Articles from Biblical Horizons

No. 133: 153 Large Fish

2000- 09- 01 00:09:00 James B. Jordan

BIBLICAL Horizons, No. 133

Copyright (c) 2000 Biblical Horizons
Sept ember, 2000
Simon Pet er went up, and drew t he net t o land, f ull of large sh, a hundred and
f t y-t hree; and alt hough t here were so many, t he net was not t orn.
(John 21:11)
T his is one of t hose t ext s in t he Bible t hat many people puzzle over. It is not a
puzzle f or some. T hey say t his just happens t o be t he record of t he number of
sh t hat were caught , evidence of a t rue shermans recount ing (e.g., Leon
Morris; William Hendriksen). It is t rue t hat t here were exact ly 153 sh caught ,
but t hat is not t he reason t he precise number is given. It does not occur t o
such non-lit erary int erpret ers t hat t he Holy Spirit of t en does not give precise
numbers, and t hat if t he precise number were not import ant , t he t ext would
only say many sh or about 150 sh.
Ot her comment at ors right ly not ice t hat Johns gospel is f ull of signs and of
allusions t o Biblical symbols, such as t hose associat ed wit h t he t abernacle,
t emple, f east s, sacrices, days of creat ion, and so f ort h. T hus, t hey admit
t hat t he number must have some meaning; but what ? A considerable number
of proposals have been advanced over t he cent uries, and t hese are of t en
list ed in various comment aries (e.g., Beasley-Murray; Raymond Brown). Some
are bizarre and arbit rary, and many have lit t le t o do wit h t he act ual event and
cont ext .
Raymond Brown cont ends t hat what argues against all such int erpret at ions is
t hat we have no reason t o t hink t he init ial readers of Johns gospel would have
caught any of t hem. I t ake up t his object ion below.
T he number 153 can be f act ored as 3 x 3 x 17. We can examine t he number 17
in t he Bible, and we will nd t hat it does occur in some import ant places. Of
course, t he numbers 7 and 10 are bot h numbers of complet eness or t ot alit y.
T hey are relat ed t o each ot her as 2 + 5 and 2 x 5. (Compare t he relat ionship
of 7 and 12: 3 + 4 and 3 x 4.) Bot h Book 3 and Book 4 of t he Psalt er cont ain 17
psalms. Also, not ice t he f ollowing:
Pat riarchlif espanf act oredsum of f act ors
Abraham175 = 7x5x57+5+5 = 17
Isaac180 = 5x6x65+6+6 = 17

Jacob147 = 3x7x73+7+7 = 17
T his can hardly be a coincidence.
Now, since bot h 7 and 10 are numbers of complet eness and t ot alit y, t heir
presence here would indicat e a complet e cat ch of large sh, of t he nat ions of
t he world (see below). Mult iplied t wice by 3 t his might indicat e Gods t ot al
permeat ion of t his redeemed world. I believe, however, t hat t here is an even
bet t er underst anding available.
Long ago, August ine of Hippo point ed out t hat 153 is t he t riangular of 17. T his
means t hat if we add 17 + 16 + 15 + 14 + 1, we come up wit h 153. T his
number can be expressed as a t riangle:
.
..

.
..

.
..

.
..

.
..

.
..
We in t he modern world do not usually st udy t riangular numbers, but t hey were
known in t he ancient world and t hus f ormed part of t he educat ion of scholars
like John, who, as t he sophist icat ion of his writ ings shows, was highly

educat ed. Accordingly, I dont t hink Brown is correct in assuming no ancient

readers would have caught on t o t his. And since t he Bible is ancient lit erat ure,
we should invest igat e t he possibilit y t hat t he number 153 is int ended as a
t riangular of 17. (T here is in f act one ot her signicant t riangular number in t he
Bible: 666, which is t he t riangular of 36, it self t he product of 6 x 6.)
Unf ort unat ely, August ine ignores t he cont ext of t he passage in explaining t he
meaning of 7 and 10. Seven, he says, is f or t he seven-f old Spirit of God, and
10 is f or t he T en Commandment s. Comment at ors disposed t o ridicule
allegorical int erpret ions are t hus able t o dismiss his suggest ion. My purpose
is t o rehabilit at e it .
Let us look back at t he event recorded in John 21. T o begin wit h, we have t o
remember t hat in Biblical symbolism t he land represent s Israel and t he sea
represent s t he gent iles. T he land is above t he sea, wit h mount ains on it
reaching up t oward heaven. T he land is a priest ly t errit ory bet ween Gods
heaven and t he rest of t he world. T hroughout t he Old T est ament t he gent iles
are of t en spoken of in t erms of t he sea, or are reached by crossing wat ers of
one sort or anot her. T his land-sea symbolism is applied consist ent ly in t he
book of Revelat ion t o dist inguish t he Jews and Judaizers f rom t he gent iles.
Corresponding t o t his, t he priest ly people are symbolized as sheep, goat s,
and oxen, while t he gent iles are symbolized by sh. Jonah, f or inst ance, is
swallowed by a big sh and t hen spat out again. T his symbolized Israels going
int o Assyrian exile and t hen being ret urned t o t he land. T hus, t he sh was
Assyria, a place where Israel would be prot ect ed while dwelling in t he gent ile
sea.
None of t he priest s, prophet s, and kings of t he Old T est ament were
shermen. T hey were all f armers or animal husbandmen. By way of cont rast ,
none of Jesus disciples was eit her a f armer or a husbandman. T he most
prominent of t he disciples were shermen. Nobody is shown eat ing f ish in t he
Old T est ament , but Jesus f eeds t he 5000 wit h sh, not wit h beef jerky. Af t er
His resurrect ion He eat s a sh, not a piece of lamb. T he disciples are almost
never spoken of as shepherds; t hey are shers of men. T his shif t in imagery
indicat es t hat Jesus new kingdom is going t o go t o t he whole world, t o t he
gent iles. (Signicant ly, Jesus combines shepherding and shing right here in
John 21, as Pet er is t old t o f eed My sheep.)
And now, in John 21, Pet er cat ches 153 large sh. Clearly, t hese large sh
speak of t he nat ions of t he world who are going t o be caught in t he net . T he
net is t he kingdom of God, f ocussed in t he Church. T he net does not break,
despit e t he large number of big sh. T he Church will not be dest royed by t he
nat ions she convert s, but will hold t hem and bring t hem t o Jesus, as Pet er
does. As t he net draws t he sh, so Jesus draws all men t o Himself .
T he big sh as t he gent ile nat ions provides us wit h an explanat ion of t he
number 153 as t he t riangular of 17. T he number of nat ions in t he world in t he
Old Covenant , according t o Genesis 10, was 70 (7 x 10). T he next number t hat

