Jeremiah 16:16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, said the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters… These refer to the successive invaders of Judea. As to "hunters," see Genesis 10:9. Nimrod, " the mighty hunter," the first founder of an empire on conquest. The Chaldees were famous in hunting, as the Egyptians, the other enemy of Judea, were in fishing. (1) "Fishers" expresses the ease of their victory over the Jews as that of the angler over fishes. (2) "Hunters" indicates the keenness of their pursuit of them into every cave and nook. It is remarkable the same image of "fishers" and "fish" is used in a good sense of the Jews' restoration, implying that just as their enemies were employed by God to take them in hand of destruction, so the same shall be employed for their restoration (Ezekiel 47:9, 10). So, spiritually, those once enemies by nature (fishermen many of them literally) were employed by God to be the heralds of salvation, "catching men" for life (Matthew 4:19). (A. R. Fausset, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. |
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