Meditations in Matthew Thirteen: Fish and Scribes

We are using our prophetic model (inmillennialism) to interpret selected passages in Matthew. We have come to a passage (Matt 13:46–52) that contains two sayings of Jesus.

The setting is important. Jesus gave them in the “last days” (Heb 1:2) of the Mosaic age. He was about to take the church kingdom¹ from Israel after the flesh (1 Cor 10:18). He would give it to a “holy nation” (Matt 21:43; cp. 1 Pet 2:9).

In our current passage, Jesus describes this kingdom transfer using fish and scribes.

 

The Fish Parable

Jesus’s fish parable completes the set of seven we listed earlier (here). Each of these parables

1. Shows a truth about the kingdom of heaven 
2. Describes something valuable inside something else
3. Separates the valuable thing from its inferior surroundings
4. Depicts a divine person (or his agents) as the main actor(s). 

Earlier, we called this “the parable of the net” (Matt 13:47–50). But, the parable focuses on the separation of good fish from bad. So, we have changed our title to “the parable of the fish.”²

This parable “is parallel to the parable of the weeds and has a somewhat similar meaning.”³ We have seen⁴ how inmillennialism understands that parable. Here, we will build upon that understanding.

These parables show a fundamental change in God’s church kingdom. In the Mosaic age, Israel comprised both saved and unsaved persons. It was a “mixed multitude” (Exod 12:38). A “remnant according to the election of grace” existed within that nation (Rom 11:5). The parables describe it as having both wheat and tares, good fish and bad.

This situation changed during the “last days” of the Mosaic age. Then, Christ established the church kingdom as it would exist in the messianic age. Only born-again persons can enter that kingdom (John 3:3, 5). No tares or bad fish live in it.

The following chart is a modification of one we used in Revelation (here). It shows this age transition:

Jesus would send his angels “at the end of the age” to “separate the wicked from among the just” (Matt 13:49 NKJV). This separation would occur through God’s final judgment of fleshly Israel. He would bring “great tribulation,” destroy her Temple, and end the daily sacrifices. And all within that generation (Matt 24:1–3, 21, 34; Dan 12:11).

Jesus is not using new imagery. The prophets had used fish imagery to represent God’s past judgments. We will consider two examples.

Ezekiel’s Fish

Ezekiel tells of Egypt’s coming destruction: “Thus says the Lord GOD: I will throw my net over you with a host of many peoples, and they will haul you up in my dragnet. And I will cast you on the ground; on the open field I will fling you, and will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle on you, and I will gorge the beasts of the whole earth with you” (Ezek 32:3–4 ESV).

John Gill says the net represents “the Chaldean army, which the Lord would instigate, and by his providence bring against the king of Egypt, and surround him as fishes in a net, and take him and his people.”⁵

Ezekiel uses another figure to describe Egypt’s judgment. Through him, God says, “And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD” (Ezek 32:7–8). This “cosmic collapse is a common image with earth-shaking events (cf. Joel 2:28; Acts 2).”⁶

This combination of images—fish and cosmic collapse—reinforces inmillennialism’s interpretation. We will say more about this below.

Habakkuk’s Fish

Another example of fish imagery comes from Habakkuk. He applies it to Israel (Hab 1:14–2:4). The Chaldeans would spread their net over the disobedient nation (Hab 1:6). John Gill says, 

Nebuchadnezzar and his army take up all out of the sea of the world; are ambitious of getting all kingdoms and nations of the world under their power and dominion; particularly all Judea, and all the inhabitants of it, good and bad, without any distinction; for all were fish which came to their net.⁷

The ultimate result of this vision was not in Habakkuk’s immediate future. God said, “the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak” (Hab 2:3). 

We know “the end” means the end of the Mosaic age. The prophet said this judgment would produce a time when “the just shall live by his faith” (Hab 2:4). This is a reference to the messianic age. As Gill says,

at the end of the Jewish state, both civil and ecclesiastic, the Messiah should appear, as he did, which is called the end of the world, 1 Cor. 10:11; Heb. 9:26. when a new world began, the world to come, the Gospel dispensation.⁸

The apostle Paul understood Habakkuk’s prophecy this way. He said that in the gospel of Christ “is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (Rom 1:17; emphasis added). 

Habakkuk’s fish imagery pertained to the end of the Mosaic age and the beginning of the messianic age.

Jesus’s Fish

At the end of his parable, Jesus added two other images to his fish story. The angels would cast the bad fish “into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Matt 13:50). 

The “furnace” is a common element in God’s judgment of Israel (Ezek 22:17–22; Deut 4:20; 1 Kings 8:51; Isa 31:9; and Isa 48:10). God would cast Israel into the furnace of “great tribulation” in Jesus’s generation (Matt 24:21, 34). We saw this in our post on The Parable of the Weeds.

The Lord also added “wailing and gnashing of teeth” imagery. He explained this image elsewhere. It refers to God casting Israel after the flesh out of the church kingdom. 

Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt 8:11–12; emphasis added; cp. Matt 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:27–28)

The fish parable describes the same expulsion.

Israel after the flesh would experience this judgment at “the end of the age” (Matt 13:49 NKJV; cp. Hab 2:3). Jesus meant the end of the Mosaic age. The disciples later asked Jesus about “the end of the age” (Matt 24:3 NKJV) after he predicted the Temple’s fall. The Lord said “the end” (Matt 24:6, 13, 14) would come in their generation (Matt 24:34).

Jesus, like Ezekiel before him, combines fish and cosmic collapse imagery. “The end” of the Mosaic age would be an “earth-shaking” event for Israel. Jesus said, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken” (Matt 24:29). This period is also when God would cast Israel’s bad fish into the furnace.

