The Miraculous Catch: Reflections on the Research of Mendel Nun

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Mendel Nun’s research is important in illuminating many Gospel stories.

Updated: 10 November 2023

Since Jesus spent so much time on or near the Sea of Galilee and his disciples were Sea of Galilee fishermen, Mendel Nun’s research is important in illuminating many gospel stories. His comprehensive knowledge of ancient fishing on the Sea of Galilee has allowed him to determine the exact time and place of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry with disciples: winter on the lakeshore at Heptapegon near Capernaum.

Mendel Nun holding a fishing seine.

Nun also has shown that in the story of the miraculous catch (Luke 5:1-11), Peter could only have been using a trammel net or a veranda net, a variation of the trammel net. He could not have been fishing with a seine because it was not used near Ἑπτάπηγον (Heptapegon, seven springs). The floor of the lake in that area of the coast is so rocky that the seine would have continually gotten hung up on the rocks. And it is unlikely that Peter was using a cast net because he was fishing with boat and crew.

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This article originally appeared in issue 37 of the Jerusalem Perspective magazine. Click on the image above to view a PDF of the original magazine article.

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  • David N. Bivin

    David N. Bivin
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    David N. Bivin is founder and editor of Jerusalem Perspective. A native of Cleveland, Oklahoma, U.S.A., Bivin has lived in Israel since 1963, when he came to Jerusalem on a Rotary Foundation Fellowship to do postgraduate work at the Hebrew University. He studied at the Hebrew…
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