Fish
Man was to rule over the fish of the sea. We are instructed not to make any image of fishes. There were instructions about eating fish. Fish Associated to Judgment and rewards. The LORD God arranged a fish to swallow Jonah. The LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. Jesus took two fishes and fed about five thousand men, beside women and children. Jesus took a few little fishes and fed four thousand men, beside women and children.
Fish Part of Creation
The LORD God said, to let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that have life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. The LORD God created great whales, and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and the LORD God saw that it was good. He blessed them and told them be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. (Genesis 1:20-22).
The LORD God gave dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth to man. (Genesis 1:26).
The LORD God blessed Noah and his sons, telling them to be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth .And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moves upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. (Genesis 9:1-3).
The LORD God gave dominion over fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the paths of the seas. (Psalms 8:8).
All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. (1 Corinthians 15:39).
Fish as Food
The children of Israel remember the fish, which they did eat in Egypt freely. (Numbers 11:5).
There dwelt men of Tyre which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the Sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 13:16).
Your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him. What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? (Matthew 7:9-11; Luke 11:11).
Jesus took five loaves, and two fishes and fed about five thousand men, beside women and children. They did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. (Matthew 14:17- 21; Mark 6:38-44; Luke 9:14-17; John 6:9-13).
Jesus took seven loaves and a few little fishes and fed four thousand men, beside women and children. They did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full. (Matthew 15:34-38; Mark 8:5-9).
Jesus had risen from the dead. and appeared before the disciples and stood in the midst of them, and said unto them, Peace be unto you. And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. (Luke 24:36-43; John 21:12-14).
Rules about eating fish
These shall you eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever has fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers are approved to eat. And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you. These you shall not eat of their flesh because they are an abomination. Whatsoever has no fins nor scales in the waters that shall be an abomination unto you. (Leviticus 11:9-12).
These you shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall you eat. And whatsoever has not fins and scales you may not eat; it is unclean unto you. (Deuteronomy 14:9-10).
Fish Associated to Judgment
The LORD told Moses that Pharaoh shall know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river. (Exodus 7:17-18).
The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish. (Isaiah 19:8).
Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinks, because there is no water, and dies for thirst. (Isaiah 50:2).
It shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, said the Lord GOD that my fury shall come up in my face. The jealousy and the fire of His wrath He has spoken, in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. (Ezekiel 38:18-20).
He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish. (Psalms 105:29).
The LORD said to the inhabitance of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood touches blood. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwells therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. (Hosea 4:1-3).
I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD. (Zephaniah 1:3).
Fish Associated with Reward
The LORD will send for many fishers, said the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. (Jeremiah 16:16).
And it shall come to pass, that everything that lives, which moves, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and everything shall live whither the river cometh.
And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. The miry places thereof and the marshes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt. And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine. (Ezekiel 47:9-11).
Fish as an Object of Pagan Worship
The LORD warns not to corrupt yourselves by making any figure of the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth. (Deuteronomy 4:15-18).
Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. (Judges 16:23). A Philistine deity of fertility; represented with the face and hands of a man and the tail of a fish.
Miracles dealing with Fish
Jesus told Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. When they did they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. (Luke 5:4-7; John 21:5-6).
Jesus told His disciples go to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when they have opened his mouth, they shall find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee. (Matthew 17:24-27).
Symbolically Uses of Fish
Fish as a symbol of entrapment: For man also knows not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them. (Ecclesiastes 9:12).
The LORD God is from everlasting: He makes men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them. They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. (Habakkuk 1:14-16).
The Lord GOD said he was against Pharaoh King of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his rivers, which has said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. The LORD will put hooks in their jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto their scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto their scales. The LORD will leave them thrown into the wilderness, they and all the fish of their rivers: they shall fall upon the open fields; they shall not be brought together, nor gathered: the LORD have given them for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven. And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. (Ezekiel 29:3-6).
Fish as a symbol of the kingdom of the LORD God
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. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, (Matthew 13:47-49).
The LORD God told Ezekiel that it shall come to pass, that everything that lives, which moves, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and everything shall live whither the river comes. And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. (Ezekiel 47:9-10).
Fish as a symbol of the Resurrection
Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. (Jonah 1:17). The LORD spoke unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. (Jonah 2:10).
Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:40).
Fishermen as the first disciples
And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Jesus also chose two brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. (Matthew 4:18-21; Mark 1:16-20).
Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias. As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. Jesus said unto them, Bring of the fish which you have now caught. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty three: and for all there were so many, yet the net was not broken. Jesus said unto them, Come and dine. And the disciples knew that it was the Lord. Jesus then came, and took bread, and gave them, and fish likewise. This was the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples, after that He was risen from the dead. (John 21:9-14).
Cite Article Source
MLA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne “Fish:.” Becker Bible Studies Library Feb 2015.< https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2318,>.
APA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015, February) “Fish:.” Becker Bible Studies Library. Retrieved from https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2318,.
Chicago Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015) “Fish:.” Becker Bible Studies Library (February), https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2318, (accessed).
