And it shall come to pass, [that] the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a [place] to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.
Ver. 10. The fishers shall stand upon it.] Upon the Dead Sea, where formerly they had little enough to do. This sea is the wide world dead in sins and trespasses. Eph 2:1 These fishers are Christ's apostles and ministers, who are called fishers of men, Mat 4:19 and their preaching compared to fishing. Mat 13:47 They fish with various success, as did Peter; Luk 5:5 but may enclose a great multitude, as he did; Act 2:41 and as Farellus, who gained five cities to Christ, who brought them to hand by whole shoals. Histories tell us of five hundred and eighty Jews converted to the Christian faith at Axvernum by one Avitus, a bishop, and baptized. a
From Engedi.] Called also Hazazontamar; 2Ch 20:2 that is, the city of palms, where grew the best balsam in the world, though it were near to the Dead Sea. b
Even unto Eneglaim.] Which is likewise a place adjacent to the Dead Sea, where Jordan falleth into it, as Jerome testifieth.
They shall be a place to spread forth nets.] Dr Preston being asked why he preached so plainly, and did so much dilate his sermons, being of such abilities? answered, he was a fisherman. Now such, if they should wind up their net, and so cast it into the sea, they should catch nothing; but when they spread the net, they catch the fish. I spread my net, because I would catch souls, said he; and indeed he had a very happy hand at it. c
The fish shall be according to their kinds.] The sea, they say, hath as many kinds of living creatures as the earth hath. "There is that leviathan, and there are creeping things innumerable." Psa 105:1-45
a Pappi, Eccles. Hist. Epit., p. 214.
b Joseph., De Bel., lib. i. cap. 13.
c Mr Wall's "None but Christ," p. 400.