(a.) Built at, in, or by the sea.

(a.) Surrounded, bounded, or protected by the sea, as if by a wall.

(n.) A tern.

(n.) The sea mew.

(1): (n.) The mermaid. (2): (n.) A sea nymph.

(Gal' ih lee) Place name meaning, “circle.” A freshwater lake nestled in the hills of northern Palestine. Its surface is nearly 700 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, some thirty miles to the west. The nearby hills of Galilee reach an altitude of 1,500 feet above sea level. To the east are the mountains of Gilead with peaks of more than 3,300 feet. To the north are the snow-covered Lebanon mountains. Fed chiefly by the Jordan River, which originates in the foothills of the Lebanon Mountains, the sea of Galilee is thirteen miles long north and south and eight miles wide at its greatest east-west distance. Because of its location, it is subject to sudden and violent storms which are usually of short duration. In the Old Testament this sea is called Chinnereth. See Matthew 5:1 ); the Jewish historian Josephus always called it by that name, and so did the author of First Maccabees. Once John called it the “sea of Tiberias” (Matthew 6:1 ). In the first century the sea of Galilee was of major commercial significance. Most Galilean roads passed by it, and much travel to and from the east crossed the Jordan rift there. Fish was a major food in the area, and the fishing industry flourished because there was no other significant freshwater lake in the region. Capernaum, which played a major role in the ministry of Jesus, was a center of that industry. The other lake towns of importance were Bethsaida, which means “the fishing place”, and Tiberias, a Gentile city constructed by Herod Antipas when Jesus was a young man. Roger Crook

(meh ih tuhr ray' nih uhn) Designated in the OT and the NT simply as “the sea” (Joshua 16:8 ; Acts 10:6 ); also referred to as the “Western Sea” (Deuteronomy 11:24 , RSV, NIV); and as the “Sea of the Philistines” (Exodus 23:31 ). The Mediterranean Sea is an inland ocean extending about 2,200 miles from Gibraltar to the Lebanon coast and varies in width from one hundred to six hundred miles. Most of the important nations of ancient times were either on the Mediterranean's shores or operated in its 2,200 miles of water: Israel, Syria, Greece, Rome, Egypt, Philistia, and Phoenicia. Strangely, nature has provided few natural habors for Israel (Dor, Joppa, and Acco). The shoreline is almost straight. In many places a high ridge rises up sharply from behind a narrow strip of beach. The Hebrews were not a seafaring people. A more apt description might be that they were a sea-fearing people. The Hebrew's fear of the sea was partially due to their desert origin; therefore, their culture developed chiefly around agriculture. The story of Jonah demonstrates the Hebrew's fear of the sea. God exercises leadership over all creation. As part of God's creation, the sea is subserviant to him. He rules over the raging sea (Psalm 89:9 ) and causes a storm on it (Jonah 1:4 ). For the Hebrews, the Great Sea served as the western border for the land of Canaan (Numbers 34:6 ) and the territory of Judah (Joshua 15:12 ). Only with the aid of the Phoenicians was Solomon able to assemble and operate a fleet of ships at Ezion Geber on the Red Sea. Timber was brought on rafts from Lebanon to Joppa (2 Chronicles 2:16 ). Jehoshaphat's attempt at a navy ended in disaster (1 Kings 22:47-50 ). His ships were wrecked in the same harbor. Maritime commerce remained limited during most periods in Israel's history. Phoenicians were famous in the ancient world for their capacity as sailors and pilots. Tyre eventually became the principal sea power in the Mediterranean. The extensive use of the Mediterranean by the Phoenicians was continued by the Romans, who called it “Our Sea.” Following the conquest of Palestine by Pompey in 63 B.C., traffic on the Mediterranean increased. This development helped to make possible the missionary activity of Paul, Silas, Barnabas, and others. Paul made three missionary journeys across the Mediterranean. Under Roman arrest, Paul made his final voyage across the Mediterranean Sea and shipwrecked (Acts 27:1 ). Paul's work involved such Mediterranean cities as Caesarea, Antioch, Troas, Corinth, Tyre, Sidon, Syracuse, Rome, and Ephesus. See Phoenicia ; Tyre ; Transportation and Travel . Philip Lee

