New study suggests scientific explanations for Jesus' miracles of fish and bread

A multi-institutional team of environmental scientists and physical limnologists has found a scientific explanation for Jesus' "miraculous catch of fish" that does not involve miracles. The research team published their paper in the journal Water Resources Research. The team studied natural fish die-offs in Lake Kinneret. Their findings suggest that the biblical miracles of Jesus related to fishing may have a scientific basis.

Lake Kinneret is a freshwater lake in that is prominently featured in the Bible. Also called Lake Tiberias or the Sea of Galilee, it is the site of several of Jesus's miracles, including the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes and the Miraculous Catch of Fish. The northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee is thought to be associated with these two miracles. In the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, five loaves of bread and two small fish fed 5,000 people. In the Miraculous Catch of Fish, the apostles were fishing unsuccessfully until Jesus told them to cast their nets one last time, after which they were rewarded with a great catch.

The researchers sought to find out if there might have been another explanation for the sudden rise in fish numbers described in the biblical accounts. Their work involved sending temperature sensors and oxygen level measuring devices into Lake Kinneret. They tested wind speed and direction and noted modern historical accounts of fish die-offs in the lake. The team found short periods when winds across the surface of Lake Kinneret were strong enough to pull oxygen from its depths, leaving little to none for aquatic life.

Lake Kinneret is naturally stratified, with a cold lower level that has low levels of oxygen and an upper, warmer, oxygen-rich layer where the fish live. The researchers found that occasionally, thermal stratification occurs in Lake Kinneret as waters from the two levels mix. The mixing of waters results in too little oxygen for the fish to survive at any level of Lake Kinneret. The fish die and float up to the surface of the lake. To a person on shore or in a boat, the die-off looked like a mass number of fish slowly rising to the surface of Lake Kinneret, allowing them to be easily caught.

The research team wrote in their study: "Nowadays fish-kill events happen at the same location in the lake where the biblical Miracle of Loaves and Fishes and presumably the Miraculous Catch of Fish occurred two millennia before the present." This phenomenon was observed, for example, in 2012. The researchers identified two events in May and June 2012 that saw thousands of dead fish float to the surface of the Sea of Galilee. Apart from the events in 2012, the authors recall only two other fish kill events: one in April 2007 and one in the early 1990s. All of these fish kill events occurred at the same geographic location, near Tabgha.

Scientists noted that such a phenomenon occurs rarely and mainly in spring, during years of active phytoplankton blooms. Experiments confirmed that natural processes, such as western winds and water stratification (separation into layers by density and temperature), lead to seasonal changes in oxygen levels. When the upper and lower layers of water mix, the oxygen level decreases, and fish accumulate at the surface, becoming available for catching. The result of the oxygen depletion was a sudden die-off of fish.

The researchers stated: "[This] may explain the appearance of large numbers of easy-to-collect fish close to the shore described in the biblical narratives." With the new interpretation, the miracle could be temporally situated during the days of greatest fish mortality in the lake, aligning with the biblical story in which Jesus told the fisherman Peter to cast his nets again, after which Peter caught so many fish that the nets barely held. The unusual occurrences in the Sea of Galilee may be the result of a natural phenomenon.

This makes it likely that the event occurred in late spring or early summer, a time when temperature changes would cause more cases of asphyxiation in the fish. The dead fish along the shore could be easily collected by a hungry populace, providing a practical explanation for the abundance of fish during biblical times. Thus, researchers suggest that some biblical events may have been based on real natural phenomena coinciding with the described time frames, indicating that the biblical miracles were merely coincidental events.

Additionally, the study adds context to the narrative of the multiplication, noting that this phenomenon, although rare, is known in limnology and has happened in other areas of the world. Similar fish kill events have been documented in other locations, including Lake Erie, the Neuse River Estuary in North Carolina, and Hamilton Harbor in Canada. The research team wrote: "It is possible that similar fish-kill events, or even only concentration of live fish near the shore in an event of partial upwelling, happened at the same site on the shore of Lake Kinneret already two millennia ago."

The researchers concluded: "Our study suggests a location and time frame for the biblical miracles near Tabgha, documented in the Miracle of the Loaves and Fish, and the Miraculous Catch of Fish." According to the Gospels, the miracle of the "Loaves and Fishes" was the only miracle recorded in all four canonical texts. In the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, five loaves of bread and two small fish fed 5,000 people. There are two instances in the New Testament where Jesus is described as turning just a few fish into a multitude: one in the book of Luke and the other in the book of John.

The researchers found that the types of fish most abundant in Lake Kinneret during die-offs typically wind up along the shore, which aligns with the biblical accounts of fish abundance. The fish die and float up to the surface of the lake. When the upper and lower layers of water mix, the oxygen level decreases, and fish accumulate at the surface, becoming available for catching. The die-offs result in mass numbers of fish along the shore, aligning with the biblical accounts of fish abundance.

The study suggests a scientific explanation behind one of Jesus's most famous miracles. According to new research, the miracles may have a more logical, scientific explanation rather than being the work of Christ. The researchers found that lake conditions during the time of Jesus were similar to those that lead to modern fish die-offs, supporting the theory that natural phenomena could explain biblical events.

The researchers concluded: "Our study suggests a location and time frame for the biblical miracles near Tabgha, documented in the Miracle of the Loaves and Fish, and the Miraculous Catch of Fish." They stated: "[This] may explain the appearance of large numbers of easy-to-collect fish close to the shore described in the biblical narratives." Thus, researchers suggest that some biblical events may have been based on real natural phenomena coinciding with the described time frames, indicating that the biblical miracles were merely coincidental events.

Sources: El Cronista, Cursor Info, Phys.org, IFLScience

This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq