Sound of Trumpet
2006-09-13 04:24:53 UTC
http://www.americancatholic.org/Newsletters/SFS/an0704.asp
Cast Your Nets: Fishing at the Time of Jesus
by Elizabeth McNamer
Until the Second Vatican Council, Catholics could be identified by
their eating of fish on Fridays. Fish and Catholic seemed to go hand in
hand.
A fish is the oldest Christian symbol. The Greek word for fish,
ichthus, is an acrostic for the Greek words that translate to "Jesus
Christ Son of God Savior." The fish symbol is pervasive in Christian
art and literature. The symbol is seen on mosaics in Christian
churches, on frescoes, on a wall painting in the catacombs of Rome, on
glasses, cups, sarcophagi, monuments in all parts of the Roman world.
The symbol of a fish was used by persecuted Christians as a code name
for Christ in order to avoid arrest and execution by Roman authorities.
When a picture of a fish appeared outside a Roman home it meant that
the Lord's Supper would be observed that night.
Fish in Scripture
The importance of fish in the Bible is well substantiated. In the Book
of Genesis, we find that fish are the first creatures to appear (1:2).
They are the only species not taken into the ark, suggesting that they
were self-supporting! In Leviticus we read of laws regarding which fish
are kosher and which are not.
Descriptions of methods of fishing are given in the Book of Habakkuk: a
hook, net and seine are used (1:15). Job sarcastically asks if one can
capture a leviathan with a hook (40:25).
In 1 Kings, fish are associated with the wisdom of Solomon (5:13). In
the Book of Tobit, Tobiah is told, "Cut the fish open and take out
its gall, heart and liver and keep them with you...its gall, heart and
liver make useful medicines " (6:3-7). Later, Tobiah uses the fish
gall to remove cataracts from his father's eyes.
When Jerusalem was rebuilt by Nehemiah after the Babylonian captivity,
a Fish Gate was built into its wall (Neh 3:3). Fishermen are mentioned
by Jeremiah, when speaking of bringing back the Israelites from
Babylon: "Look! I will send many fishermen, says the Lord, to catch
them" (16:16). And a large fish prevents Jonah from going on his
cruise of the Mediterranean and lands him back where he should have
gone in the first place.
Jesus preached in terms of fishing, almost echoing Jeremiah when he
says to Peter and the other fishermen: "From now on you will be
catching men" (Lk 5:11). Two miraculous catches of fish are related
in Luke 5:1-11 and John 21:1-8). All of the gospel writers attest that
he fed thousands with fish and bread. He compares the kingdom of heaven
to a dragnet (Mt 13:47-48). He paid taxes with a coin found in the
mouth of a fish (Mt 17:27). Jesus is depicted as preaching from fishing
boats and sailing in fishing boats. The crowds that followed him
carried bread and fish (Mk 6:35-40). The hungry asked for fish (Lk
11:1). Jesus was given fish to eat after his resurrection in Jerusalem
(Lk 24:42), and he cooked fish for his disciples on the shore of the
Sea of Galilee (Jn 21:9). He traveled to and from places in the company
of fishermen. And, most importantly, Jesus choose fishermen for the
important job of spreading his word and building his church.
Fishing in the First Century
The Sea of Galilee has been renowned for its fish from ancient times.
There are 18 different species that are indigenous to the lake. They
are classified locally into three main groups: sardines, biny and
musht.
Sardines are endemic to the lake. Today at the height of the fishing
season tens of tons of sardines are caught every night. Biny fish
consist of three species of the carp family. Because they are "well
fleshed" they are very popular at feasts and for Sabbath. Musht means
"comb." These are large fish, some of which are 16 inches long and
weigh 2 pounds.
Two stories of Jesus involve the musht fish. When winter comes, the
musht, which are tropical fish, congregate in shoals in the northern
part of the lake where they are attracted to the warm water of the
springs rising at the foot of the Eremos hill flowing into the lake.
The attraction is fatal to the fish for it offers the fishermen an
opportunity to make abundant catches. It was probably here that Jesus,
having seen a shoal of musht, told Peter to let down his net, and he
made a successful haul.
