THE PARABLE OF DRAWING THE NET

[Albert Finch]

Matthew 13:47-50 - 47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; 48 and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. 49 So it will be at the [a]end of the age; the angels will come forth and [b]take out the wicked from among the righteous, 50 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. - NASB

The net in this case is not the hand-net of Matthew 4:18, but the sagenè, or great drag-net, which drew in a larger haul of fishes. As in the parable of the Tares, the main thoughts are, (1) the mingling of the evil with the good in the visible kingdom of Christ on earth, and (2) the ultimate separation of the two, that each may receive according to the divine law of retribution. The nature of the fish that are taken in its meshes, and, therefore, that those that remain “bad” are so in the end by the result of their own will. - Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net ... - This parable does not differ in meaning from that of the tares. The gospel is compared to a net dragging along on the bottom of a lake, and collecting all - good and bad. The gospel may be expected to do the same; but in the end of the world, when the net "is drawn in," the bad will be separated from the good; the one will be cast away, and the other saved. Our Saviour never fails to keep before our minds the great truth that there is to be a day of judgment, and that there will be a separation of the good and the evil. He came to preach salvation; and it is a remarkable fact, also, that the most fearful accounts of hell and of the sufferings of the damned, in the Scriptures, are from his lips. How does this agree with the representations of those who say that all will be saved? -- Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind—The word here rendered "net" signifies a large drag-net, which draws everything after it, suffering nothing to escape, as distinguished from a casting-net (Mark 1:16, 18). The far-reaching efficacy of the Gospel is thus denoted. This Gospel net "gathered of every kind," meaning every variety of character. -- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

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