Bible Animals

As to the various methods of capturing Fish, we will first take the simplest plan, that of the hook and line, as is mentioned in the passage quoted above from Ezekiel. Sundry other references are made to angling, both in the Old and New Testaments. See, for example, the well-known passage respecting the leviathan, in Job xli. 1, 2: "Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?

"Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?"

It is thought that the last clause of this passage refers, not to the actual capture of the Fish, but to the mode in which they were kept in the tanks, each being secured by a ring or hook and line, so that it might be taken when wanted.

On referring to the New Testament, we find that the fisher Apostles used both the hook and the net. See Matt. xvii. 27: "Go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up." Now this passage explains one or two points.

In the first place, it is one among others which shows that, although the Apostles gave up all to follow Christ, they did not throw away their means of livelihood, as some seem to fancy, nor exist ever afterwards on the earnings of others. On the contrary, they retained their fisher equipment, whether boats, nets, or hooks; and here we find St. Peter, after the way of fishermen, carrying about with him the more portable implements of his craft.

Next, the phrase "casting" the hook into the sea is exactly expressive of the mode in which angling is conducted in the sea and large pieces of water, such as the Lake of Galilee. The fisherman does not require a rod, but takes his line, which has a weight just above the hook, coils it on his left arm in lasso fashion, baits the hook, and then, with a peculiar swing, throws it into the water as far as it will reach. The hook is allowed to sink for a short time, and is then drawn towards the shore in a series of jerks, in order to attract the Fish, so that, although the fisherman does not employ a rod, he manages his line very much as does an angler of our own day when "spinning" for pike or trout.

Sometimes the fisherman has a number of lines to manage, and in this case he acts in a slightly different manner. After throwing out the loaded hook, as above mentioned, he takes a short stick, notched at one end, and pointed at the other, thrusts the sharp end into the ground at the margin of the water, and hitches the line on the notch.

He then proceeds to do the same with all his lines in succession, and when he has flung the last hook into the water, he sits down on a heap of leaves and grass which he has gathered together, and watches the lines to see if either of them is moved in the peculiar jerking manner which is characteristic of a "bite." After a while, he hauls them in successively, removes the Fish that may have been caught, and throws the lines into the water afresh.

This mode of fishing is mentioned in Habakkuk i. 15: "They take up all of them with the angle."

There are one or two passages which seem to refer to the custom of angling, though they really bear on a different subject. One of these is to be found in Ezek. xxxviii.: "And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth and all thine army, horses and horsemen." There is another passage of a similar character in Amos iv. 2: "The Lord God hath sworn by His holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that He will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fish-hooks."

The word which is here translated as "hook" may more properly be rendered as "ring," and the prophet alludes to the cruel custom then prevalent of passing a sharpened hook through the nose or cheek of a prisoner taken in war, twisting it into a ring, tying a cord to it, and so leading him just as a bull is led by the ring in the nose.

There are several references in the Scriptures to the hook used for this cruel purpose. See 2 Kings xix. 28: "Because thy rage against Me and thy tumult is come up into Mine ears, therefore I will put My hook in thy nose, and My bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest."

The reader will perceive how much more forcible is this passage when understood rightly than when the word "hook" is taken as signifying a mere fish-hook, the sum of it being that the Assyrians should be made captives and slaves, and driven back to the country whence they came. The passage in Ezek. xxix. 4 must be taken in the same sense: "But I will put hooks in thy jaws."

That the spear was used in the old Scriptural times as it is at the present is shown from several passages of Holy Writ. See, for example, Job xli. 7: "Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish-spears? as also in the same chapter, "The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.

"He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.

"The arrow cannot make him flee: sling-stones are turned with him into stubble.

"Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear" (ver. 26-29).

Fishing with the spear is much used in the smaller tributary streams of the Jordan, and the weapon, instead of being many-pointed and barbed in trident fashion, has but one point, and is without barbs. With these spears the people contrive to catch a considerable variety of Fish.

We now come to the practice of catching Fish by the net, a custom to which the various Scriptural writers frequently refer, sometimes in course of historical narrative, and sometimes by way of allegory or metaphor. The reader will remember that the net was also used on land for the purpose of catching wild animals, and that many of the allusions to the net which occur in the Old Testament refer to the land and not to the water.

