Matthew 4:18

§ 26. CALL OF FOUR DISCIPLES, PRECEDED BY MIRACLES, Matthew 4:18-22 .

18. Saw two brethren Of this call of Simon and Andrew a fuller account is given in Luke 5:1-11. This was not the first meeting of our Lord with the brothers, for that is narrated in the first chapter of John. Nor is it to be identified with their incorporation into the body of the twelve apostles, which is narrated in Matthew 3:14. This call to follow him as a disciple was intermediate between those two events and preparatory to the latter. It may be remarked that in the apostolic college there were two couples of brothers, namely, Simon and Andrew, James and John. All four were from Bethsaida, on the Galilean side of the Jordan.

Simon, called Peter A Hebrew and a Greek name, according to the custom of that day. The Greek name, Petros, was given by our Lord in allusion to the hardy nature of this, the oldest, the most ardent, and, from the boldness of his character, the most conspicuous of the apostles. Hence he was chief of the apostles until surpassed by St. Paul; but not in the Romish sense. He possessed not a primacy of office, but a pre-eminence of character. On the contrary, Andrew, of the same stock, is tame in character and obscure in history. As apostles, they were officially equal; as men, they possessed by nature a great disparity.

They were fishers We have already remarked that the waters of the Gennesaret were prolific of fish, the taking of which formed a large share of the occupation of the dwellers upon its shores.