Lucas 5:1-3

These verses give the setting for the incident. Again Luke pointed out that the crowd was listening to the word of God (Luke 5:1; cf. Luke 4:32; cf. Luke 4:36). The people were so interested that they pressed upon Jesus. Jesus put some distance between them and Himself by teaching from a boat not far off shore.

Luke described the Sea of Galilee as a lake, as most of His readers would have thought of it. Gennesaret was the town and plain on its northwest coast from which it received its name.

Luke’s characteristic attention to detail is obvious in that he referred to two boats, setting the stage for Luke 5:7. Evidently the fishermen had used large dragnets (Gr. diktau) when they had fished all night, which Zebedee, James, and John were now washing and mending (Matthew 4:21; Mark 1:19; Luke 5:2). Peter and Andrew were using a smaller round casting net (Gr. amphibleston), throwing it into the water from close to shore (Matthew 4:18; Mark 1:16).

"It was a busy scene; for, among the many industries by the Lake of Galilee, that of fishing was not only the most generally pursued, but perhaps the most lucrative." [Note: Edersheim, 1:473.]