Thanks for the compliment. For me, what got me very interested in the bible was the mystery surrounding the unknown aspects of the lives of people who lived in biblical times. Oh, I heard a lot of stories and opinions and differing "takes" on how folks were. For me, I wanted to find out for myself and I used to just fantasize about what if I could go back in time and really just walk and talk with some of these folks personally on their level. What would it be like to spend a month say in Ancient Jerusalem? What would it have been like to walk around watching Jesus Christ Himself calling His disciples as He said; "Follow me."? Better yet, what would I bring back from that experience to share with the modern world and how might that affect others? Or how about breaking off for a day or two and spending time with Romans and see what their lives were like or other peoples and see how all of this threads together?
For example, and this is simply my opinion ok.
I disagree with most paintings of Jesus Christ from decades gone by. Why? Because I just sat and thought about this one day. You see my father was a carpenter too. Even with machines helping he lifted a LOT of some heavy materials. Hauled a LOT of wood in trucks! Now, you take the trucks away, you eliminate modern saws and all those drills and screwdrivers and screws and so on, all of the modern convenient tools they use and you make for some VERY physically demanding hard labor! Jesus Christ did this labor. So when people paint the Lord, they always seem to gravitate to painting this skinny man and I just don't see that. I see a very muscular man who spent a bit of his life in the best shape of his life. I imagine large biceps and we defined muscles ok. So his size to me would change. Can you imagine what it must have taken to even build a split-level home? Can you even imagine a job site where there was not one saw or a truck for hauling wood or stone? Man oh man that must have been some HEAVY lifting. Or how about their fishing industry?
OK so I spent time living in Seward, Alaska and I spent time among those who worked within the fishing industry and fish processors. Now that work is VERY manual labor intensive! Oh and it is not a simple 8-hour workday job! NO!!! Up there in Alaska when you work in a fish processing plant and a long liner comes in with say 320,000 pounds of fish to be offloaded and processed, get ready for at least a 16-hour workday! YUP, I lived that. I worked in the butcher room where we beheaded the Black and Grey Cod or the Salmon and sometimes Halibut. Now that is from massive fishing vessels called long liners where they can catch some 350,000 POUNDs of fish before they have to come in and get it offloaded.
Now, imagine that only being done in TINY vessels and over 2000 years ago off Israeli coastal waters? Longliners have their own nets and CRANES for lifting.
Those vessels in Christs time were not equipped with the modern conveniences making being a fisherman possibly harder labor than carpentry.
Now I've had friends who owned boats that fished for a living. In no way could you ever categorize any of them as being lazy! They are sometimes up all hours of the night working and even get up before sunrise to gather their nets full of fish. That life is seriously NO JOKE!
So for me, having been where I have been and lived how I have I don't picture these little skinny guys. NO WAY. I imagine Peter was a very stout barrel-chested man! Abrupt and rough cut.
These were very tough and rugged MEN and could probably take on any Roman soldier. Why else do you think Jesus had to rebuke them for attacking a Roman soldier and cutting off his ear? I am a military veteran myself and I understand the guys.