In the spring, the musht couple off and lay their eggs on the bottom of
the lake. After fertilization, the parents take the eggs into their
mouths for three weeks until they hatch. They then watch over them for
a few days. To prevent their offspring entering the mouth again, the
parent fish take in pebbles so that "home" will no longer be so
comfortable. They may also swallow coins with the pebbles and many
coins have been found in the mouths of musht. This may have been what
happened when Jesus asked Peter to find a coin in the mouth of a fish
to pay taxes.
Several methods of fishing have been used for centuries on the Sea of
Galilee. Some fishermen caught with their bare hands, some used wicker
baskets or other kinds of fish traps made of nets or rope, some used
spears, arrows or harpoons. But by far the most popular kind of fishing
is by net. There were three methods of net fishing.
The dragnet is the oldest type of net. The netting was shaped like a
long wall 300 feet long and 12 feet high. The bottom of the net had
weights with sinkers, and the top rope had cork floats. The net was
folded. A team of up to 16 men held the strong rope attached to the
dragnet. Then the boat sailed out with another team until the net was
fully stretched and then circled around and back to shore. Here the
second team alighted and held the ropes. Both teams then dragged the
net and its contents (hopefully a large number of fish), back to the
shore. This method enabled one to catch the fish who were hiding out at
the bottom of the lake. The fish were then handed over to be sorted and
the operation performed again, as many as eight times in one day.
The cast net is circular, about 20 feet in diameter, with weights of
lead attached to the border. One man usually flings the net in a round
circle from the shore but it is also done from boats. It required great
skill since it had to open completely when it landed on the water
trapping the fish underneath it. Peter and Andrew were occupied with
this type of fishing when Jesus' summons came to them. The weights
come together as the nets sink and encircle the fish. Sometimes, the
fishermen on a boat had to jump into the water to retrieve the net and
so they often fished naked. They were probably fishing with cast nets
when they spied Jesus standing on the shore (Jn 21:7).
The third method is the trammel net, which was actually composed of
three nets, two large mesh walls about five feet high with a finer net
in between. The boat went out into deep waters where there are no rocks
so that the nets would not be torn. It was usually done by night. One
end of the net was let down into the sea, then the boat made a circle
creating a sort of tub in the water. The net gathered in every kind of
fish, as they were unable to escape through the three layers of
netting. When the fish were brought to shore, they had to be extricated
from the nets and this took time and skill. The nets were spread out on
the rocks to dry and be mended. Only in emergency situations were they
mended on the boats themselves. Yet we find James and John mending
their net in a boat in Matthew's Gospel (4:21). And they abandoned
this activity to follow Jesus-emergency or not-and left their
father with the hired men.
The last method, still used, is the familiar hook and line. Peter and
Andrew were said to be fishing with a line and hook when they caught
the fish with the coin in its mouth (Mt 17:27).
The Fishing Business
Rules for fishing were stringent. When the haul was brought ashore, the
fish first had to be sorted into clean and unclean fish. According to
Leviticus 11:9-12, fish with scales and fins were regarded as clean,
but those without them, such as catfish and eel, were unclean. Then
they were counted. Counting was necessary for tax purposes and in order
to ensure that each party received his due. Fish had to be sold while
the water still remained on them.
Much of the catch was taken to Magdala. Salting of fish for
preservation had been in vogue since the time of the Ptolemies. The
center of this industry was Magdala, where fish was dried and exported
to various parts of the Roman Empire. Magdala in Greek is Tarichaea,
which means "dried fish." There, the fish would be packed in
baskets for export and the fishermen would take it on wagons pulled by
mules to shops in Jerusalem, or to a seaport where they would be loaded
on ships and taken to Rome. Dried fish from Galilee was considered a
delicacy among the Roman aristocracy. We know, too, that fish from
Galilee were also popular in Damascus.