Body of water God dried up in the Exodus. Red Sea is a common translation of two Hebrew words yam suph . Yam means “sea,” but suph does not normally mean “red.” Suph often means “reeds” ( Exodus 2:3 ,Exodus 2:3,2:5 ; Isaiah 19:6 ) or “end,” “hinder part” (Joel 2:20 ; 2 Chronicles 20:16 ; Ecclesiastes 3:11 ). Yam suph could be translated “Sea of Reeds” or “Sea at the end of the world.” The earliest known translation of the Hebrew Bible (the Greek Septuagint about 200 B.C.) translated yam suph consistently with Erthra Thalassa “Red Sea.” Jerome continued the process in the Latin Vulgate (A.D. 400) by using Mare Rubrum “Red Sea” for yam suph . Most English translations have followed the Vulgate and use “Red Sea” in the text with a footnote indicating the literal translation is “Reed Sea.” TEV uses various terms to translate yam suph : “Gulf of Suez (Exodus 10:19 ); “Red Sea” (see footnote on Exodus 13:18 ); and “Gulf of Aqaba (1 Kings 9:26 ). We do not know who first suggested the translation “Reed Sea.” In the eleventh century the French Jewish scholar Rashi spoke of yam suph in terms of a marsh overgrown with weeds. In the twelfth century Ibn Ezra, a Spanish Jew, commented that yam suph in Exodus 13:18 may be so named because reeds grow around it. Martin Luther translated yam suph as Schilfmeer : “Reed Sea.” Although the name “Reed Sea” has been widely accepted by many scholars, there have been many recent attempts to prove the term “Sea of Reeds” is not a legitimate reading for yam suph . The Old Testament uses the term yam suph to refer to more than one location. In Exodus 10:19 it refers to the Gulf of Suez as the place where the locusts were driven and destroyed. In 1 Kings 9:26 it refers to the Gulf of Aqaba where the ships of Solomon's navy were stationed. The same location may be indicated in Jeremiah 49:21 where the cries of Edom could be heard. The “Way of the ( yam suph ) Red Sea” is part of the name of a highway out of Egypt (Exodus 13:18 ; Numbers 14:45 ; Numbers 21:4 ; Deuteronomy 1:40 ; Deuteronomy 2:1 ; Judges 11:16 ). The “Red Sea” was the name of a camp along the way from Egypt (Numbers 33:10-11 ). Yam suph marked the ideal southern border of Israel ( Exodus 23:31 ), but the most significant reference of “Red Sea” in the Old Testament was to the place where God delivered Israel from Pharaoh's army (Exodus 15:4 ,Exodus 15:4,15:22 ; Numbers 21:14 ; Duet. Numbers 11:4 ; Joshua 2:10 ; Joshua 4:23 ; Joshua 24:6 ; Nehemiah 9:9 ; Psalm 106:7 ,Psalms 106:7,106:9-11 ,Psalms 106:9-11,106:22 ; Psalm 136:13-15 ). No one knows the exact location of the place where Israel crossed the “Red Sea” on their way out of Egypt. Four primary theories have been suggested as to the place of the actual crossing of the isthmus of Suez: (1) the northern edge of the Gulf of Suez; (2) a site in the center of the isthmus near Lake Timsah; (3) a site at the northern edge of the isthmus and the southern edge of Lake Menzaleh; and (4) across a narrow stretch of sandy land which separates Lake Sirbonis from the Mediterranean Sea. Although no one knows the exact site of the crossing, the weight of the biblical evidence is on the side of suggested site number two. See Exodus Event. Ralph L. Smith

Ezekiel's expression for the Dead Sea (Ezekiel 47:18 ). See Dead Sea .

See Molten Sea .

See Molten Sea .

See Molten Sea .

(John 21:1 ) ^[1]

^[1]

In the place of the laver of the tabernacle Solomon caused a laver to be cast for a similar purpose, which from its size was called a sea. It was made partly or wholly of the brass, or rather copper, which was captured by David from "Tibhath and Chun, cities of Hadarezer king of Zobah." (1 Kings 7:23-26 ; 1 Chronicles 18:8 ) It is said to have been 15 feet in diameter and 7 1/2 feet deep, and to have been capable of containing 2000, or according to (2 Chronicles 4:5 ) 3000 Baths (16,000 to 24,000 gallons). The lever stood on twelve oxen three toward each quarter of the heavens, and all looking outward. It was mutilated by Ahaz by being removed from its basis of oxen and placed on a stone base, and was finally broken up by the Assyrians. (2 Kings 16:14,17 ; 25:13 )

The sea, yam , is used in Scripture to denote-- "The gathering of the waters," "the Ocean." (Genesis 1:2,10 ; 30:13) etc. Some portion of this, as the Mediterranean Sea, called the "hinder," the "western" and the "utmost" sea, (11:24; 34:2; Joel 2:20 ) "sea of the Philistines," (Exodus 23:31 ) "the great sea," (Numbers 36:6,7 ; Joshua 15:47 ) "the sea." Genesis49:13; Psal 80:11 Also frequently of the Red Sea. (Exodus 15:4 ) ^[1] Inland lakes termed seas, as the Salt or Dead Sea. ^[2] Any great collection of waters, as the river Nile (Isaiah 19:5 ) and the Euphrates. (Jeremiah 51:36 )

the usual and perhaps the most ancient name for the remarkable lake which to the western world is now generally known as the Dead Sea. I. Names.-- (1) The Salt Sea, (Genesis 14:3 ) (2) Sea of the Arabah (Authorized Version "sea of the plain," which is found in (4:49) ); (3) The East Sea (Joel 2:20 ) (4) The sea, (Ezekiel 47:8 ) (5) Sodomitish Sea, 2Esdras; (6) Sea of Salt and Sea of Sodom, in the Talmud; (7) The Asphaltic Lake, in Josephus; (8) The name "Dead Sea" appears to have been first used in Greek by Pausanias and Galen, and in Latin (mare mortuum ) by Justin xxxvi. 3,6, or rather by the older historian Trogus Pompeius (cir. B.C. 10), whose work he epitomized. (9) The Arabic name is Bahr Lut , the "Sea of Lot." II Description . --The so-called Dead Sea is the final receptacle of the river Jordan, the lowest and largest of the three lakes which interrupt the rush of its downward course. It is the deepest portion of that very deep natural fissure which runs like a furrow from the Gulf of Akabah to the range of Lebanon, and from the range of Lebanon to the extreme north of Syria. Viewed on the map, the lake is of an oblong form, of tolerably regular contour, interrupted only by a large and long peninsula which projects from the eastern shore near its southern end, and virtually divides the expanse of the water into two portions, connected by a long, narrow and somewhat devious passage. Its surface is from north to south as nearly as possible 40 geographical or 46 English miles long. Its greatest width is about 9 geographical or 10 1/2English miles. Its area is about 250 geographical square miles. At its northern end the lake receives the stream of the Jordan; on its eastern side the Zurka Ma'in (the ancient Callirrhoe, and possibly the more ancient en-Eglaim), the Mojib (the Arnon of the Bible), and the Beni-Hemad ; on the south the Kurahy or el-Ahsy ; and on the west that of Ain Jidy . The depression of its surface, and the depth which it attains below that surface, combined with the absence of any outlet, render it one of the most remarkable spots on the globe. The surface of the lake in May, 1848, was 1316.7 feet below the level of the Mediterranean at Jaffa. Its depth, at about one third of its length from the north end, Isaiah 1308 feet. The water of the lake is not less remarkable than its other features. Its most obvious peculiarity is its great weight. Its specific gravity has been found to be as much as 12.28; that is to say, a gallon of it would weigh over 12 1/4 lbs., instead of 10 lbs., the weight of distilled water. Water so heavy must not only be extremely buoyant, but must possess great inertia. Its buoyancy is a common theme of remark by the travellers who have been upon it or in it. Dr. Robinson "could never swim before, either in fresh or salt water," yet here he "could sit, stand, lie or swim without difficulty." (B.R.i 506) The remarkable weight of the water is due to the very large quantity of mineral salts which it holds in solution. Each gallon of the water, weighing 12 1/4 lbs., contains nearly 3 1/3 lbs. of matter in solution --an immense quantity when we recollect that seawater, weighing 10 1/4 lbs. per gallon, contains less than 1/2 a lb. Of this 3 1/2 lbs. nearly 1 lb. is common salt (chloride of sodium), about 2 lbs. chloride of magnesium, and less than 3 a lb. chloride of calcium (or muriate of lime). The most usual ingredient is bromide of magnesium, which exists in truly extraordinary quantity. It has been long supposed that no life whatever existed in the lake; but recent facts show that some inferior organizations do find a home even in these salt and acrid waters. The statements of ancient travellers and geographers to the effect that no living creature could exist on the shores of the lake, or bird fly across its surface, are amply disproved by later travellers. The springs on the margin of the lake harbor snipe, partridges, ducks, nightingales and other birds as well as frogs; and hawks, doves and hares are found along the shore. The appearance of the lake does not fulfill the idea conveyed by its popular name. "The Dead Sea," says a recent traveller, "did not strike me with that sense of desolation and dreariness which I suppose it ought. I thought it a pretty, smiling lake --a nice ripple on its surface." The truth lies, as usual, somewhere between these two extremes. On the one hand, the lake certainly is not a gloomy, deadly, smoking gulf. In this respect it does not at all fulfill the promise of its name. At sunrise and sunset the scene must be astonishingly beautiful. But on the other hand, there is something in the prevalent sterility and the dry, burnt look of the shores, the overpowering heat, the occasional smell of sulphur, the dreary salt marsh at the southern end, and the fringe of dead driftwood round the margin, which must go far to excuse the title which so many ages have attached to the lake, and which we may be sure it will never lose. The connection between this singular lake and the biblical history is very slight. In the topographical records of the Pentateuch and the book of Joshua it forms one among the landmarks of the boundaries of the whole country, as well as of the inferior divisions of Judah and Benjamin. As a landmark it is once named in what to be a quotation from a lost work of the prophet Jonah, ( 2 Kings 14:25 ) itself apparently a reminiscence of the old Mosaic statement. (Numbers 34:8,12 ) Besides this the name occurs once twice in the imagery of the prophets the New Testament there is not even an allusion to it. There is however, one passage in which the "Salt Sea" is mentioned in a manner different from any of those already quoted viz. as having been in the time of Abraham the vale of Siddim. (Genesis 14:3 ) In consequence of this passage it has been believed that the present lake covered a district which in historic times had been permanently habitable dry land. But it must not he overlooked that the passage in question is the only one in the whole Bible to countenance the notion that the cities of the plain were submerged; a notion which does not date earlier than the Christian era. ^[1] The belief which prompted the idea of some modern writers that the Dead Sea was formed by the catastrophe which overthrew the "cities of the plain" is a mere assumption. It is not only unsupported by Scripture, but is directly in the teeth of the evidence of the ground itself of the situation of those cities, we only know that, being in the "plain of the Jordan, they must have been to the north of the lake. Of the catastrophe which destroyed them we only know that it is described as a shower of ignited sulphur descending from the skies. Its date is uncertain, but we shall be safe in placing it within the Limit of 2000 years before Christ. (It is supposed that only the southern bay of the Dead Sea was formed by the submergence of the cities of the plain, and is still probable. If Hugh Miller's theory of the flood in correct --and it is the most reasonable theory yet propounded --then the Dead Sea was formed by the depression of that part of the valley through which the Jordan once flowed to the Red Sea. But this great depression caused all the waters of the Jordan to remain without outlet, and the size of the Dead Sea must be such that the evaporation from its surface just balances the amount of water which flows in through the river. This accounts in part for the amount of matter held in solution by the Dead Sea waters; for the evaporation is of pure water only, while the inflow contains more or less of salts and other matter in solution. This theory also renders it probable that the lake was at first considerably larger than at present, for in earlier times the Jordan had probably a larger flow of water. --ED.) The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah may have been by volcanic action, but it may be safely asserted that no traces of it have yet been discovered, and that, whatever it was, it can have had no connection with that far vaster and far more ancient event which opened the great valley of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, and at some subsequent time cut it off from communication with the Red Sea by forcing up between them the tract of the Wady Arabah .

Hebrew: Sea of Suph ("seaweed"; like wool, as the Arabic means: Gesenius). The Egyptians called it the Sea of Punt (Arabia). Called "red" probably from the color of the weed, and the red coral and sandstone, not from Εdom ("red") which touched it only at Elath; nor from Himyerites (hamar , "red" in Arabic; the Phoenicians too are thought to mean red men, and to have come from the Red Sea), as their connection with it was hardly so dose and so early as to have given the name. An ancient canal, begun by Sesostris, continued by Darius Hystaspes and Ptolemy Philadelphus, joined the Nile to it. Boundaries. On the W. Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia; on the E. Arabia; on the N. the isthmus of Suez; on the S. the straits of Βab el Μandeb ("gate of tears") joining it to the Indian ocean; 1,600 English miles long, by an average of 150 broad. The mountains on each side vary from 3,000 to 6,000 ft. high; the tops granite, underneath limestone, on the seashore light colored sandstone. The northern end ("the tongue of the Egyptian Sea"), since the Exodus, has dried up for 50 miles. The land at the head of the gulf has risen, that on the Mediterranean has fallen (compare Isaiah 11:15; Isaiah 19:5). This drying up has caused the ancient canal which conveyed the Red Sea commerce to the Nile (from about Hereopolis on the Birket et Timsah and lake of the crocodile to Bubastis at the Nile), and irrigated the country (wady Τumeylat ) to be neglected and ruined. The country about has consequently become a gravely sand desert, with rank marsh land round the old sea bottom, called "the bitter lakes." Near them was the town Heroopolis, from which the gulf of Suez was called the Heroopolite gulf. Ras Mohammed, the headland of the Sinaitic peninsula, divides the Red Sea into two tongues: the western one the gulf of Suez, 130 miles long by 18 broad, narrowing to ten at the head; the eastern one the gulf of Akabah ("a declivity"), 90 long by an average of 15 broad. Precipitous mountains 2,000 ft. high rise from the shore. The Arabah or Ghor connects it with the Dead Sea and Jordan valley. Anciently the gulf of Akabah was the Sinus Elaniticus, from Oelana or Elath at the northern end. No considerable stream falls into this large sea. The gulf of Suez is the shallowest part. The waters are remarkably transparent, so that the plants, corals, and rocks are visible to a great depth. Its phosphorescence is also noteworthy. This is the most northern part of the ocean where coral reefs are found. These take the outline of the coast, and being covered for some distance with only five or sir feet of water render access to land difficult. The western or Egyptian side of the Red Sea is of limestone formation; gebel Gharib 6,000 ft. high; the porphyry mountain, gebel ed Dukhkhan, inland, is about the same height; gebel ez Zeyt, "the oil ("petroleum") mount," is close to the sea. On these barren and solitary hills lived many of the early Christian hermits. The patriarch of the Coptic church is chosen from the monks of the convent of Anthony. Sesostris (Rameses II) was the "first who, passing the Arabian gulf in a fleet of long war vessels, reduced the inhabitants bordering the Red Sea" (Herodotus). Solomon built a navy at "Ezion Geber (now dry land), beside Elath on the Red Sea in Edom " (1 Kings 9:26). (See EZION GEBER.) Jehoshaphat's ships were wrecked here on the reef Edh Dhahab (Ezion Geber, "giant's backbone"): 1 Kings 22:48. Pharaoh Necho built ships in the Arabian gulf, manned by Phoenicians (Herodotus ii. 159). Pliny says their ship were of papyrus, like the Nile boats. The Arab jelebehs , carrying pilgrims along the coast, have the planks sewed together with coconut fibber, and caulked with the date palm fibber and oil of the palma Christi , and sails of mats made of the dom palm. The Himyerite Arabs formed mostly the crews of the seagoing ships. On the Heroopolite gulf, besides Heroopolis (now perhaps Aboo Kesheyd) at its head, was Arsinoe founded by Ptolemy Philadelphus, and Berenice on the southern frontier of Egypt. On the Arabian coast Mu'eyleh, Yembo (the port of El Medeeneh), Juddah (the port of Mecca), and Mocha. The Red Sea and Egypt after the time of Alexander the Great was the channel of commerce between Europe and India. Subsequently the trade passed round the Cape of Good Hope. But now the overland mail and Suez canal are again bringing it by way of Egypt and the Red Sea. (On Israel's passage of the Red Sea, see EXODUS.)

