This is a great question and one I have yet to be asked, so I look forward to answering it.
Answer:
While the primary use of fish was for food (Luke 11:11; Mark 6:41), preparation of which included broiling (John 21:9), the symbolism of fish included the death of the plagues (Exod. 7:21) and the death of drought (Isa. 50:2) as well as untimely death (Eccles. 9:12). Fish being caught symbolized the helplessness of humans before the power of God (Hab. 1:14-16). The techniques of fishing became a model for the work of Jesus’ disciples as ‘fishers of men’ (Mark 1:17; Matt. 4:19). One of the gates of Jerusalem was named the ‘Fish Gate’ (2 Chron. 33:14; Neh. 3:3; 12:39; Zeph. 1:10) in postexilic reconstruction, possibly in the north wall of the Mishneh or Second Quarter of the city.
Some time in early church life, the figure of a fish took symbolic value as the sign of the Christ. The acrostic derived from the Greek letters of the word ‘fish’ (ichthys) were understood to stand for the Greek words for ‘Jesus [i] Christ [ch], God’s [th] Son [y], Savior [s]’ and the use of the symbol persists to this day in Christian iconography.
Thanks for asking a great question!
Pastor Buck
Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary (1st ed.) (311). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