Fishing in Galilee was a thriving industry. Fish was the main source of
protein, and the market for fish extensive. The population of Palestine
at the time of Jesus was about 500,000. The ordinary masses depended on
fish along with bread as a staple food. Satisfying the epicurean
appetites of the upper classses at home and abroad with dried fish was
a profitable business.
At the archaeological site at Bethsaida (which means "house of the
fishermen"), numerous fishing implements have been found: a clay
seal, which was probably used to stamp jar handles, depicting two
fishermen in a small boat; lead weights, hooks, bronze and iron
needles, basalt and iron weights and anchors. There is no doubt that
fishing was a major occupation of the people of Bethsaida. An
unfinished fishing weight suggests that there may have been a factory
in Bethsaida for the making of fishing equipment. Flax spores have been
found in abundance. Fishing nets were made of flax, as were the sails
for fishing boats.
At Bethsaida the government of Philip Herod sold fishing rights to
wealthy individuals with the means of underwriting a large business,
and they sublet the rights to fishermen. The fishermen paid a hefty tax
to the investors and little love was lost between them. Matthew, the
tax collector, may have been one of these. Five of the
apostles-Peter, Andrew, James, John and Philip-came from Bethsaida.
The fishermen oversaw all aspects of the business. They furnished the
boats and equipment for the actual fishing. They paid their help and
paid the quota to the tax collector. They attended to the business of
sale, were accountable for the preserving of the fish and shipment, and
did their own bargaining.
The fishermen hired sailors and fishers (maybe day laborers) to do the
work, care for the boats, mend the nets, sift and count the fish. These
fishermen operated in legal partnership with others. They belonged to
guilds (much like trade unions).
Zebedee, the father of James and John, owned his boats and hired day
laborers. This leads to the presumption that he and his sons had a
sizeable business, which would have required travel. Peter and Andrew
were partners with them.
Is it possible that Jesus went to Jerusalem and to other places with a
delegation of fishermen? The places Jesus traveled to were towns where
fishermen took their fish. In Mark's Gospel we find Jesus making a
journey to Tyre for no particular reason. The fishing business would
have taken the fishermen there. The city of Tyre had been built by the
Egyptian Ptolemies and was an important Greek-speaking port on the
Phoenician coast. Fluency in Greek would have been required of those
doing business there. That the early Christian community lived here is
evidenced from the Book of Acts (21:3-7). It is most likely that Jesus
went there with his friends to export their fish.
James and John, according to the gospels, traveled frequently to
Jerusalem where fish was required for the pilgrim feasts. It has been
suggested that they supplied fish for the high priestly family (the
gospel says that John was known to the High Priest, Caiaphas). Was it
on these trips that Jesus went to Jerusalem? In John's Gospel we find
him there for many of the feasts, which would have been the times when
fishermen went with their fish.
Jesus Chose Fishermen
Jesus entrusted fishermen from Bethsaida with the spreading of his
message. They were the ones he commissioned to be fishers of men and to
teach all nations. He may have done this for practical reasons. These
were savvy businessmen. They were multilingual. Their native tongue was
Aramaic. They would also have known Hebrew. A knowledge of Greek would
have been essential for people like Peter and his co-workers who were
involved in the fishing business. The gospels themselves suggest that
they were able to carry on conversations with Greek speakers the
Syro-Phoenician woman (Mk 7:26), people in the Decapolis where the
curing of the deaf man took place (Mk 7:31), and the incident of Philip
and Andrew conversing with the Greeks (Jn 12:20-23). They may also have
had a smattering of Latin. Peter converses with the Roman centurion,
Cornelius (Acts 10:25).
Fishermen had to develop attributes that others did not have. They had
to be skilled at their trade, knowing the when, where and why of
fishing, but they also had to be patient, not easily discouraged,
strong, hard-working and community- oriented.
As businessmen they had to be judges of character, savvy about the
market, conscientious about their civic and religious responsibility.
They had to have respect for the law and learn to operate within its
limitations. All of this was required in their new enterprise. And in
bringing the skills of their trade to Jesus, these fisherman changed
the world.
Elizabeth McNamer has a Ph.D. in adult education from Montana State
University and an M.A. in religious studies from Gonzaga University.
