Was Peter Poor?

A lot of scholars disagree with the popular idea that Peter was poor, but of course no one really knows. Some have postulated that they were 'middle class,' but that's unlikely, since 90% of the population was a peasant, and 10% were either elite or served the elite (bureaucrats, etc.) Merchants, often wealthy, and despised by peasants and aristocrats alike, were as close as you came to a middle class.

Keep in mind that: a) Peter and Andrew had a fishing business, instead of working for somebody else's business (but note there is no indication anyone worked for them), and b) their house was of a substantial size.

You may want to keep in mind that: a) John had some sort of connections with the upper priesthood, because he was allowed into the courtyard at Christ's trial; b) James and John were 'sons of Zebedee,' which would not be stated if 'Zebedee' weren't somewhat important; and c) Peter and Andrew were partners with James and John.

I'm skeptical of the idea that Peter was well-off. First, if you had much more money than the average person you were considered to be taking other peoples money, because (they thought) there was only so much money to be had in the world.

Second, being 'sons of Zebedee' indicated honor of some sort, which very possibly didn't go along with money. Ancient Jews based honor on family lineage, priestly associations, any work as a benefactor, etc. Money helped, but it was hardly the major factor it is today. Since John had connections with the high priest, and Capernaum wasn't a wealthy town, it makes sense to me that their family honor was derived from their priestly association somehow, not money.

Since only one room had something akin to a second room attached to it, the families didn't appear to have much money. Maybe it was just bigger because more families lived there. Maybe they had a chicken-raising business that demanded more space. Who knows.

To me, the biggest factor is that he was a partner in a business, v. being a hired laborer. Still, whereas 'partner' today indicates some status, 'partner' back then may have just been the fishing cooperative you were in. Hired laborers were just above slaves, so being above that wasn't exactly a measure of high status.

Plus, this may well not have been Peter's house. While evidence that it had Christian connotations from early centuries is substantial, evidence that it was Peter's house is limited to some graffiti markings that may be interpreted as 'Peter.' However, time has worn them down, and it's possible that wasn't the intention at all.

I'm also skeptical of the idea that Peter was particularly poor. Fishermen had more job stability than farmers - their income was never lost to a drought, excessive rain, or crop disease. Prices would rise, and ten fish would barter less wheat, but you wouldn't be left with no income and a sudden pile of debt.

Like I said, 90% of agrarian societies are peasants. Peasants are poor, yes. Often taxes and debt run very high, and little more than subsistence living is possible. But, was Peter poorer than the average peasant? Maybe, but I don't see any reason to think so.

The biggest argument would probably be that he was away from home so much, following Jesus, and had no chance to earn money. However, in a kinship environment like first-century Palestine, it's quite possible that lots of other people chipped in. It's also possible to make precisely the reverse argument out of that - he must have had a fair amount of money if he could be away from home so much, which renders the argument fairly powerless.

I feel like we exaggerate the idea that all the disciples were poor in order to emphasize that Christ can use anybody. Sure God can use anybody. You can grow up in Harlem, and God can use you in great ways. That doesn't mean that God needs you to be poor! Joanna, Mary Magdalene, Susannah and the 'other Mary' weren't. Matthew, as a tax collector, may not have been. Paul, moving forward a few years, probably wasn't. Nor were several of the prophets, moving back a few (hundred) years. God uses the poor, but he uses the wealthy too.

Last Updated: August 22, 2008

Peter's House

Mark 1:29-34: As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.

That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

I saw the ruins of Peter and Andrew's alleged house today, in Capernaum, but its early conversion to a church renders it impossible to picture it two thousand years ago. It was larger than most of the houses pictured directly below, but had the same basic structure - one or more courtyards surrounded by individual rooms. Whether it was actually Peter’s house is highly debatable.

All of the houses in Capernaum were built of the depressing black basalt in the picture (bleached grey by the sun, apparently). Most families in Capernaum lived in one room, which bordered a courtyard used by multiple families. Just behind the wall is the Sea of Galilee, and the stumpy hills in the background are on the far side of it.


This octagonal structure is the remnants of Peter's house, from the fifth century. It was converted to a house church hundreds of years earlier, then remodeled. The structure blocking it is a modern-day Franciscan church forbidden to tourists.

The house dubbed 'Peter's' had two courtyards, lucky for them. There were several 1-2 room houses opening onto it, one of which was probably used by him, his wife and any children they had (all in one bed, most likely). Another room would have been for Andrew and his family, and perhaps the others for extended family. There was a large common room joining the two courtyards.

There was a common kitchen, family room and storage room, used by all of the families, along the wall dividing the two courtyards. In the family room, picture a loom, a whole lot of baskets, pottery jars for storage, maybe some small storage sheds for larger items, fishing nets, some construction tools, a clay stove to keep you warm, etc. Then add in babies screaming, children fighting, ?straw? dollies with clothes woven on Mommy's loom, galloping across the dirt floor atop ?straw? donkeys, etc. The room was massive, 21' x 20', which far extends the family room of anyone I know. Maybe the closest you can get is imagining those old log cabins and prairie homes, with one main room, a bedroom, a kitchen and a yard.

