Angling
Angling
the art of taking fish with a hook and line. The word חִכָּה, chakkah', which the Auth. Vers. renders "angle" in Isa 19:8; Hab 1:15, is the same that is rendered "hook" in Job 41:1,12. The Scriptures contain several allusions to this mode of taking fish. The first of these occurs as early as the time of Job: "Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook; or his tongue [palate, which is usually pierced by the hook] with a cord [line], which thou lettest down? Canst thou put a hook into his nose, or bore his jaw through with a thorn?" (Job 41:1-2). This last phrase obviously refers to the thorns which were sometimes used as hooks, and which are long after mentioned as the thorns of fishing (Am 4:2), in the Auth. Vers. "fish-hooks." Of the various passages relating to this subject, the most remarkable is that which records, as an important part of the "burden of Egypt," that "the fishers also shall mourn; and all they that cast angle [the hook] into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish" (Isa 19:8). In this poetical description of a part of the calamities which were to befall Egypt, we are furnished with an account of the various modes of fishing practiced in that country, which is in exact conformity with the scenes depicted in the old tombs of Egypt. See FISH. Angling appears to have been regarded chiefly as an amusement, in which the Egyptians of all ranks found much enjoyment. The Egyptian hooks were of bronze, as appears from the specimens that have been found. Insects, natural or artificial, were not used in angling, ground bait being exclusively employed; and the float does not appear to have been known (Wilkinson's Anc. Egyptians, 3, 54). The fish caught in the lake of Tiberias were, some time since, taken exclusively with the rod and line, in the absence of boats upon that water; and probably this is the case still. An instance of this occurs in the case of Peter, who was directed by Christ in this manner to procure a miraculous supply of money to pay the temple tax (Mt 17:27). SEE HOOK.
