דג, ἰχθὺς, Matt. vii, 10; xvii, 27; Luke v, 6; John xxi, 6, 8, 11,
occurs very frequently. This appears to be the general name in Scripture
of aquatic animals. Boothroyd, in the note upon Num. xi, 4, says, “I am
inclined to think that the word בשר, here rendered _flesh_, denotes only
the flesh of fish, as it certainly does in Lev. xi, 11; and indeed the
next verse seems to support this explication: ‘We remember how freely we
ate fish.’ It was then, particularly, the flesh of fish, for which they
longed, which was more relishing than either the beef or mutton of those
regions, which, unless when young, is dry and unpalatable. Of the great
abundance and deliciousness of the fish of Egypt, all authors, ancient
and modern, are agreed.” We have few Hebrew names, if any, for
particular fishes. Moses says in general, Lev. xi, 9–12, that all sorts
of river, lake, and sea fish, might be eaten, if they had scales and
fins; others were unclean. St. Barnabas, in his epistle, cites, as from
ancient authority, “You shall not eat of the lamprey, the many-feet,
[polypes,] nor the cuttle fish.” Though fish was the common food of the
Egyptians, yet we learn from Herodotus and Chæremon, as quoted by
Porphyry, that their priests abstained from fish of all sorts. Hence we
may see how distressing to the Egyptians was the infliction which turned
the waters of the river into blood, and occasioned the death of the
fish, Exod. vii, 18–21. Their sacred stream became so polluted as to be
unfit for drink, for bathing, and for other uses of water to which they
were superstitiously devoted, and themselves obliged to nauseate what
was the usual food of the common people, and held sacred by the priests,
Exod. ii, 5; vii, 15; viii, 20.
In Ezekiel xxix, 4, the king of Egypt is compared to the crocodile: “I
am against thee, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers
in Egypt. I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish in thy
rivers to stick to thy scales, and I will bring thee out of the midst of
thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick to thy scales.”
If the _remora_ is as troublesome to the crocodile as it is to some
other tenants of the water, it may here be referred to. Forskal mentions
the _echeneis neucrates_ [remora] at Gidda, there called _kaml el
kersh_, “the louse of the shark,” because it often adheres very strongly
to this fish; and Hasselquist says that it is found at Alexandria.
The term, ἰχθὺς, _a fish_, was, at an early period of the Christian era,
adopted as a symbolical word. It was formed from the initial letters of
the Greek words, Ἰησοῦς Χριϛὸς, Θεοῦ Ὑιὸς, Σωτὴρ, “Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, our Saviour.” From the use of symbolical terms, the transition
was easy to the adoption of symbolical representations, and it therefore
soon became common for the Christians to have the letters of the word
ιχθυς, or the figures of fishes, sculptured on their monuments for the
dead, struck on their medals, engraved on their rings and seals, and
even formed on the articles of domestic use.
occurs very frequently. This appears to be the general name in Scripture
of aquatic animals. Boothroyd, in the note upon Num. xi, 4, says, “I am
inclined to think that the word בשר, here rendered _flesh_, denotes only
the flesh of fish, as it certainly does in Lev. xi, 11; and indeed the
next verse seems to support this explication: ‘We remember how freely we
ate fish.’ It was then, particularly, the flesh of fish, for which they
longed, which was more relishing than either the beef or mutton of those
regions, which, unless when young, is dry and unpalatable. Of the great
abundance and deliciousness of the fish of Egypt, all authors, ancient
and modern, are agreed.” We have few Hebrew names, if any, for
particular fishes. Moses says in general, Lev. xi, 9–12, that all sorts
of river, lake, and sea fish, might be eaten, if they had scales and
fins; others were unclean. St. Barnabas, in his epistle, cites, as from
ancient authority, “You shall not eat of the lamprey, the many-feet,
[polypes,] nor the cuttle fish.” Though fish was the common food of the
Egyptians, yet we learn from Herodotus and Chæremon, as quoted by
Porphyry, that their priests abstained from fish of all sorts. Hence we
may see how distressing to the Egyptians was the infliction which turned
the waters of the river into blood, and occasioned the death of the
fish, Exod. vii, 18–21. Their sacred stream became so polluted as to be
unfit for drink, for bathing, and for other uses of water to which they
were superstitiously devoted, and themselves obliged to nauseate what
was the usual food of the common people, and held sacred by the priests,
Exod. ii, 5; vii, 15; viii, 20.
In Ezekiel xxix, 4, the king of Egypt is compared to the crocodile: “I
am against thee, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers
in Egypt. I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish in thy
rivers to stick to thy scales, and I will bring thee out of the midst of
thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick to thy scales.”
If the _remora_ is as troublesome to the crocodile as it is to some
other tenants of the water, it may here be referred to. Forskal mentions
the _echeneis neucrates_ [remora] at Gidda, there called _kaml el
kersh_, “the louse of the shark,” because it often adheres very strongly
to this fish; and Hasselquist says that it is found at Alexandria.
The term, ἰχθὺς, _a fish_, was, at an early period of the Christian era,
adopted as a symbolical word. It was formed from the initial letters of
the Greek words, Ἰησοῦς Χριϛὸς, Θεοῦ Ὑιὸς, Σωτὴρ, “Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, our Saviour.” From the use of symbolical terms, the transition
was easy to the adoption of symbolical representations, and it therefore
soon became common for the Christians to have the letters of the word
ιχθυς, or the figures of fishes, sculptured on their monuments for the
dead, struck on their medals, engraved on their rings and seals, and
even formed on the articles of domestic use.