In the kitchen was a table with benches, a clay stove and oven, a lot of baskets, cheap pottery jars for olive oil, wine, water, etc. Bedrooms had little more than the basics - maybe a closet, dresser, bed and table. Most clothes were homemade with wool shorn from the family sheep, which were not very plentiful in Galilee. There were probably a lot of hand-me-downs and mended patches.

It's hard to get a good photograph, since the Franciscans had some odd compulsion to build a church in the air over the venerated site. This floor gives an idea of the woman searching for her lost coin - a bit more difficult than hardwood or carpeting. The walls probably had oil lamps propped on a ledge.

The Courtyards
The side courtyard was where animals were kept - chickens, a goat or two for milk, a couple sheep for wool, etc. A couple rooms were off of this courtyard.

The main courtyard is where everything else happened. Children played tag, the garden was there, perhaps some trees/vines, an oven and a stove, maybe some herb plants if the family was fortunate, etc. Fig trees may have been popular, since they bore fruit about ten months a year. Cisterns in the ground held the year's grain, olive oil, etc. Note that this courtyard was substantially bigger than most in Capernaum, and others wouldn't have been so fortunate.

Peter, A Fisherman

The coasts of the Sea of Galilee were smattered with fishing villages Jesus reached out to during his ministry. On this water Peter spent many of his working hours as a typical fishermen, struggling with the nets, storms and harbors on the sea described below. The sea where Jesus calmed the storm, created a miraculous catch of fish, and barbequed after his resurrection.

The Sea of Galilee

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.' At once they left their nets and followed him.

When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him."

A picture of the type of fishing boat Peter and the others would have used. Albeit unlikely, for all we know Jesus sailed in this particular boat. It is dated from between the first century B.C. to the first century A.D.

Fishing back then was not sitting in your boat, fastening some bait on your line and casting it overboard. Three of the four main types of fishing required teamwork, and it’s no surprise that Zebedee owned the business, that James, John, Simon (i.e. Peter) and Andrew were partners, and that Zebedee had hired men.

Boats, though possibly owned by one person, were operated by crews, which often expanded during the high seasons to include day laborers, wandering workers that had no land. Zebedee’s extra men may have been hired for the autumn musht season, for example. At the end of the season these workers, who had likely been reduced to such work by being taxed off of their ancestral land, would move on to the next seasonal business, perhaps sowing crops. If they wished, they would return for the busy sardine season.

The Sea of Galilee, from the archway of the Greek Orthodox Church in Capernaum. The remains of the old boardwalk, with its tackle shops, and restaurants catering to the merchant clientele, are to my right, and I can still see the stone piers Peter and the others used, curving out into the water. In my imagination, there are nets, cleaned before dawn, hanging along the wooden posts lining the quay.

Fishermen often worked at night, when the fish couldn’t see the linen nets entrapping them. For example, the following Scripture has Simon washing his nets after a long night fishing.

[Jesus] saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. …When [Jesus] had finished preaching, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."

Simon answered, "Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

You might also be interested in my post on Peter's House.

Harbor Life
These violent storms endangered boats, and the Galilee has no sizeable natural harbors – only a few inlets. Until the Hellenistic period, which began with Alexander the Great’s conquest in 333 B.C., most fishermen probably dragged their boats to shore. Sometime after that they began building anchorages, defined by breakwaters made of piled rocks, to protect their boats. One or more piers probably extended from the breakwater, in order to load and unload both passengers and cargo.

These man-made harbors probably became the hub of the town, with boat repair shops, storage facilities, holding tanks for live fish and a general store of goods fishermen could barter their catch for, such as wheat, located on a nearby promenade.

Trading ships would have docked at many of the harbors, since overland travel was expensive, and the locals probably had stores for merchants to purchase local and regional goods they would trade on their way up and down the Jordan River.

Nearby, perhaps at the end of the promenade, would have been the boat repair yard, strewn with salvaged wood from defunct boats, tools, ropes and the like. The Jesus Boat, for example, was patched with at least eleven different kinds of wood.

After the winter storm season was over, there was likely a community effort to repair the breakwaters, perhaps by refilling spaces left by smaller stones stuffed between the rocks that had floated out to sea, or by plucking out trapped and rotting sea creatures. Smaller maintenance was probably required as well, on a continual basis.

These storms caused much emotional and financial fear in the hearts of fishermen and their families. In a society where subsistence living was the norm, there wouldn’t have been much extra lying around for boat repair, and women whose male guardians died were vulnerable to prostitution for an income.

You might also be interested in my post on Daily Life in Capernaum.