The waters of the Lake of Tiberias are exception- ally rich in fish, especially by the shore of el-Batiha (to the east of the mouth of the Jordan), and in the bay of et-Tabigha. Tlie.se were in former times the fjivou'rite grounds of fishermen, and these spots are still preferred by them in our own day. There, on the shore of el-Batiha lay Bethsaida- Julias ; and, if there were two Betlisaidas (a much controverted question ; see artt. BETHSAIDA and CAPERNAUM), tlie second was at et-Tabigha or in its A'icinity. Now Bethsaida means 'house of fish,' 'fishery.' It was the native town of Peter and Andrew, of James and John, — all four fishermen, — as well as of Philip, whose oicupatinn is unknown to u.s. According to Jn 21- Tlionuis and Nathanael (of Cana) appear also to have been fishermen, at least occasionally. The dress of the lisliermen was more than simple ; according to Jn 21' Peter was yvfip6s, ' naked ' ; it is not quite easy to see why so many exegetes maintain that this term does not imply complete nudity. It is certainly most natural to suppose that Peter had discarded all his clothes ; the fact that he afterwards hastily girds on his eirevSin-qs, lit. his • upper garment,' does not
FLAX
lily prove that lie was wearing another under it.
The tiah of the Lake of Tiberias have been minutely studied and described by two experts, Dr. Lortet, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Lyons, and Dr. Tristram. Out of 39 (Lortet) or 43 (Tristram) species known in Palestine, from 22 to 24 are found in the Lake of Tiberias and its immediate vicinity. They belong to a number of diH'erent genera. The genus Chromis has the richest representation of species: Nilvticiis, Tiberi- adis, A iii/rc(c, Simonis, Microstomus, Flavii Josephi, MagdaUnm ; belonging to a genus near of kin is Hemichromis Sacra. These fish are the most abundant and make the best eating. The genus Barbus is also extremely prolific ; three species be- longing to it are found : Canis, which swarms, but is little appreciated ; Lonr/iceps, esteemed ; and Bed- domii, rare. Then, in the family of the Cijprlnidcs come Discognathiis Lamtii ; fo\ir species of Capceta : Syriaca, Damaxriiiu, Surinli.-;, S'liinnpi ; Liitviscus (01 Fhoxinelliis) /. /v,/,' ; . I //,«,■;; ",v '.v.VAi/ ; Acan- thobrama Ccntix^ininin -. tluv,. si.ccirs (.f Nema- ehihis : Tigris, Gaiilaiis, Lroiiliiiir. lu the family of the Blennides : Blcnniiis Varus and Blcnnius Lupuhis. Finally, in the family of the Silurides we have the strange Clarias 3Iacracanthus, already noted by Josephus {BJ III. x. 8) under the name KopaKii/os, which, in spite of its forbidding aspect, supplies an article of food not to be disdained. This fish has the strange peculiarity that, when it is withdrawn from its natural element, it utters cries like the mewings of a cat, and that it can live for several days out of the water.
A considerable number of the above species belong properly to Palestine, but the fauna of Palestinian fish shows, nevertheless, a close con- nexion with that of Africa and not with that of the Mediterranean basin. The ancients, e.g. Jose- phus, had already noted this fact, and they raised the question of the possibility of a subterranean communication between the waters of Egypt and those of Palestine. See also AxuiALS, p. 60".
Literature. — Bochart, //,,-.,:, i ],,. c i-; Lortet, Poissotis et Reptiles du liir <■ ; l i in- same
103 ; Libbev and Hoskins, Jordan Vallm ,i,ni l;-ir,i. i,ni;,, \ol. i. p. 130 f.; G. R. Lees, Villaffe Lifr !n /'uA ^„., I'uir,, p. 5 [with photograph of two fishermen of tlii' l.akr nt LiKi lias cast- ing theirnets]. Lucii:\ eiAuriKR.
FLAX.— See Smoking Flax.
FLESH ((xdpk). — In every instance where this word is used by the Evangelists we observe that it is confined in its reference to the human race. The same remark, it may be noticed, holds good of the NT writers as a whole (cf., however, 1 Co 15^', and the plural c7dp«ra! of Rev 19"*). Tlie particular con- ception attaching to it varies in ditterent contexts to a slight extent, though in almost every case a distinction or contrast is either stated or implied which has its roots in OT thouyht . It i^ interest- ing to remark that this is a wm,! riii|il,.v,M very rarely by St. Luke in either of his Hiiiiii-s: and even when he does use it, we iliid thai, ior the most part, he is quoting from the OT (see Lk 3" = Is 40^ [LXX], where in conjunction with Tracra it is simply a synonym for all mankind ; cf. Mt 24=-, Mk 13-», Jn 17-, and Ac 2"). The reference, of course, is to the human race in its present condition of weakness and need of help, as contrasted with the power and the active love of God (cf. Dt G™, Ps Se" [55= LXX]).
In the only other place where the word is found in St Luke's Gospel (24=") we have it used simply to denote the substance flesh considered as a con-
stituent of tlie luiman body. represent ed us iii\ iting His disciples to assure tliem- selve,^ l.y teiirhiiig Him that He had risen not merely in ,1, spiritual, but in a corporeal .sense. The antithesis is tliut of 'spirit' and 'body' [mO/ia and o-w^a), tlie latter consisting of 'flesh' and ' bones ' (adpi and oarU). See art. Body.