In the literature of the Apostolic Age the conception of the Sea of Glass occurs only in Revelation 4:6; Revelation 15:2. In the former passage, the Sea of Glass like crystal (θάλασσα ὑαλίνη ὁμοία κρυστάλλῳ) forms a part of the surroundings of the throne in heaven. In the latter passage the position of the Sea is not mentioned, but is no doubt understood to be the same, and the Sea itself is further described as ‘mingled with fire’ (μεμιγμένην πυρί). The martyrs are seen standing upon it, singing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. It is easier to trace back into the OT the origin of the symbolism of the Apocalypse, and to collect parallels from the religious literature of other nations, than to interpret the precise meaning of this particular symbol in the mind of the author of the Apocalypse. We shall in this article endeavour to collect the various parallels and possible sources of this conception, afterwards attempting to classify them, in order to show the various streams of thought that have combined to yield this climax of apocalyptic symbolism. Finally, an attempt will be made to interpret its meaning in the Apocalypse. 1. Sources of the symbol.-It may be remarked that all the parallels collected below are not of necessity to be regarded as sources of this particular conception, but they all offer possible links of connexion with it. (a) We have, first, the conception, at once mythological and cosmological, of the upper sea, the waters in the heavens, separated by the firmament (στερέωμα) from the waters below (Genesis 1:6-7). This is directly connected with the Babylonian chaos-myth of the conquest of the chaos-dragon Tiâmat by Marduk. Moreover, in the Babylonian cosmogony the heavenly universe is divided into three parts corresponding to those of the earthly universe, the third and lowest division being the heavenly ocean (cf. A. Jeremias, The OT in the Light of the Ancient East, Eng. translation , 2 vols., London, 1911, i. 6 ff.). See 2 En. xxvii. 1-3. (b) In the theophany in Exodus 24:10 a pavement of sapphire is described as being under the feet of God. (c) In the apocalyptic vision of Ezekiel, upon which the symbolism of Revelation 4 is most directly based, a firmament like the colour of the terrible crystal is stretched over the heads of the four living creatures, and upon it is placed the throne like sapphire stone (Ezekiel 1:22; Ezekiel 1:26). (d) In the vision of the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7:9-10 a fiery stream issues from the throne. (e) In 1 En. xiv. 10-17, is the similar vision of the house and of the throne of God, the floor of the first house is of crystal and that of the second house is of fire, also from underneath the throne come streams of flaming fire (cf. also lxxi. 6). (f) In Test. Lev. ii. 7 a hanging sea divides the first heaven from the second in the later recension; in the earliest farm of the document the hanging sea is in the first heaven. (g) Finally, an interesting passage from the Bundahiš may be quoted (SBE ^[1] v. 125 f.): ‘Afterwards, the fire and halo melt the metal of Shatvaîrô, in the hills and mountains, and it remains on this earth like a river. Then all men will pass into that melted metal and become pure’ (cf. Sib. Orac. iii. 84 f., ii. 285 f.). The list might be enlarged, but these passages are representative both of the distribution of the conception and of the different forms which it assumed. 2. Classification of motives underlying the symbol.-(a) We find the cosmological significance of the heavenly sea. The celestial universe is the counterpart of the earthly. The Zodiac, the abode of the gods, rises above and upon the heavenly sea. Later the sea itself and the solid firmament conceived of as supporting it seem to unite in the symbol, and we have the throne resting upon a crystalline sapphire foundation or pavement. There may also enter into the symbol some element of the myth of the conquest of Tiâmat. The sea stretched out calm and glassy before the throne may in part symbolize the victory of the divinity over the element of chaos. (b) There is the eschatological element. In the period view of history based on astronomical observations and characteristic of Babylonian religion, the world was to be destroyed by a fire-flood at the close of the age which was ushered in by the water-flood. This idea is present also in the Avesta and in most early religions. Hence the sea of glass mingled with fire may contain a trace of this conception. From the throne proceeded not only the heavenly river of water of life, clear as crystal, but also the fire-stream of judgment. The martyrs also standing upon the fiery sea suggest the symbolism of purification and triumph (cf. the idea in the passage quoted above from the Bundahiš, where the righteous walking through the fire-flood are unharmed by it). (c) It is possible to find links with the Jewish ritual system. Before the approach to the holy place stood the brazen sea, whose form and decoration suggest remoter links with Babylonian cosmology. In the priestly system, whatever the past significance of the laver, it certainly stood for the necessity of purification for entry into the presence of God. (d) There may enter into the form of the imagery details taken from the local surroundings of the vision. It has been suggested that much of the form of early eschatological schemes is due to the local characteristics (cf. Gressmann, Der Ursprung der israelitisch-jüdischen Eschatologie, p. 31 ff.). H. B. Swete (The Apocalypse of St. John 2, London, 1907, p. 70) suggests that the aegean Sea, fired by the rays of the setting sun, has yielded the form of the splendid imagery of this vision. While this may be so, yet all the elements of the vision and their ensemble are an inheritance from the past. 3. Interpretation.-The central motive in the Seer’s vision is certainly the relation between heaven and earth. The apparently confused and disorderly sequence of events on earth is really being ordered and determined by what takes place in heaven. Hence the Seer’s first vision, as he gazes through the open door, is the throne, the centre and source of all the subsequent action of the book. The history of the world for him is dominated by that throne. The description of scenery surrounding the throne gathers up all the symbolism of the past, the cosmological, eschatological, and ritual elements, coloured, it may be, by the local scenery of Patmos. Before the throne the Sea, the emblem of chaos and destruction, lies calm and motionless, petrified and clear, the symbol of the throne’s victory over the opposing forces of darkness and disorder. As the approach to the throne it symbolizes the holiness required of those who draw near. As the final tribulation draws to a close, that sea mingled with fire symbolizes the source of the throne’s judgment on the earth below. The martyrs, having passed through those judgments, stand triumphant on it and sing the song of the new Exodus. Finally it becomes the source of the healing and purifying streams for the redeemed earth. Literature.-H. Gressmann, Der Ursprung der israelitisch-jüdischen Eschatologie, Göttingen, 1905; R. H. Charles, Eschatology, Hebrew, Jewish, and Christian, London, 1899, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the OT, Oxford, 1913; H. B. Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John 2, London, 1907; C Clemen, Primitive Christianity and its Non-Jewish Sources, Edinburgh, 1912. S. H. Hooke.

Joel 2:20; Ezekiel 47:18. Literally, the front sea, i.e. the Dead Sea, which one looking E. would face; "the utmost (hinder) sea" is the Mediterranean, at such a one's back (Numbers 34:6).

