Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

FISH

The Bible does not identify a single species of fish. Generic terms like Heb. dāg and dāgâ refer to any water-dwelling creature. Similarly, the Greek terms (ichthýs, the most common; opsárion, used only in John’s Gospel; prosphágion, only in John 21:5) are all general terms. This would suggest that fish played no essential part in the life of the majority of Israelites.

Unlike its Mesopotamian and Egyptian neighbors, Israel was neither a river culture nor a sea-going people. Fishing was centered around the lakes (Huleh and the Galilee) and the Jordan River. The Galilee features 19 native species. Three main kinds of fish are found in the Galilee: Cichildae (the famous St. Peter’s fish named Tilapia); Cyprinidae (carplike fish of various sizes); Siluridae (catfish). The Dead Sea sustains no fish life, and all other Israelite water sources were insignificant for fishing. Further, the coastal Mediterranean shores were not very productive for fishing. Fish were, however, imported by Tyrian merchants (Neh. 13:16) and sold just inside the Fish Gate located on the northwestern corner of Jerusalem (Zeph. 1:10; Neh. 3:3). Obviously, imported fish must have been smoked, salted, or sun-dried for transport.

Most of the biblical terms for fishing implements are related to hunting, suggesting that fishing was not a common practice beyond the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River. Nets and spears were the primary tools for fishing as the rod was apparently unknown. By NT times, fishing assumed a greater importance in the text. Seven of the disciples were fishermen by trade and much of the biblical record was centered in the Galilee region.

While fish were not a part of the everyday diet in Israel as they were in Egypt (Num. 11:5), they were nonetheless addressed in Israel’s dietary laws. It was necessary for all fishlike creatures to possess “fins and scales” (Lev. 11:9-12; Deut. 14:9-10) in order to be “clean” or acceptable for eating; this would rule out all shellfish, sea mammals, sharks, eels, and catfish. It was also forbidden to make an image of fish (Deut. 4:18), probably in light of the goddess Atargatis, a Syrian fish deity whose temple is mentioned in 2 Macc. 12:26.

In the end days, fish would play a part in God’s blessing on Israel (Ezek. 47:9). The prophet predicted that a stream would flow from the throne in Jerusalem and would purify the Dead Sea so that fish would teem there. Jesus likened the coming kingdom of heaven to fishing with a net and catching good and bad fish which symbolize the righteous and the wicked (Matt. 13:47-50).

Fish were especially important in the life and ministry of Christ. He fed bread and fish to the 5000 (Matt. 14:13-21) and later another 4000 (15:32-39). The resurrected Christ ate broiled fish with his astounded disciples (Luke 24:42). He chose to communicate his time in the grave through the experience of Jonah (Jon. 1:17[MT 2:1]), whose “great fish” was then likened to an apocalyptic sea monster (Matt. 12:40). The most famous fish story, however, is actually a postbiblical one founded on the use of the Greek word for fish as an acronym for the ancient creed “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior.” The first letter of each of these creedal names reproduces the Greek word for fish, ichthýs.

Donald Fowler

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

FISH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)