New study links biblical miracles to rare lake phenomena
Research published in the scientific journal "Water Resources Research" offers fresh insight into one of Jesus' miracles described in the Bible. According to scientists, it may be explained by a rare phenomenon occurring in various bodies of water.
New research suggests that the miracles of Jesus described in the Bible could have natural explanations, related to phenomena occurring in the Sea of Galilee, also known as Lake Tiberias or Kinneret. According to IFL Science, according to the Bible, this freshwater lake in Israel is the site of two famous miracles - the multiplication of loaves and fishes and the miraculous catch of fish.
Scientists examined one of Jesus' miracles
The first account involves feeding 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish, while in the second, the apostles catch a huge number of fish after Jesus instructs them to cast their nets again. In "Water Resources Research," researchers suggest that these "miracles" could have been the result of a rare phenomenon called upwelling, which is the rising of oxygen-poor water from deeper layers of the lake to the surface, causing mass fish die-offs.
Scientists observed that currently, these types of phenomena occur in exactly the same part of the lake where the biblical miracles took place. Their study describes events from May and June 2012, when thousands of dead fish surfaced near the shore. Studies using three-dimensional modelling showed that in summer, the lake becomes stratified, with warm water on the surface and cooler, oxygen-poor water in lower layers.
IFL Science explains that winds blowing from the west cause internal waves that push low-oxygen water towards the surface. If this upwelling happens soon after the layers form, fish may not escape the oxygen-poor zone in time and die, surfacing. However, this phenomenon is very rare — aside from the events of 2012, the authors cite only two other known cases — from 2007 and the early 1990s, which occurred near Tabgha, where Jesus is believed to have performed miracles.
Similar cases of mass fish die-offs have occurred in other parts of the world, including Lake Erie in the United States and Hamilton Harbour in Canada, which may support the scientists' hypothesis. "Our research suggests that such events might have occurred two thousand years ago near Tabgha, where Jesus is believed to have performed the miracles of the multiplication of loaves and fish and the miraculous catch of fish," the study's authors noted.