John's (John 6:1; John 21:1) designation as better understood by the Gentile Romans, etc., whom he addressed. (See GALILEE, SEA or, the local designation.) Lieut. Kitchener makes the depth 682.554 ft. The neighbouring Kurn Hattin is an extinct volcano, and the plain is strewn with basalt and debris. He thinks Khirbet Minyeh the site of Capernaum. Josephus says the fountain Capharnaum waters the plain. This may correspond to the modern Ain et Tabighah, the water of which being brought past Khirbet Minyeh waters the plain, and would naturally take its name Capharnaum from that place (presuming that it was Capernaum). The source is only three quarters of a mile away, whereas it is one mile and three quarters from Tel Hum and all the water was carried in an opposite direction, so that it could hardly have taken its name from Tel Hum. In John 6:16, etc., we read "the disciples went by ship over the sea toward Capernaum (the same side as Tiberias), and the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew"; then Jesus walked on the sea to them, and "immediately the ship was at the land where they went." The day following, when the people on the other side of the sea (the eastern side) saw that there was none other boat there save the one whereinto His disciples were entered, ... howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias, nigh unto the place where they did eat bread ... they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus; and when they had found Him on the other side ... they said, ... When camest Thou here?" In Matthew 14:22 "Jesus constrained His disciples to get into a ship and go unto the other side. And He went up into a mountain apart to pray .... But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary." It might seem strange that the people did not suppose Jesus had used one of the return boats which had come from Tiberias, to cross back to that side in the night. Matthew undesignedly shows why they could not suppose so, namely, because "the wind was contrary," i.e. blowing from Tiberias and Capernaum; owing to this the ships, probably fishing vessels, were driven to the opposite side for shelter for the night, for what else could have taken to the desert eastern side so many boats as sufficed to convey the people across (Matthew 14:24) back again? Their question, "Rabbi, when camest Thou here?" implies plainly that under the circumstances they considered that His crossing in the night could only have been by some extraordinary means. The mention of many ships coming from Tiberias explains also how the people could take shipping to Capernaum after it had been stated there was no other boat there save that which took the disciples. The undesigned harmony of details, incidentally and separately noticed by the two evangelists, confirms their truthfulness, and therefore the miracle of Jesus' walking on the sea. The Gospels - according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke - never use the designation "sea of Tiberias" (still bahr Τubariyeh ), but the local name," sea" or "lake of Galilee," which shows they must have written before that became the universal designation, as it had in the time of John's writing.

Sea of Chinnereth or Chinneroth. 1. Afterward the lake of Gennesaret, a corruption of Chinnereth (Joshua 12:3; Joshua 13:27). The district of Chinnereth is called "all Chinnereth" (1 Kings 15:20). 2. A fortified city of Naphtali (Joshua 19:35); probably the same as Tiberius, from which the lake or sea was named in a similar way (Numbers 34:11; John 6:1).

