Peter: A Fisherman

The coasts of the Sea of Galilee were smattered with fishing villages Jesus reached out to during his ministry. On this water Peter spent many of his working hours as a typical fishermen, struggling with the nets, storms and harbors on the sea described below. The sea where Jesus calmed the storm, created a miraculous catch of fish, and barbequed after his resurrection.

The Sea of Galilee

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.' At once they left their nets and followed him.

When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him."

A picture of the type of fishing boat Peter and the others would have used. Albeit unlikely, for all we know Jesus sailed in this particular boat. It is dated from between the first century B.C. to the first century A.D.

Fishing back then was not sitting in your boat, fastening some bait on your line and casting it overboard. Three of the four main types of fishing required teamwork, and it’s no surprise that Zebedee owned the business, that James, John, Simon (i.e. Peter) and Andrew were partners, and that Zebedee had hired men.

Boats, though possibly owned by one person, were operated by crews, which often expanded during the high seasons to include day laborers, wandering workers that had no land. Zebedee’s extra men may have been hired for the autumn musht season, for example. At the end of the season these workers, who had likely been reduced to such work by being taxed off of their ancestral land, would move on to the next seasonal business, perhaps sowing crops. If they wished, they would return for the busy sardine season.

The Sea of Galilee, from the archway of the Greek Orthodox Church in Capernaum. The remains of the old boardwalk, with its tackle shops, and restaurants catering to the merchant clientele, are to my right, and I can still see the stone piers Peter and the others used, curving out into the water. In my imagination, there are nets, cleaned before dawn, hanging along the wooden posts lining the quay.

Fishermen often worked at night, when the fish couldn’t see the linen nets entrapping them. For example, the following Scripture has Simon washing his nets after a long night fishing.

[Jesus] saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. …When [Jesus] had finished preaching, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."

Simon answered, "Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

You might also be interested in my post on Peter's House.

Harbor Life
These violent storms endangered boats, and the Galilee has no sizeable natural harbors – only a few inlets. Until the Hellenistic period, which began with Alexander the Great’s conquest in 333 B.C., most fishermen probably dragged their boats to shore. Sometime after that they began building anchorages, defined by breakwaters made of piled rocks, to protect their boats. One or more piers probably extended from the breakwater, in order to load and unload both passengers and cargo.

These man-made harbors probably became the hub of the town, with boat repair shops, storage facilities, holding tanks for live fish and a general store of goods fishermen could barter their catch for, such as wheat, located on a nearby promenade.

Trading ships would have docked at many of the harbors, since overland travel was expensive, and the locals probably had stores for merchants to purchase local and regional goods they would trade on their way up and down the Jordan River.

Nearby, perhaps at the end of the promenade, would have been the boat repair yard, strewn with salvaged wood from defunct boats, tools, ropes and the like. The Jesus Boat, for example, was patched with at least eleven different kinds of wood.

After the winter storm season was over, there was likely a community effort to repair the breakwaters, perhaps by refilling spaces left by smaller stones stuffed between the rocks that had floated out to sea, or by plucking out trapped and rotting sea creatures. Smaller maintenance was probably required as well, on a continual basis.

These storms caused much emotional and financial fear in the hearts of fishermen and their families. In a society where subsistence living was the norm, there wouldn’t have been much extra lying around for boat repair, and women whose male guardians died were vulnerable to prostitution for an income.

You might also be interested in my post on Daily Life in Capernaum.