combines t hese t wo f act ors is 153. Not ice:

7 + 10 = 17
7 x 10 = 70
17 = 153
70 = 2485
T hus, t he number of t he nat ions of t he world in t he New Creat ion is 153. T he
world t hat God called old Israel t o minist er t o was large, 70 nat ions. T he new
world t hat is going t o come int o t he New Creat ion is even larger, 153 nat ions.
It is probably signicant t hat 17 nat ions are ment ioned in Act s 2:7-11. T his
includes Galileans. If we discount t he Galileans as t he shermen rat her t han as
t he sh and t hus st art wit h verse 9, we can st ill come up wit h 17 f rom t he last
phrase in verse 10: t he sojourning Romans, bot h Jews and proselytes, since
t he Jews are now one of t he nat ions t hat need t o be evangelized. It seems no
accident t hat 17 peoples are list ed here as t hose t o whom t he gospel rst
came. T hat being t he case, we can see t he init ial present at ion of t he gospel
as coming t o 17, and t hen t riangulat ing out t o 153.
(Of course, t his does not mean t hat we should t ry t o nd exact ly t his number
of nat ions in t he world. T he number is a symbol.)
T here is anot her good possible explanat ion f or t he number 153, and given t he
sovereignt y of God, it is likely t hat t his explanat ion is also correct t hat bot h
explanat ions are valid, each f rom it s own perspect ive.
In Ezekiel 47, we see bapt ismal wat ers owing f rom t he overt urned Bronze
Sea of t he T emple, owing out t o t he boundaries of t he Land. Remember t hat
Jesus claims t o be t he source of such living wat ers. In Ezekiel 47:9, we are t old
t hat very many sh will live in t he (f ormerly) Dead Sea as a result of t hese
living wat ers. In verse 10 we read, And it will come about t hat shermen will
st and beside it ; f rom En-Gedi t o En-Eglaim t here will be a place f or spreading
of net s. T heir sh will be acording t o t heir kinds, like t he sh of t he Great
[Medit erranean] Sea, very many.
T he Dead Sea is t he boundary of t he new land af t er t he exile, and a place of
cont act wit h gent iles. T he shes are clearly gent ile nat ions. T he f act t hat t he
sea is f ormerly dead and now is brought t o lif e surely indicat es t he inuence of
Rest orat ion Israel over t he nat ions bef ore Christ , and point s t o t he great er
inuence of t he Kingdom af t er Pent ecost .
Now, it is well known t hat Hebrew let t ers are also numbers: t he rst nine
let t ers being 1-9, t he next nine being 10-90, and t he last ve being 100-400.
Coding words wit h numbers is called gematria. If we subst ract t he En f rom
En-Gedi and En-Eglaim, since en means spring, t hen t he f ollowing emerges:

Gedi = 17 (10 = ; 4 = ; 3 = )
Eglaim = 153 (40 = ; 10 = ; 30 = ; 3 = ; 70 = )
Again, t his seems t oo close t o t he mark t o be a coincidence. Once again, we
have t he number 17 (Gedi, ment ioned rst ) and it s relat ive 153 (Eglaim,
ment ioned second) connect ing t o t he evangelizat ion of t he gent iles,
symbolized by shing.
Conclusion: T he number 153 represent s t he t ot alit y of t he nat ions of t he
world, which will be drawn in t he New Creat ion.
[St udent s may wish t o consult t he f ollowing t wo art icles, which were of help in
preparing t his essay: J. A. Emert on, T he Hundred and Fif t y-T hree Fishes in
John XXI.11, Journal of Theological Studies 9 (1958):86-89; Bruce Grigsby,
Gemat ria and John 21:11 Anot her Look at Ezekiel 47:10, Expository Times 95
(1983-84):177-178.]
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