Verse 13
Waves cast up bits of filth and debris on the shore with their foam and flotsam (wreckage, refuse). Similarly the false teachers spread evidence of their uncontrolled immorality and impurity wherever they went (cf. Isaiah 57:20). This comparison emphasizes ". . . the restless and unrestrained nature of these men." [Note: Hiebert, "An Exposition . . . 12-16," p. 243.]
Some "stars" move about in the sky differently from the other stars. We now recognize these as planets and distinguish them from stars. Similarly the false teachers behaved out of harmony with the other luminaries. The Greek word planetes, which transliterated means "planet," really means wanderer. Long ago stargazers observed that these wanderers across the sky were different from the fixed stars. Likewise the false teachers had gone off course and had led people astray.
Another possible though less likely interpretation is that the reference is to meteors or "shooting stars" that flash across the sky but quickly disappear in darkness. [Note: See Kelly, p. 274, for a refutation of this view.] The "black darkness," away from the Source of light, indicates the eternal punishment of those among them who were not Christians.
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