Each summer she participates in an archaeological dig in Bethsaida.
Cast Your Nets: Fishing at the Time of Jesus
by Elizabeth McNamer
Until the Second Vatican Council, Catholics could be identified by
their eating of fish on Fridays. Fish and Catholic seemed to go hand in
hand.
A fish is the oldest Christian symbol. The Greek word for fish,
ichthus, is an acrostic for the Greek words that translate to "Jesus
Christ Son of God Savior." The fish symbol is pervasive in Christian
art and literature. The symbol is seen on mosaics in Christian
churches, on frescoes, on a wall painting in the catacombs of Rome, on
glasses, cups, sarcophagi, monuments in all parts of the Roman world.
The symbol of a fish was used by persecuted Christians as a code name
for Christ in order to avoid arrest and execution by Roman authorities.
When a picture of a fish appeared outside a Roman home it meant that
the Lord's Supper would be observed that night.
Fish in Scripture
The importance of fish in the Bible is well substantiated. In the Book
of Genesis, we find that fish are the first creatures to appear (1:2).
They are the only species not taken into the ark, suggesting that they
were self-supporting! In Leviticus we read of laws regarding which fish
are kosher and which are not.
Descriptions of methods of fishing are given in the Book of Habakkuk: a
hook, net and seine are used (1:15). Job sarcastically asks if one can
capture a leviathan with a hook (40:25).
In 1 Kings, fish are associated with the wisdom of Solomon (5:13). In
the Book of Tobit, Tobiah is told, "Cut the fish open and take out
its gall, heart and liver and keep them with you...its gall, heart and
liver make useful medicines " (6:3-7). Later, Tobiah uses the fish
gall to remove cataracts from his father's eyes.
When Jerusalem was rebuilt by Nehemiah after the Babylonian captivity,
a Fish Gate was built into its wall (Neh 3:3). Fishermen are mentioned
by Jeremiah, when speaking of bringing back the Israelites from
Babylon: "Look! I will send many fishermen, says the Lord, to catch
them" (16:16). And a large fish prevents Jonah from going on his
cruise of the Mediterranean and lands him back where he should have
gone in the first place.
Jesus preached in terms of fishing, almost echoing Jeremiah when he
says to Peter and the other fishermen: "From now on you will be
catching men" (Lk 5:11). Two miraculous catches of fish are related
in Luke 5:1-11 and John 21:1-8). All of the gospel writers attest that
he fed thousands with fish and bread. He compares the kingdom of heaven
to a dragnet (Mt 13:47-48). He paid taxes with a coin found in the
mouth of a fish (Mt 17:27). Jesus is depicted as preaching from fishing
boats and sailing in fishing boats. The crowds that followed him
carried bread and fish (Mk 6:35-40). The hungry asked for fish (Lk
11:1). Jesus was given fish to eat after his resurrection in Jerusalem
(Lk 24:42), and he cooked fish for his disciples on the shore of the
Sea of Galilee (Jn 21:9). He traveled to and from places in the company
of fishermen. And, most importantly, Jesus choose fishermen for the
important job of spreading his word and building his church.
Fishing in the First Century
The Sea of Galilee has been renowned for its fish from ancient times.
There are 18 different species that are indigenous to the lake. They
are classified locally into three main groups: sardines, biny and
musht.
Sardines are endemic to the lake. Today at the height of the fishing
season tens of tons of sardines are caught every night. Biny fish
consist of three species of the carp family. Because they are "well
fleshed" they are very popular at feasts and for Sabbath. Musht means
"comb." These are large fish, some of which are 16 inches long and
weigh 2 pounds.
Two stories of Jesus involve the musht fish. When winter comes, the
musht, which are tropical fish, congregate in shoals in the northern
part of the lake where they are attracted to the warm water of the
springs rising at the foot of the Eremos hill flowing into the lake.
The attraction is fatal to the fish for it offers the fishermen an
opportunity to make abundant catches. It was probably here that Jesus,
having seen a shoal of musht, told Peter to let down his net, and he
made a successful haul.
