Fish

Fish (dag in Hebrew, a word connoting great fecundity) were a significant part of the diet and economy of ancient Israel, particularly in regions near the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River, and the Mediterranean coast. Numbers 11:5 records Israel's longing in the wilderness for the fish they had eaten freely in Egypt. No individual fish species is named in the Old Testament, though Jonah's "great fish" (Jonah 2:1) is the most famous single fish in Scripture.

The abundance of fish in the Sea of Galilee made fishing the primary occupation of several of Jesus's disciples — Peter, Andrew, James, and John were all fishermen. Jesus called them with the promise of making them "fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19), and fish appear repeatedly in his ministry: the feeding of five thousand with five loaves and two fish, the miraculous catch, the coin found in the fish's mouth, and the post-resurrection breakfast of fish on the shore (John 21). The Greek word for fish (ichthys) became an early Christian acrostic and symbol, as its letters spelled out "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior."