Why 153?

[Guest Zayit]

I believe that everything the Holy Spirit caused the Apostles to remember to write down years later is relevant. Therefore I am interested in what could be the meaning of recording the exact number of fish in this story?

It could have said, a large amount or full to overflowing net, but it is specific. Why?

Why wasn't it sufficient to just say what it says here in verse 6? the multitude of fishes.

21:1

After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself.

21:2

There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.

21:3

Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that * * night they caught nothing.

21:4

But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.

21:5

Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No.

21:6

And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.

21:7

Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea.

21:8

And the other disciples came in a little ship; * (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes.

21:9

As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.

21:10

Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.

21:11

Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.

21:12

Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.

21:13

Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise.

21:14

This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.

21:15

So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

21:16

He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

21:17

He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

21:18

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.

21:19

* This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

21:20

Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?

21:21

Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?

21:22

Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.

21:23

Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him *, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?

21:24

This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.

21:25

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

Thoughts?

[M45510G1C]

You done got the ol cryptographer in me all worked up now...

153......

1+5+3=9

The alphanumeric value (in English) of "Nine is the key" is 144.....

"The God of Israel" "Jesus is Nine" "Lucifer is Nine" "One two six" all 144

1+2+6=9

something else I noticed.....ANV of "one" = 34 = 7 (reduced)

Numbers and language....strange things, did we invent them or discover them?

mmmm I'm probably way off track here, but I do gotta wonder just how deep the proverbial rabbit hole goes, eh?

[Ovedya]

The simplest explanation for the number is just that 153 was a great number of fish to be caught at that time of the morning, or for the nets to hold. So they counted them.

You have to remember that the writers of the Bible wrote their accounts to people in their own time. 153 might not seem like a significant number of fish to us, but it might have been to them. Also, it might just have been significant because they hadn't caught anything all night. So any reader of the apostles' story would have seen that and went, "Wow, man...that's a lot of fish."

While I personally believe that there is significance in every verse of the Bible, I think that in many cases you have to consider entire passages in order to dig out the hidden "nuggets" of spiritual significance. In this passage what is most prominent to me is the fact that the apostles went back to their former means of living after the Lord had seemingly died. The Lord's appearing to them, and His specifically asking Peter, "Do you love these more than me?" - meaning the fish - indicated that their vision was still woefully short - even after all that the Lord Jesus had taken them through. It's rather exposing when you consider it personally.

Also, the fact that the Lord asked Peter three time is significant. It was His response to Peter's threefold denial of the Lord.

[RebekahDavid]

Great post ! I hunger for things like this! Good question Ovedya and really has me wondering too. I am not very knowledgable when it comes to a lot of things and I know that I have much to learn. I totally agree that every jot in scripture holds great significance. This is just a guess on my part. Could it (the number) stand for the cities (or tribes or people or country) where Peter was to be "the fisherman" for the GospeL? Where He was supposed to feed the Lord's sheep with the Good News? I am fervently praying that you have the answer or that the Lord illuminates your understanding of this so that I may learn too. Thank you so much.

Love your sister in Christ,

Rebekah David

[RebekahDavid]

oops I mean Zayit. Sorry the Lord is keeping humble with all my flaws

Love Your sister in Christ,

Rebekah David

[Guest shiloh357]

You have to remember that the writers of the Bible wrote their accounts to people in their own time. 153 might not seem like a significant number of fish to us, but it might have been to them. Also, it might just have been significant because they hadn't caught anything all night. So any reader of the apostles' story would have seen that and went, "Wow, man...that's a lot of fish."

I agree... Also verse 11 tells us the net was unbroken which might account for the number needing to be told. It might have been that the kind of nets they were using at the time were not made to accomodate such a large number fish, given that those "Sea of Galilee" fish were big enough to be considered "trophies" by our standards. These were not little fishies. These were large enough to be a meal all on their own. So 153 of these "Galilean" fish would have been quite a haul indeed.

