The chief fishing ground to-day is in the neigh- bourhood of el-BatUm, and here the work is con- ducted in boats with drag-nets {cT^povre^ rb SIktvov, Jn 2P) ; but in other places the want of a boat need not prevent a man becoming a fisher. If he simply possess a net and learn to cast it (/3dX\ovres dfjL<pi^\ri(TTpov, Mt 4^^), he may be very successful in iilaces where the water is not deep. Where the warm springs flow into the Lake the fish congre- gate in great numbers. We have seen shoals at 'Aiii Barideh and 'Ain et-Tabigha so great as to cover an acre of the surface, and so compact together that one could scarcely throw a stone without striking several. In such cases the hand- net is thrown out with a whirl. It sinks down in a circle, enclosing a multitude, and these are then gathered in by the hand, while the net lies at the bottom. The hook {dyKia-rpop, Mt 17^^) is also used in our day, and frequently a large quantity is taken in a short time. In the days of Josephus (A.D. 67) there were very many boats on the Lake, — 230 at Tarichea» alone {BJ ii. xxi. 8), — but in the year A.D. 27-28 they must have been still far below the number they reached in later years.
The fishing industry implied many others. Delitzsch {Handwerkleben zur Zcit Jcsu) tells us that the fish from the Lake were sold in Jerusalem ; and when we think of the greater refinement of the Apostle John, his acquaintance with the high priest (Jn 18^^), and his having a house in the Holy City (Jn 19^'^), we feel almost compelled to infer with Nonnus that he had acted there as agent. The sale of fish in Jerusalem and else- where would mean the employment of a goodly number of muleteers, and in ordinary circum- stances the Apostolic band would travel in such caravans, just as Joseph and Mary had jireviously done (Lk 2^'*). We must get away from the idea that they always travelled on foot.
Then on the shore of the Lake itself the fishing industry implied boat-building and repairing, and this, amongst other things, may have helped to decide our Lord's settlement in Capernaum, for there, as a carpenter, He could still from time to time exercise His own calling. At any rate, a/ter He had settled here for some time, He was still known as 'the carpenter' (Mk 6=*). That this should be the case was quite in harmony with the practice of the teachers of those days. We find Rabbi Abin also working as a carpenter {naggdr), while Rabbi Ada and Rabbi Ise are said to have been fishers {zayyddln). To some extent also the boats may have been used for transport trade ; but we are inclined to think that the fact that the two sides of the Lake belonged to tAvo different tetrarchies, each Avith its oAvn customs and taxa- tion, Avould militate against this.
The Talmuds and Midrash bring to our notice other occupa- tions carried on beside the Lalie, especially at Magdala, a portion of which was named Migdol Zebaya (Erubin v. 7) from the dyeing operations there conducted. So late as the year 1862, Sepp found this work still in existence, and indigo being grown in the fields of Mejdel. Then we read that there were 80 shops in the same town for the sale of linen (Taan. iv. 5), and we learn later that the linen of Galilee was Jine (Baba Qama, 119a ; Ber. Bab. c. 20). But perhaps of more interest than either of these is the fact that Magdala contained 300 shops for the
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sale of pigeons (Midr. Echa, 75d), which were used for purifica- tions in the Temple (Lk 2'^-^). These pigeons would be captured among the overhanging rocks of Wady Hamdin, where they are so plentiful to-day, or trapped in nooses laid out in the adjoining fields (of. Baba Qama vii.). These would be trans- ferred to Jerusalem, where we learn that there were booths on the Mt. of Olives for the sale of such (Cholin, 53a), as well as in the Temple courts when the sellers had invaded the sacred precincts (Mt 21 12 etc.). In this connexion it is to be noted that when those who sold doves were driven out of the Temple they could not be ignorant of the personality and power of Him who expelled them. Magdala and the Mt. of Olives being thus connected, another item is cast into the balance in favour of some relationship between Mary of Magdala and the family of Bethany (cf. Baronius, Annales, cap. 32). It may also be interesting to note here a still further connexion, for in the year a.d. 67, when the Jewish war broke out, the Jews took occasion to desti'' y th booths on the Mt. of Olives because the occupants ' established their doings on the Law, and did what was forbidden by the words of the wise ' {Cholln, 53a) ; and during the same jear Magdala and other towns in Galilee were destroj-ed, and the epithets used in the reasons given seem to indicate that the inhabitants were Christian (Jerus. Taanith iv. 5 ; Baba Mez. 88a ; Midr. Echa ii. 2). These industries gave the Lake valley a trade connexion with the outside world ; but, apart from those engaged in these occupations, multitudes would be employed in making articles for home use, as well as for the supply of the two courts and the various garrison towns. All trades would be represented, and these we sometimes read of incidentally, as in the case of tanning and the manufacture of earthenware at Migdol Zebaya.