woman of Samaria, and broke the ice, as it were, between Him and her ? ** Give Me to drink," He said. (John iv. 7.) Noth- ing sets people so much at ease, when they meet as strangers, as courteous inquiries about the simple matters of daily life.
The word " meat " is a striking example of the change which comes over the meaning of English words in the course of time. It means literally " anything eatable." — Two centuries ago the word " meat " was a translation which no Englishman would misunderstand. Now, unfortunately, it is a word con- fined entirely to " flesh." No translation can ever be perfect. All require occasional reverent revision.
The context seems to me to show that our Lord's inquiry was specially meant to apply to the success of the disciples in fish- ing. " Have ye caught anything that can be eaten ? " The disciples evidently took it in this sense.
It is worth noticing that our Lord must have spoken in a very loud voice, when He addressed His disciples in this verse. We are distinctly told that the boat was two hundred cubits, at least one hundred yards, from land, in the eighth verse, and there is nothing to show that the disciples put out further into the lake, when our Lord told them to cast in their net again. I mention this, because some, as Gerhard, Henry, and Besser, think that there was something curt, rough, and rather abrupt in the answer of the disciples. But they seem to forget that a conversation carried on over a hundred yards of water, could only be carried on in very brief and abrupt phrases.
The word " children " in this verse, rendered " sirs " in the margin, is to my mind rightly rendered in the text. It is a familiar, friendly mode of address, like our English " boys " or " lads," not necessarily implying great youth in the persons ad- dressed.
— [And He said... cast. ..rigJit side... find.] Our Lord now goes a step further in order to discover Himself to His disciples. He gives a command or counsel to cast their net, which they had apparently hauled into the boat, once more into the water, and upon the right side of the ship. Such advice, and such a prom- ise of success from a stranger, could hardly fail to strike the disciples. Would it not raise in the quick mind of John a sus- picion, that this was no common stranger who spoke ? Would not he and Peter both remember a former occasion, when they '• toiled all the night and took nothing," and yet, at the com- mand of their Master, had let down their nets again with mar- vellous success ? I think they would.
To me it seems highly probable that the disciples had finished their night's work, had hauled up their net into the boat, and were rowing toward home, tired of their profitless toil, when our Lord appeared and spoke to them.
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