of sin. Now, through the sin-offering sacrifice of His faithful son, we can “come home” to our Father and enjoy His presence (John 14:1-3; Romans 5:6-10).

Brothers and sisters, we are commissioned by Jesus himself to go out and cast a net for the kingdom of God, drawing others into the same fellowship that we now share. It’s not a complicated task, but one that is extremely powerful and life-changing. To simply share the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus the Messiah (Acts 8:12) could very well rescue someone from eternal darkness and exile. Are you willing to commit to fishing today?

Written by Talon Paul pastor of Maple Grove Community Church in Kokomo, IN. He currently serves on the Church of God General Conference's Board of Directors, and he is a member of the Ministerial Association Leadership Team. Edited by Bruce Lyon