holy to Jehovah. Then, in the fifth year, the owner could gather in its fruit for himself.—Lev. 19:23-25.

Contributions of firstfruits to Jehovah by the twelve non-Levitical tribes of Israel were used by the priests and Levites, since they received no inheritance in the land. (Num. 18:8-13) The faithful offering of the firstfruits brought pleasure to Jehovah and a blessing to all parties involved. (Ezek. 44:30) A failure to bring them would be counted by God as robbing him of his due and would bring his displeasure. (Mal. 3:8) In Israel’s history at times this practice was neglected, being restored in certain periods by rulers zealous for true worship. In King Hezekiah’s reformation work, he held an extended celebration of the Festival of the Unfermented Cakes, and on this occasion Hezekiah instructed the people to fulfill their duty with respect to the contribution of firstfruits and tithes. Cheerfully the people responded by bringing in great quantities of the firstfruits of the grain, new wine, oil and honey and all the produce of the field, from the third month to the seventh. (2 Chron. 30:21, 23; 31:4-7) After the restoration from Babylon, Nehemiah led the people in taking an oath to walk in Jehovah’s law, including the bringing to him of firstfruits of every sort.—Neh. 10:29, 34-37.

FIGURATIVE AND SYMBOLIC USE

Jesus Christ was spiritually begotten at the time of his baptism, and resurrected from the dead to life in the spirit on Nisan 16, 33 C.E., the day of the year on which the firstfruits of the first grain crop were presented before Jehovah at the sanctuary. He is, therefore, called the firstfruits, being actually the first firstfruits to God. (1 Cor. 15:20, 23; 1 Pet. 3:18) The faithful followers of Jesus Christ, his spiritual brothers, are also a firstfruits to God, but not the primary firstfruits, being similar to the second grain crop, the wheat, which was presented to Jehovah on the day of Pentecost. They are numbered as 144,000 and are called the ones “bought from among mankind as a first fruits to God and to the Lamb” and “a certain first fruits of his creatures.”—Rev. 14:1-4; Jas. 1:18.

The apostle Paul also speaks of the faithful Jewish remnant who became the first Christians as being “first fruits.” (Rom. 11:16) The Christian Epaenetus is called the “first fruits of Asia for Christ” (Rom. 16:5), and the household of Stephanus “the first fruits of Achaia.”—1 Cor. 16:15.

Since the anointed Christians are begotten by the spirit as sons of God with the hope of resurrection to immortality in the heavens, they are said during their lifetime on earth to “have the first fruits, namely, the spirit . . . while we are earnestly waiting for adoption as sons, the release from our bodies by ransom.” (Rom. 8:23, 24) Paul says that he and fellow Christians with hopes of life in the spirit have “the token of what is to come, that is, the spirit,” which he also says is “a token in advance of our inheritance.”—2 Cor. 5:5; Eph. 1:13, 14; see FESTIVAL; OFFERINGS.

FISH

These and other water animals were brought into existence by God on the fifth creative day. (Gen. 1:20-23) Although not authorized to use fish for food until after the Flood, man was from the beginning to have these creatures in subjection. (Gen. 1:28; 9:2, 3) But instead of exercising proper dominion over the animals, some men became “empty-headed” in their reasonings and came to venerate the creation. (Rom. 1:20-23) For example, the Babylonian Ea, a god of the waters, was depicted as a man covered with the body of a fish; the Syrian Atargatis was a fish goddess; and in Egypt not only were certain kinds of fish viewed as sacred but even mummified fish have been found there. Such fish worship was, of course, prohibited in God’s law to Israel.—Deut. 4:15-18.

It was most appropriate that Jesus Christ, the “Son of man” (Matt. 17:22), who was to have even the fish in subjection, on two occasions demonstrated his power by filling the nets of his apostles with miraculous catches of fish. (Ps. 8:4-8; Heb. 2:5-9; Luke 5:4-7; John 21:6) Jesus also exercised his dominion when, faced with the paying of the temple tax, he instructed Peter: “Go to the sea, cast a fishhook, and take the first fish coming up and, when you open its mouth, you will find a stater coin. Take that and give it to them for me and you.”—Matt. 17:24-27.

FISH AS FOOD

Fish, a highly nutritious and easily digestible food, evidently was an important item in the diet of the Egyptians as well as of the enslaved Hebrews, for in the wilderness the mixed crowd and the sons of Israel longed for the fish they used to eat in Egypt. (Num. 11:5) The Egyptian economy therefore suffered heavily when the fish in the Nile died as a result of Jehovah’s turning Egypt’s waters into blood.—Ex. 7:20, 21.

Fish continued to be an important food to the Israelites once they were established in the Promised Land. One of the gates of Jerusalem was called the “Fish Gate,” suggesting that a fish market was located there or nearby, (2 Chron. 33:14) In a later period, as mentioned by Nehemiah, the Tyrians sold fish at Jerusalem even on the sabbath.—Neh. 13:16.

Commonly prepared by broiling or salting and drying, fish were often eaten along with bread. Likely the fish used by Jesus in miraculously feeding 5,000 men and later 4,000 men, besides women and children, were dried and salted. (Matt. 14:17-21; 15:34-38) After his resurrection Jesus ate some broiled fish to prove to his apostles that they were not seeing a spirit, and on another occasion he prepared a breakfast of bread and fish cooked over a charcoal fire.—Luke 24:36-43; John 21:9-12.

FISH OF PALESTINE

With the exception of the Dead Sea, fish are plentiful in the inland waters of Palestine. Among the varieties encountered there are bream, carp, perch and the unusual mouth-breeding fishes, such as Chromis simonis. The male of Chromis simonis takes the eggs, about 200 in number, into his mouth, the young remaining there for several weeks after being hatched.

Certain kinds of fish live even in the salt springs near the Dead Sea, but these soon die if placed in water from the sea itself. The reason for this has been ascribed to the presence of a large percentage of magnesium chloride in the Dead Sea. The swift current of the Jordan, particularly at flood stage, sweeps many fish into the Dead Sea, where stupefied fish become food for birds of prey or where their dead bodies are washed up on the shore and eaten by carrion birds. In sharp contrast with this, the prophet Ezekiel, in vision, saw a stream issuing forth from Jehovah’s temple that healed the waters of the Dead Sea, giving rise to a flourishing fishing industry.—Ezek. 47:1, 8-10.

CLEAN AND UNCLEAN

Although King Solomon’s wisdom embraced the field of natural history, including a knowledge of the fishes (1 Ki. 4:33), not once is a specific kind of fish named in the Scriptures. However, the Law did make a distinction between clean and unclean water animals. Only water animals having fins and scales were ceremonially clean for food, this ruling out such creatures as catfish, eels, lampreys, rays, sharks and the Crustacea, many of which live on sewage and decaying matter, and are often the cause of typhoid and paratyphoid fevers. (Lev. 11:9-12) Israelite fishermen therefore had to separate the fine fish from those unsuitable for food, a point highlighted in Jesus’ illustration of the dragnet.—Matt. 13:47, 48.

THE FISH THAT SWALLOWED JONAH

In spite of the fact that the Son of God himself testified to the truthfulness of the account about