Jesus said God would use angels to perform this judgment (Matt 13:49). Elsewhere he sets the time limit for this angelic work. He said, “The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works” (Matt 16:27; emphasis added). This compares to the fish parable’s separation of the good fish from the bad. 

Jesus continued, “There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom” (Matt 16:28; emphasis added). This judgment would occur while some to whom Jesus spoke were still living. It would establish the kingdom (i.e., the messianic age) in which men would “live by their faith” (Hab 2:4).

Jesus also revealed the human agents of the fish (and cosmic collapse) judgment. “When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh” (Luke 21:20). We now know these were Roman forces that destroyed the Temple in AD 70. God used them to spread the net and gather the fish like he used the Babylonians earlier (Ezek 32:11; Hab 1:6). 

Inmillennialism gives all these images—fish, net, cosmic collapse, furnace, wailing and gnashing of teeth—their traditional prophetic meaning. They combine to show God’s judgment of Israel. They show the transition from the Mosaic age to the messianic age.

The kingdom of God now contains no bad fish.

The Scribes

Jesus’s scribe saying teaches the same lesson.⁹ After giving the fish parable, Jesus spoke to his disciples, saying:

Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. (Matt 13:51–52)

D. A. Carson says, “Interpretations of this difficult verse are legion.”¹⁰

We base our interpretation on a few simple concepts. First, Scribes were “public instructors (cf. Neh. 8:4).”¹¹ They taught the true meaning of Scripture to the people.

Second, Jesus applied the title “scribe” to his disciples. Their scribal (teaching) ministry would play an important role at the end of the Mosaic age. Jesus described it on the same day he gave the Olivet Discourse¹²:

Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. (Matt 23:34–38)

The apostles ministered as scribes during the transition from the Mosaic age to the messianic age. They brought old things out of their “treasure,” or “storeroom.”¹³

The OT promises of Messiah and kingdom, as well as OT law and piety, have found their fulfillment in Jesus’ person, teaching, and kingdom; and the scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom now brings out of himself deep understanding of these things and their transformed perspective affecting all life.¹⁴

They also brought out new things. For, only in the “last days” (Heb 1:2) of the Mosaic age did God reveal certain things about the messianic-age kingdom. Paul said,

By revelation he made known unto me the mystery . . . Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. (Eph 3:3–7)

These messianic-age scribes were “instructed unto the kingdom of heaven.” Their last-days ministry stood in direct contrast to the Mosaic-age scribes. “Only Jesus’ ‘disciples’ are able to bring forth new things and old: the Jewish teachers of the law could bring forth only the old.”¹⁵

Conclusion

The seven parables in Matthew 13 pertain to the transition from the Mosaic age to the messianic age. Here is a summary of them in this context:

Sower, Weeds and Fish Parables. The Mosaic-age kingdom contained unproductive seeds, weeds, and bad fish. The messianic-age kingdom does not. Jesus said, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). These three parables describe the separation of the bad from the good in the kingdom.

Mustard Seed and Leaven Parables. God did not cause the kingdom as it existed in the Mosaic age to grow and cover the earth. But the prophets described the messianic-age kingdom as one that would permeate the world. Of the increase of the Messiah’s government there would be no end (Isa 9:7). These two parables describe this growth after God ended the Mosaic-age kingdom.

Hidden Treasure and Pearl of Great Price Parables. Men cannot purchase their own souls, much less the kingdom (Matt 16:26–28). But, the Son of Man was willing and able to purchase it. These parables show that the messianic-age kingdom is his treasured possession. He bought it in the “last days” (Heb 1:2) of the Mosaic age (1 Cor 7:23; 1 Pet 1:18–19).

The apostles were scribes “instructed unto the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 13:52). They ministered during the transition from the Mosaic age to the messianic age. This work required them to bring forth things from both Old Testament and New Testament treasures. God used them to lay the foundation for the messianic-age Temple. They finished this work in the generation before God destroyed the Mosaic-age Temple.

This is the inmillennial interpretation of these parables. Their application to us is another matter.

1. We discussed kingdom terminology here, here, and here.
2. David Brown labels it the parable of “the good and bad fish.”—Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, A Commentary, Critical, Experimental and Practical on the Old and New Testaments, 3 vols. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976), 3.1:80.
3. D. A. Carson, “Matthew,” in Matthew, Mark, Luke, vol. 8 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984), 330.
4. See our post Meditations in Matthew Thirteen: The Weeds.
5. John Gill, An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 9 vols. (1809–1810; repr., Paris, AR: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 1989), 6:164.
6. Ralph H. Alexander, “Ezekiel,” in Isaiah–Ezekiel, vol. 6 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986), 902.
7. Gill, “Exposition,” 6:617.
8. Gill, “Exposition,” 6:619. Gill did not apply this perspective to Mat 13:49.
9. The image in this post is Calling of the Apostles by Domenico Ghirlandaio  (1449–1494). This file (here) is in the public domain (PD-US).
10. Carson, “EBC,” 331.
11. Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000), s.v. grammateus.
12. On Tuesday of Passion Week. —A. T. Robertson, A Harmony of the Gospels for Students of the Life of Christ (New York: Harper, 1922), 169.
13. Per ESV. We take ”treasure” (Gk. thēsauros) in this place to mean “treasury, place where treasures or stores are kept, storehouse.” —Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament, s.v. thēsauros.
14. Carson, “EBC,” 333.
15. Carson, “EBC,” 333. Emphasis added.