In the spring, the musht couple off and lay their eggs on the bottom of
the lake. After fertilization, the parents take the eggs into their
mouths for three weeks until they hatch. They then watch over them for
a few days. To prevent their offspring entering the mouth again, the
parent fish take in pebbles so that "home" will no longer be so
comfortable. They may also swallow coins with the pebbles and many
coins have been found in the mouths of musht. This may have been what
happened when Jesus asked Peter to find a coin in the mouth of a fish
to pay taxes.
Several methods of fishing have been used for centuries on the Sea of
Galilee. Some fishermen caught with their bare hands, some used wicker
baskets or other kinds of fish traps made of nets or rope, some used
spears, arrows or harpoons. But by far the most popular kind of fishing
is by net. There were three methods of net fishing.
The dragnet is the oldest type of net. The netting was shaped like a
long wall 300 feet long and 12 feet high. The bottom of the net had
weights with sinkers, and the top rope had cork floats. The net was
folded. A team of up to 16 men held the strong rope attached to the
dragnet. Then the boat sailed out with another team until the net was
fully stretched and then circled around and back to shore. Here the
second team alighted and held the ropes. Both teams then dragged the
net and its contents (hopefully a large number of fish), back to the
shore. This method enabled one to catch the fish who were hiding out at
the bottom of the lake. The fish were then handed over to be sorted and
the operation performed again, as many as eight times in one day.
The cast net is circular, about 20 feet in diameter, with weights of
lead attached to the border. One man usually flings the net in a round
circle from the shore but it is also done from boats. It required great
skill since it had to open completely when it landed on the water
trapping the fish underneath it. Peter and Andrew were occupied with
this type of fishing when Jesus' summons came to them. The weights
come together as the nets sink and encircle the fish. Sometimes, the
fishermen on a boat had to jump into the water to retrieve the net and
so they often fished naked. They were probably fishing with cast nets
when they spied Jesus standing on the shore (Jn 21:7).
The third method is the trammel net, which was actually composed of
three nets, two large mesh walls about five feet high with a finer net
in between. The boat went out into deep waters where there are no rocks
so that the nets would not be torn. It was usually done by night. One
end of the net was let down into the sea, then the boat made a circle
creating a sort of tub in the water. The net gathered in every kind of
fish, as they were unable to escape through the three layers of
netting. When the fish were brought to shore, they had to be extricated
from the nets and this took time and skill. The nets were spread out on
the rocks to dry and be mended. Only in emergency situations were they
mended on the boats themselves. Yet we find James and John mending
their net in a boat in Matthew's Gospel (4:21). And they abandoned
this activity to follow Jesus-emergency or not-and left their
father with the hired men.
The last method, still used, is the familiar hook and line. Peter and
Andrew were said to be fishing with a line and hook when they caught
the fish with the coin in its mouth (Mt 17:27).
The Fishing Business
Rules for fishing were stringent. When the haul was brought ashore, the
fish first had to be sorted into clean and unclean fish. According to
Leviticus 11:9-12, fish with scales and fins were regarded as clean,
but those without them, such as catfish and eel, were unclean. Then
they were counted. Counting was necessary for tax purposes and in order
to ensure that each party received his due. Fish had to be sold while
the water still remained on them.
Much of the catch was taken to Magdala. Salting of fish for
preservation had been in vogue since the time of the Ptolemies. The
center of this industry was Magdala, where fish was dried and exported
to various parts of the Roman Empire. Magdala in Greek is Tarichaea,
which means "dried fish." There, the fish would be packed in
baskets for export and the fishermen would take it on wagons pulled by
mules to shops in Jerusalem, or to a seaport where they would be loaded
on ships and taken to Rome. Dried fish from Galilee was considered a
delicacy among the Roman aristocracy. We know, too, that fish from
Galilee were also popular in Damascus.
Fishing in Galilee was a thriving industry. Fish was the main source of
protein, and the market for fish extensive. The population of Palestine
at the time of Jesus was about 500,000. The ordinary masses depended on
fish along with bread as a staple food. Satisfying the epicurean
appetites of the upper classses at home and abroad with dried fish was
a profitable business.