SEA OF GALILEE i. Names.—The OT name Chinnereth had disappeared, so far as our purpose is concerned, by the time of the Maccabees, and in its place we find a variety of designations. It is then that the familiar name Gennesaret first makes its appearance in the τὸ ὕδωρ Γεννησάρ of 1 Maccabees 11:67. Josephus uses the forms λίμνη Γεννησάρ (BJ iii. x. 1), ὕδατα Γεννήσαρα (Ant. xiii. v. 7), λίμνη Γεννησαρῖτις (Ant. xviii. ii. 1; Vita, 65); Pliny has Gennesara (HN v. 15). In the Targums and other Jewish writings the name of the Sea appears as גְּנֵיסָר or גִּנּוֹסָר, these forms supplementing the Heb. Chinnereth. But though the word Gennesaret was so familiar to contemporary writers, it appears only once in the NT as applied to the Lake, in the ἡ λίμνη Γεννησαρέτ of Luke 5:1. Following close upon this, however, ἡ λίμνη occurs alone in Luke 5:2; Luke 8:22-23; Luke 8:33. The most popular name in the NT is ‘the Sea of Galilee’ (ἡ θάλασσα τῆς Γαλιλαίας), which occurs five times (Matthew 4:18; Matthew 15:29, Mark 1:16; Mark 7:31, John 6:1). The word ‘Sea’ (θάλασσα) stands alone in John 6:17-25, and the form ‘Sea of Tiberias’ (θάλασσα τῆς Τιβεριάδος) occurs in John 6:1; John 21:1. The modern designation, ‘Lake of Tiberias,’ does not occur in the NT. It is found for the first time as λίμνη Τιβερίς in Pausanias (John 21:7). Many explanations have been offered of the origin of the word Gennesaret. Lightfoot (and others) sought to derive it from the OT Chinnereth, which it was supposed to replace. Such an origin, however, seems very improbable, not only on philological grounds, but because the latter name also remains simply transliterated in the LXX Septuagint as χενέρεθ, and was thus quite familiar to the Hellenistic world. Ritter (Geog. of Pal.) suggests that it is derived from נַּן אוֹצָר or נַּן עשֶׁר ‘garden of treasure,’ which term, of course, he refers to the Plain, deriving thence the name of the adjoining Sea. This process is quite natural, and probably correct, but still we may be permitted to doubt his derivation of the name. G. A. Smith (HGHL ^[1] 443 n. ^[2] ) has also noted that the form points to some compound of נַּן ‘garden,’ or נַּי valley; and to us this seems indisputable, so that on the whole we must admit that either the explanation given by Caspari (§ 64), נני סר (‘gardens of the ^[3] basin’), or that of the older Rabbis (Ber. Rab 98), גני שׂד (‘gardens of the prince’), is most satisfactory. The termination in Gennesaret might then be regarded as the Aramaic determinative form, and compared with Nazareth from Nazara. With reference to the name ‘Galilee,’ it has been said that it originally designated only that small tract of land given by Solomon to Hiram (1 Kings 9:11), and that the name gradually extended till in the days of the Maccabees it included Zebulun and Naphtali, so that only after this took place could the Sea be known by that name. Furrer (Wanderungen) has also drawn attention to the other names. He asserts that Gennesar or Gennesaritis is characteristic of the 1st cent., being found in Josephus, Pliny, and Strabo, while from the 2nd cent. onwards the official designation became ‘Sea of Tiberias’; and as proof of this statement he cites the Palestinian Talmud. He then ventures to infer that John 21:1 indicates a later date than the rest of the book demands, and at the same time he suggests that John 6:1 has been emended. This reasoning, however, seems inconclusive; for, apart from the fact that the Palestinian Talmud contains much that is old, it seems impossible, in view of the conservatism of the Rabbis, that such a name as ‘Sea of Tiberias’ should be found in their writings, unless it had been in common use for a considerable time. For the history of the district surrounding the Lake see art. Galilee. ii. Description.—The Lake presents ‘a beautiful sheet of limpid water in a deeply depressed basin’ (BRP ^[4] 2 ii. 380), its average below sea level being 682½ ft.; but with the season of the year the level may vary to the extent of 10 ft. The rise and fall are dependent on the rainy season on the one hand, and, on the other, on the melting of the snows on Hermon as the spring advances; and it is this latter cause that generally, in conjunction with the later rains, brings about the high level at the time of harvest (Joshua 3:15). But as the heavier rains decrease before the melting of the snow begins, there may have been already a fall of as much as 3 ft. even in March. The Sea is 13 miles long by 7 across at its broadest part—between Mejdel and Kersa; but in the clear Eastern atmosphere it looks much smaller than it really is. From no point on the western shore can it be seen in its whole extent at one time; but from the slopes above Tell Hûm, or from almost any point on the eastern shore, it is all visible. It is not quite oval, but rather pear- or harp-shaped (כִּנּוֹר), narrowing to the southern end. The sea level and the configuration of the shores have not changed to any considerable extent during the past nineteen centuries, so that, in so far as hills and valleys, ravines and slopes to the seashore are concerned, their present description gives a very true conception of what they were in Gospel days. On the west the hills are not so high and generally not so steep as on the eastern side; but they approach more closely to the shore, and are more rugged and stony. On the western side, from a short distance above what was once the western outlet of the Lake into the Jordan, and stretching some 3 miles up the Lake-side, the hills—here somewhat rounded and tame, and with but little that is picturesque in their form—slope down to the water’s edge. Then to the north of this comes a strip (Heb. רקח, which seems to justify the identification of Tiberias with the older Rakkath, Joshua 19:35; Megilla, 5b, 6a; G. A. Smith, HGHL ^[1] p. 447) about 2½ miles long and ¼ of a mile broad at its widest part, and at the north end of this is the modern town of Tiberias. Passing it, we have another 3 miles of sloping hills, broken about midway by the Wady Abu el-Amîs. At Mejdel we now enter el-Ghuweir, the well-known Plain of Gennesaret. Behind the village to the west is Wady Hamâm, known in the early centuries as בִּקְעַח אַרְבֵּאל, and containing in its cliffs the once famous caves of Arbela (Ant. xiv. xv. 4). This is certainly the wildest and most impressive gorge around the whole Lake. On its south side it bears some resemblance, though on a far grander scale, to the crags around Arthur’s Seat. There is the same perpendicular wall, but here it rises in places to a height of 1500 ft.; and there is also the same mass of broken rocks, making a steep slope to the plain below. El-Ghuweir curves along the Lake from Mejdel to Khân Minyeh, a distance of 3 miles, and it has a breadth of one mile. In addition to the stream from Wady Hamâm, it is watered by three others from ‘Ain Mudauwarah, Wady Rabadï̀yeh, and Wady Leimôn, and these flow throughout the year. Just behind Khân Minyeh and its fountain ‘Ain et-Tîn at the N.W. corner of the Lake, the rounded hill Tell Oreime slopes down to the water’s edge, ending in a series of sharp rocks—the only place around the Lake where we find anything like a cliff beside the shore. Around the face of Tell Oreime there is a deep rock-cutting now used as a pathway, but in ancient times an aqueduct, as is attested by the discovery of the remains of the old piers of its continuation across the next valley to ‘Ain et-Tâbigha. Remains of masonry show that the water was led eastward as well as westward from the towers built around the springs of et-Tâbigha (Ἑπτάπηγον of Nicephorus), so that there can be little doubt that this is the spring of Capernaum mentioned by Josephus (BJ iii. x. 8). From this point onward to the Jordan the hills again extend down to the shore, but by gentler slopes than even to the south of Tiberias. Between et-Tâbigha and Tell Hûm the shore forms a number of semicircular creeks, which, with the sloping embankment at this point, assume the shape of amphitheatres. Studying the subject on the spot, the present author was convinced that one of