Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-02-09
FISHING A GREAT BIBLE TOPIC.

| the birds swoop on their tiny carcasses, and
the third, the Pools of Heshbon, which are
alternately full and dry. Only three rivers
of the Holy Land, Jabbok, Kishon and Jor-
dan, About all the fish now in the waters
| Of the Holy Land are the perch, the carp,
the Dream, the minIow, the blenny' the
barbel $50 called because OF tnc narp az l1s
mcrthl the club, the dogfish, none OF
them worth : Delaware shad or an Adiron.
dack trout,
Well, the eworid's geography has changed,
and the worlds bill Of fare has change
Lake Galilee was larger and deeper and
better stocked than now, and no doubt the
rivers were deeper and the fisheries were
Of far more Importance then than now.
Besides that there was the Mediterranean
sea only 35 miles away, and fish were salt.
/ ed or dried and brought inland, and so
much of that article of food was sold In
Jerusalem that fish market gave the
name to one Of the gates Of Jerusalem near
by, and it was called the fish gate.
The cities had great reservoirs in which
the fish were kept alive and bred. The
Pool Of Gibeon was fishpool. Isaiah and
Solomon refer to fishpools. Large fish were
kept alive and tied fast by ropes to stake
In these reservoirs, ring having been run
through their gills, and that Is the mean
ing Of the Scripture passage which says
"Canst thou put hook into his nose OF
bore his Jaw through with thornP"
So important was the fish that the god
Dagon, worshiped by the Philistines, was
made half fish and half man, and that thu
meaning Of the Lords indignation when ir
ISamuel we read that this Dagon, the fish
god, stood beside the ark of the Lord, ant
Dagon was by invisible hands dashed t,
pieces because the Philistines had dared tt
make ths fish god. That explains th'
Scripture passage, "The head Of Dagon an(
both the palms of his hands were cut of
upon the threshold; only the stump of Da
gon was left to him." Now, the stump o
.. Dagon was the fish part The top part
! which was the figure of a man, was DASHED
to pieces, and the Lord, by demolishing ev
,, erything but the stump or fish part of tn
dol, practically said, you may keep you
fish, but know from the way have demol
ished the rest of the idol that it is nothing
: divine.n
THE FISH CAME BEFORE THE LAND ANIMALS
Layard and Wilkinson found the fish al
object Of idolatry all through Assyria an
!, Egypt. The Nile was full of fish, and tina
8 explains the horrors of the plague tina
. slaughtered the finny tribe all up and dow
that river, which has been and is now th
main artery of Egypt's life. In Job 20
hear the plunge Of the spear into the hiI
popotamus as the great dramatic poet erie
out, "Canst thou fill his skin with barbe
irons or his head with fish spearsW Yes
the Ash began to swim in the very first boz
. Of Genesis, where my text records, "An
God said, Let the waters bring forth abui
# dainty the moving creature that hath life,
!. Do you realize that the first living thin
i, that God created was the fish2 1t precede
the bird, the quadruped, the human rae
}. The fish has priority of residence ov'
every living thing. The next thing dor
IL after God had kindled for our world Il
/ golden chandelier Of the sun and the silv
Q chandelier of the moon was to make IL
e fish, The first motion Of the principle
life, principle that all the thousands
il years since have not been able. to define !,
Children Cry for Pitchers
i Castoria.