The commonest kind of net, which was used in the olden times as it is now, was the casting-net. This kind of net is circular, and is loaded all round its edge with weights, and suspended by the middle to a cord. When the fisherman throws this net, he gathers it up in folds in his arms, and, with a peculiar swing of the arms, only to be learned by long practice, flings it so that it spreads out and falls in its circular form upon the surface of the water. It rapidly sinks to the bottom, the loaded circumference causing it to assume a cup-like form, enclosing within its meshes all the Fish that happen to be under it as it falls. When it has reached the bottom, the fisherman cautiously hauls in the rope, so that the loaded edges gradually approach each other, and by their own weight cling together and prevent the Fish from escaping as the net is slowly drawn ashore.

This kind of net is found, with certain modifications, in nearly all parts of the world. The Chinese are perhaps supreme in their management of it. They have a net of extraordinary size, and cast it by flinging it over their backs, the huge circle spreading itself out in the most perfect manner as it falls on the water.

At the present day, when the fishermen use this net they wade into the sea as far as they can, and then cast it. In consequence of this custom, the fishermen are always naked while engaged in their work, wearing nothing but a thick cap in order to save themselves from sun-stroke. It is probable that on the memorable occasion mentioned by St. John, in chap. xxi., all the fishermen were absolutely, and not relatively naked—i.e. that they wore no clothes at all, not even the ordinary tunic.

That a great variety of nets was used by the ancient Jews is evident from the fact that there are no less than ten words to signify different kinds of net. At the present day we have very great difficulty in deciding upon the exact interpretation of these technical terms, especially as in very few cases are we assisted either by the context or by the etymology of the words. It is the same in all trades or pursuits, and we can easily understand how our own names of drag-net, seine, trawl, and keer-drag would perplex any commentator who happened to live some two thousand years after English had ceased to be a living language.

Four or five of the Hebrew words give no clue whatever, being simply derived from a root that signifies weaving, and that therefore merely indicates the fact that the articles in question are nets. Some of them are derived from a word which signifies lying in wait, and another from a word which signifies catching or seizing.

The translators who rendered the Hebrew into the familiar form of the Septuagint either were unable to distinguish between the various Hebrew terms, or did not think that any discrimination was needed, inasmuch as they sometimes render the same Hebrew word by several Greek equivalents, and sometimes use the same Greek word to express several Hebrew terms.

When we come to the New Testament, we find a certain feeling of relief, because the three words used to signify different kinds of nets are easily understood.

There is, for example, the amphiblêstron (αμφίβληστρον), which is undoubtedly a casting net, as is signified by the etymology of the word, which is derived from two Greek words signifying to cast around. This word is used by Herodotus in a sort of parable related by Cyrus to the Ionians and Æolians, who had refused to revolt from Crœsus when Cyrus asked them to do so; but, when they found he was sure to be their master, they sent an embassy to ask to be admitted among his subjects on the same terms which they had enjoyed when under the rule of Crœsus.

When the embassy came before Cyrus, he only answered them with a parable: "A piper, seeing some fishes in the sea, began to pipe, expecting that they would come ashore; but, finding his hopes disappointed, he took a casting-net, and enclosed a great number of fishes, and drew them out. When he saw them leaping about, he said to the fishes, 'Cease your dancing, since when I piped you would not come out and dance.'"

The reader will doubtless have noticed the singular analogy between this parable and the saying of our Lord, "I have piped to you, and ye have not danced."

This is the net that is mentioned in Matt. iv. 18: "And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net (amphiblêstron) into the sea."

The second word, diktuon (δίκτυον), is derived from another word signifying to throw; so that if we use the expression "casting-net" for the word amphiblêstron, and "throwing-net" for the word diktuon, we shall be tolerably accurate. Practically both words are used for the same net, as we find by proceeding further with the sacred narration.

After mentioning that the future Apostles were casting a net (amphiblêstron), St. Matthew proceeds as follows: "And He said unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.

"And they straightway left their nets (diktua), and followed Him" (ver. 19, 20). In the following verse, where James and John are mentioned as being occupied in mending their nets after the wont of all practical fishermen, the word which is translated as "nets" is diktua.