[Matthitjah]

Grace to you,

Then there is also the juxtaposition in Luke . Where the nets were so full they broke.

In Luke we see Peter questioning the Lord. Thinking that he himself certainly knew better how to fish than this Carpenter from Nazareth. Then finding out that the Lord of the Harvest did indeed know a little about fishing. As we begin to see Peter dropping to His kness asking the Lord to leave Him for he was indeed a sinful man. All the while the boats were sinking because of their unbelief. Sinking into the sea.........

Now in John we see them Obediently dropping the nets. To recieve a huge catch. The nets haven't torn and they can actually count the harvest. In boats that are afloat. Upon the sea.........However, rather than running away? Peter has run to His Lord and professed His Love. Despite the fact that he is off focus and worried about what John is doing.

The Lord actually asked them if they had any food to eat. Knowing full well that they didn't. He already had supplied them with Food........ The Lord's Food was to do the Will of Him by whom He was sent. When they arrived on shore? There was already a fire with hot coals, bread, and fish laid out.

I don't know if the number is significant or not. I do know that to Love the Lord with all ones heart, strength, and soul is the most important of all.

Feed my sheep, feed my lambs, feed my Sheep, Peter.......

Peace,

Dave

[Guest Zayit]

oops I mean Zayit. Sorry the Lord is keeping humble with all my flaws

Love Your sister in Christ,

Rebekah David

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

NO problem.

I do have an idea, do we have anyone here proficient in Greek? I know Hebrew letters also represent numbers, and the same in Greek too.

In English word games you could be asked , how many words can you make using these letters?

REAT

Rate

Tare

Tear

Arte

ETC, you get the idea

And see what you come up with. Same in Hebrew or Greek, but the added bonus is that you will also have a number, no matter what the word you come up with the letters it will equal the number. So I am wondering what other words can you get from those letters.

But much to my shock when I looked up the transliterated words for one hundred fifty and three, there were not Greek letters, but words, so Greek has words AND letters for numbers????

[Guest Zayit]

Grace to you,

Then there is also the juxtaposition in Luke . Where the nets were so full they broke.

In Luke we see Peter questioning the Lord. Thinking that he himself certainly knew better how to fish than this Carpenter from Nazareth. Then finding out that the Lord of the Harvest did indeed know a little about fishing. As we begin to see Peter dropping to His kness asking the Lord to leave Him for he was indeed a sinful man. All the while the boats were sinking because of their unbelief. Sinking into the sea.........

Now in John we see them Obediently dropping the nets. To recieve a huge catch. The nets haven't torn and they can actually count the harvest.    In boats that are afloat. Upon the sea.........However, rather than running away? Peter has run to His Lord and professed His Love. Despite the fact that he is off focus and worried about what John is doing.

The Lord actually asked them if they had any food to eat. Knowing full well that they didn't. He already had supplied them with Food........ The Lord's Food was to do the Will of Him by whom He was sent. When they arrived on shore? There was already a fire with hot coals, bread, and fish laid out.

I don't know if the number is significant or not.  I do know that to Love the Lord with all ones heart, strength, and soul is the most important of all.

Feed my sheep, feed my lambs, feed my Sheep, Peter.......

Peace,

Dave

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nice!

[Gerioke]

You have to remember that the writers of the Bible wrote their accounts to people in their own time. 153 might not seem like a significant number of fish to us, but it might have been to them. Also, it might just have been significant because they hadn't caught anything all night. So any reader of the apostles' story would have seen that and went, "Wow, man...that's a lot of fish."

I agree... Also verse 11 tells us the net was unbroken which might account for the number needing to be told. It might have been that the kind of nets they were using at the time were not made to accomodate such a large number fish, given that those "Sea of Galilee" fish were big enough to be considered "trophies" by our standards. These were not little fishies. These were large enough to be a meal all on their own. So 153 of these "Galilean" fish would have been quite a haul indeed.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So what kind of fish are they?