At the archaeological site at Bethsaida (which means "house of the
fishermen"), numerous fishing implements have been found: a clay
seal, which was probably used to stamp jar handles, depicting two
fishermen in a small boat; lead weights, hooks, bronze and iron
needles, basalt and iron weights and anchors. There is no doubt that
fishing was a major occupation of the people of Bethsaida. An
unfinished fishing weight suggests that there may have been a factory
in Bethsaida for the making of fishing equipment. Flax spores have been
found in abundance. Fishing nets were made of flax, as were the sails
for fishing boats.
At Bethsaida the government of Philip Herod sold fishing rights to
wealthy individuals with the means of underwriting a large business,
and they sublet the rights to fishermen. The fishermen paid a hefty tax
to the investors and little love was lost between them. Matthew, the
tax collector, may have been one of these. Five of the
apostles-Peter, Andrew, James, John and Philip-came from Bethsaida.
The fishermen oversaw all aspects of the business. They furnished the
boats and equipment for the actual fishing. They paid their help and
paid the quota to the tax collector. They attended to the business of
sale, were accountable for the preserving of the fish and shipment, and
did their own bargaining.
The fishermen hired sailors and fishers (maybe day laborers) to do the
work, care for the boats, mend the nets, sift and count the fish. These
fishermen operated in legal partnership with others. They belonged to
guilds (much like trade unions).
Zebedee, the father of James and John, owned his boats and hired day
laborers. This leads to the presumption that he and his sons had a
sizeable business, which would have required travel. Peter and Andrew
were partners with them.
Is it possible that Jesus went to Jerusalem and to other places with a
delegation of fishermen? The places Jesus traveled to were towns where
fishermen took their fish. In Mark's Gospel we find Jesus making a
journey to Tyre for no particular reason. The fishing business would
have taken the fishermen there. The city of Tyre had been built by the
Egyptian Ptolemies and was an important Greek-speaking port on the
Phoenician coast. Fluency in Greek would have been required of those
doing business there. That the early Christian community lived here is
evidenced from the Book of Acts (21:3-7). It is most likely that Jesus
went there with his friends to export their fish.
James and John, according to the gospels, traveled frequently to
Jerusalem where fish was required for the pilgrim feasts. It has been
suggested that they supplied fish for the high priestly family (the
gospel says that John was known to the High Priest, Caiaphas). Was it
on these trips that Jesus went to Jerusalem? In John's Gospel we find
him there for many of the feasts, which would have been the times when
fishermen went with their fish.
Jesus Chose Fishermen
Jesus entrusted fishermen from Bethsaida with the spreading of his
message. They were the ones he commissioned to be fishers of men and to
teach all nations. He may have done this for practical reasons. These
were savvy businessmen. They were multilingual. Their native tongue was
Aramaic. They would also have known Hebrew. A knowledge of Greek would
have been essential for people like Peter and his co-workers who were
involved in the fishing business. The gospels themselves suggest that
they were able to carry on conversations with Greek speakers the
Syro-Phoenician woman (Mk 7:26), people in the Decapolis where the
curing of the deaf man took place (Mk 7:31), and the incident of Philip
and Andrew conversing with the Greeks (Jn 12:20-23). They may also have
had a smattering of Latin. Peter converses with the Roman centurion,
Cornelius (Acts 10:25).
Fishermen had to develop attributes that others did not have. They had
to be skilled at their trade, knowing the when, where and why of
fishing, but they also had to be patient, not easily discouraged,
strong, hard-working and community- oriented.
As businessmen they had to be judges of character, savvy about the
market, conscientious about their civic and religious responsibility.
They had to have respect for the law and learn to operate within its
limitations. All of this was required in their new enterprise. And in
bringing the skills of their trade to Jesus, these fisherman changed
the world.
Elizabeth McNamer has a Ph.D. in adult education from Montana State
University and an M.A. in religious studies from Gonzaga University.
Each summer she participates in an archaeological dig in Bethsaida.