If we turn to John xxi. we find the same word employed.

After the Resurrection, the fisher Apostles were pursuing their craft by night, as is still the custom, and had caught nothing—a very serious loss to them. Then at daybreak they saw their risen Lord standing on the seashore, and, as was several times the case after the Resurrection, did not recognise Him. He then told them to cast the net (diktuon) over the right hand of the boat, and as soon as that was done the net was filled with Fishes.

Now the knowledge of the real meaning of the word diktua gives to this passage a signification which it would not otherwise possess.

In ver. 11, St. John (who was one of the actors in the scene, and who therefore writes with the precision of an eye-witness) states that the number of large Fishes was a hundred and fifty-three, and yet the net was not broken. Knowing that the casting-net is comparatively small, we now see that a hundred and fifty-three large Fishes would completely fill a net which could be cast by one man, and that the miraculous element was twofold.

Firstly, the complete filling of the net with large Fishes, whereas six or seven small Fishes are the usual complement of a casting-net; and, secondly, the fact that the net which was held merely by a single rope in the middle, and which retained its contents simply by the weight of the leads round its margin, did not give way, and allow the enclosed Fish to escape.

Indeed, the very fact that a casting-net took such a multitude of Fishes at once opened the eyes of St. John, who exclaimed to his fellow Apostles, "It is the Lord." St. Peter, with the impetuous zeal of his nature, acknowledged the truth of the exclamation, and, too impatient to wait until the boats could land, girt his fisher's tunic upon him, leaped into the sea, and swam ashore.

The third Greek word which is translated as "net" is sagênê (σαγήνη), a word which still survives in our term "Seine."

The Sagene, or seine-net, was made in lengths, any number of which could be joined together, so as to enclose a large space of water. The upper edge was kept at the surface of the water by floats, and the lower edge sunk by weights.

This net was always taken to sea in vessels, and when "shot" the various lengths were joined together, and the net extended in a line, with a boat at each end. The boats then gradually approached each other, so as to bring the net into a semicircle, and finally met, enclosing thereby a vast number of Fishes in their meshen walls. The water was then beaten, so as to frighten the Fishes and drive them into the meshes, and the net was then either taken ashore, or lifted by degrees on board the boats, and the Fish removed from it.

As in a net of this kind Fishes of all sorts are enclosed, the contents are carefully examined, and those which are unfit for eating are thrown away. Even at the present day much care is taken in the selection, but in the ancient times the fishermen were still more cautious, every Fish having to be separately examined in order that the presence both of fins and scales might be assured before the captors could send it to the market.

It is to this custom that Christ alludes in the well-known parable of the net: "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind;

"Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away." Compare also Habakkuk i. 14-17.

The important part taken by Fish in the earlier scriptural days is shown by the fact that in Jerusalem there was not only a fish-market, but that the gate which opened upon that market was called the Fish-gate. See 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14: "Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish-gate."

Afterwards, when Nehemiah obtained permission from Artaxerxes to rebuild the burnt and broken-down walls of Jerusalem, he restored the Fish-gate as it had been before: "But the fish-gate did the sons of Hassenaah build, who also laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof" (Neh. iii. 3).

About ten years afterwards, when the city had been rebuilt and repeopled, the fish-market was again established, the dealers being chiefly men of Tyre, who took advantage of the neglect of the law which had been the result of the captivity among idolaters, and sold their goods on the Sabbath day: "There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the Sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem" (Neh. xiii. 16).

It is evident that the Fish which these traders brought must have been dried and salted, or otherwise they would not have borne the journey to Jerusalem from Tyre. Dried Fish were, according to Herodotus, largely used in Egypt, and it is probable that the Jews learned the art of drying and salting Fish for future use during their captivity in that land.

There are one or two passages in the Scriptures which relate to Fish, though in a less direct manner than those which have been quoted. One of them refers to the times of drought which occasionally visit Palestine, and which always bring with them terrible privations, and sometimes cause actual famine. See, for example, Isa. 1. 2: "Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst." These words exactly express the condition of the country after a long drought. The springs are gradually exhausted from the absence of rain, the large rivers sink lower and lower in their beds, and the little streams and tributaries dry up altogether, leaving their inhabitants to perish for want of water.