We should note how Peter rushed into action, the very mo- ment that he " heard " the words, " It is the Lord," He did not wait to see, like Thomas on another occasion, hut was satisfied with a word from his brother Jolin, A single spark is enough to kindle tinder, and a single word is enough to stir a heart, when its affections are deeply concerned.
The Greek word which is rendered " fisher's coat," is only found here in the New Testament. Theophylact says it was the upper garment of a Syrian fisherman. The context seems to show that it was a sort of garment which a fisherman laid aside when in the very act of handling his nets.
When we read that Peter was " naked," I see no reason why we should suppose that he was entirely without clothes. I think the meaning is, that he was comparatively naked, having laid aside all his looser garments, as a fisherman in that hot climate naturally would, in order to be able to handle wet nets and fish with greater convenience. And when we read that he girt around him his fisher's coat, I think it simply means that he took up the loose outward garment that he wore when he went on the lake to fish, and girded it tightly round his waist before jumping into the sea.
When we read that Peter " cast himself into the sea," I see no reason for supposing that he swam to land. In order to Bwim, it is not likely that he would put on more clothes ! — I rather think that the water where he and his companions were was shallow, and that he waded to land. He knew that his large fishing-boat drew too much water to get near shore, and he was too impatient to wait for the slow process of launching the little boat, and coming ashore in it. I cannot doubt, as he jumped into the water, that he remembered going out of the same ship on a former occasion, and walking on the water " to go to Jesus."
It is only fair to say that Chrysostom thinks that Peter swam. On the other hand Brentius, Gerhard, and Archbishop Whately (see Bengel's " Gnomon," English translation), think that he walked on the water, in a miraculous manner, as on the former occasion !
8. — [And the other disciples came, etc.] Here we see, placed in strong contrast with Peter's action, the way in which the six remaining Apostles came to land. They came in the boat (" a little ship " is a defective translation), which means the skiff or punt which most large fishing vessels have with them. The
• water was evidently too shallow for the large fishing vessel to get near shore. And they came slowly, Ave may be sure, be- cause, for two hundred cubits, or one hundred yards, they had to drag behind their little boat a net full of fish. How heavy a drag such a net makes on a little boat's progress through the "water, those only know who have had exj^erience.