I will send for many fishers;.. .I will send for many hunters.
Fishers and hunters
These refer to the successive invaders of Judea. As to “hunters,” see Genesis 10:9. Nimrod, “ the mighty hunter,” the first founder of an empire on conquest. The Chaldees were famous in hunting, as the Egyptians, the other enemy of Judea, were in fishing.
(1) “Fishers” expresses the ease of their victory over the Jews as that of the angler over fishes.
(2) “Hunters” indicates the keenness of their pursuit of them into every cave and nook. It is remarkable the same image of “fishers” and “fish” is used in a good sense of the Jews’ restoration, implying that just as their enemies were employed by God to take them in hand of destruction, so the same shall be employed for their restoration (Ezekiel 47:9-10). So, spiritually, those once enemies by nature (fishermen many of them literally)
were employed by God to be the heralds of salvation, “catching men” for life (Matthew 4:19). (A. R. Fausset, M. A.)
Verses 18. And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double.
The double effect of sin
We may illustrate the evil of sin by the following comparison. “Suppose I am going along a street, and were to dash my head through a large pane of glass, what harm would I receive?” “You would be punished for breaking the glass.” “Would that be all the harm I should receive? Your head will be cut by the glass.” “Yes! and so it is with sin. If you break God’s laws, you shaft be punished for breaking them; and your soul is hurt by the very act of breaking them.” (F. Inglis.)