these must be the place where the sermon from the boat was preached (Matthew 13:2 etc.). Something peculiar in the tones of our voices induced us to test the acoustic properties of the place, and we found that a speaker on the boat could be heard far up the slope, while the hum and bustle of a crowd on the shore would not disturb him. After crossing the Jordan we meet with another plain—el-Batiha—corresponding to the one on the west, but somewhat more extensive. It is covered with green grass (Mark 6:39, John 6:10) at nearly all seasons of the year. With a breadth of 1 to 1½ miles, it extends 3 miles along the coast, and then narrows, extending nearly 3 miles more to Kersa, a short distance to the south of which we meet with the only steep place (Matthew 8:32) on the eastern side of the Lake. At this point there is practically no shore, but immediately the eastern rampart of hills—2000 ft. high, now bleak and bare, but showing streaks of green where the springs trickle out between the white sandstone and the black superimposed lava—begins to recede, leaving a plain ¼ to ½ mile broad, and this to the south of Kul at el-Husn widens out into the Ghor or Jordan Valley. At the village of Semakh, the southern end of the Lake forms a beautiful circular bay, which is enclosed by earth walls 16 to 32 ft. in height. There is deep water close in to the shore, and the currents manifestly wear away the rich alluvial soil. In so far as physical changes have taken place, we should expect that the land has suffered losses here, while there may have been slight gains by deposits on the shore of the plains of el-Batiha and el-Ghuweir (Gennesaret). What used to be the western outlet of the Jordan has also become silted up, for it must be remembered that in former times the Jordan flowed out from the two sides of a triangular island, now occupied by the ruins of Kerak—without doubt the remains of the once famous Taricheae (BJ iii. x. 1). Compared with other lakes, the Sea of Galilee cannot be said to be deep. The maximum depth is from north to south along the course of the Jordan, and here it is 130 to 148 ft. according to the season ^[6], and except along the shores of the Plain of Gennesaret, deep water is reached all round the Lake within a few yards of the shore. The steep place at Kersa slopes down at once to a depth of 49 ft., and a short distance farther out the sounding gives 102 ft. A mile to the southeast of Tell Hûm the depth is 78 ft., and midway between Tiberias and Kersa it is 114. One more notable feature of the Lake valley is to be found in the hot springs with which it abounds. The best known of these are at Hammam (cf. Josephus Vita, 16), south of Tiberias (132° to 144°), ‘Ain Bârideh (80°), ‘Ain Mudauwarah (73°), ‘Ain et-Tîn (82°), and ‘Ain et-Tâbigha (73° to 86°). Others certainly exist in the Lake itself. A brackish taste can be perceived at different places, and especially at a point ⅔ across between Tiberias and Kersa, where in the warmer water great shoals of fish are wont to congregate. It was probably the drinking from a spot of this kind that led Strabo (Geog. xvi. 45) to express so bad an opinion of the waters of the Lake (ὕδωρ μοχθηρὸν λιμναῖον). These springs are all more or less sulphurous, and in all the centuries they have been used for medicinal purposes—especially those at Tiberias (BJ ii. xxi. 6). A reference to these in the Talmud shows us the relationship of the Rabbis to the Sabbath, and throws some light on their attacks on Jesus (Luke 13:14 etc.). The use of the means of healing was forbidden on the Sabbath; but these baths, though medicinal, were permitted, because in addition they ministered to indulgence in pleasure and luxury, and that was permitted. (Pesach. 8b). Complaint has been made by some of the tameness of the scenery around the Lake, and of the want of picturesqueness of the hills; while, on the other hand, Seetzen (Reisen, in loc.) has declared that ‘in the whole land of Palestine there is no district whose natural charms could compare with those of this.’ There can be no doubt that much depends upon the season of the year when the district is first visited, as well as upon the expectations formed. In the present unwooded state, with its uncultivated fields and barren hills often, as at the north end of the Lake, washed down to the bare rock by the rains of centuries, there may be little to attract, especially when the whole country has been blackened by the summer suns and the burning siroccos. But even now the earliest rains change the whole aspect of nature. The hills and the valleys on both shores become clothed in a luxuriant greenness, while, as the season advances, the fresh bursting buds of the olive, the fig, the vine, and the pomegranate, with here and there a palm tree, add variety and pleasantness to the landscape. Very soon, too, the fields are covered with great patches of anemones of varied colours—white, red, purple, and deep dark-blue, interspersed with various species of the lily family and stretches of the dark green-leaved and yellow-flowered mustard, while the watercourses and shores of the Lake are marked out by the red blooms of the oleander with its dark-green and silvery-backed leaves; and on the western shore variety is added by the gigantic reeds of the papyrus, topped by their reddish-brown waving plumes; on the higher grounds, too, every crevice of the rock is shaded by the blossoms of the cyclamen and many another flower of the field. But what must it have been in the year a.d. 27–28? It had been passing through, was indeed still in the period of transition after, the desolations of war, famine, and pestilence; but the worst was now long past, and 20 years of uninterrupted peace and prosperity had made it blossom like the rose. There was nothing in the rule of the tetrarchs Antipas and Philip to discourage perseverance, so that the land was coming more and more under cultivation. It must have been beautiful, indeed, when human industry was developing all its resources and changing the whole scene into a blooming paradise. Nothing can give a better idea of what the whole district was becoming, than the classic passage in which Josephus (BJ iii. x. 8) describes the Plain of Gennesaret in his own day (see art. Gennesaret ^[7] in vol. i.). With Josephus’ glowing description the Rabbis are in fullest harmony. Rish Laqish says: ‘If Paradise be in the land of Israel, Beth-Shan is its entrance’ (ביתשאן פיתחה). Again we read: ‘Seven seas,’ spake the Lord God, ‘have I created in the land of Israel, but only one have I chosen for myself, that is the sea of Gennesar’ (Midr. Teh, fol. 4). Siphrê on Deuteronomy 33:23 explains the fulness of the blessing of the Lord as the Plain of Gennesaret. On the hills around the Lake were ‘vines and fruitful fields’ (Meg. 6a). ‘It is easier,’ saith Rabbi Eliezer ben Simon, ‘to nourish a legion of olives in Galilee than to bring up one child in the land of Israel’ (Ber. Rab. c. 20). The oil of the Galilaean hills was more plentiful than any in Palestine (Men. 85b), and the wheat of Chorazin is specially commended (ib. 86a). An illustration of the productiveness of the district, and a parallel to the hundredfold of the parable, may be seen in the enumeration of the products of a single סאה ארבלית ‘half bushel of Arbela’ (Jerus. ^[4] Peah, vii. 3). The Gentile world also lends its testimony. To the early Fathers the district was τὰ χράτιστα τῆς Γαλιλαίας, ‘the crown of Galilee,’ while in the 3rd cent. C. Julius Solinus (Collectanea, xxxv. 13) says: ‘Lacus Tiberiadis omnibus anteponitur ingenuo aestu et ad sanitatem usu efficaci.’ But the district was not yet reduced to the calm beauty of a prosperous agricultural country. There would still be stretches of woodland remaining, tenanted by birds of brilliant colours and various forms. There would be here and there beautiful oaks, either singly or in groups, that had grown up during the years when the population was small (Baba Bathra v. 1). There would be rocky stretches, especially to the north-east of the Lake, covered with brambles, wild mustard, and coarse grass, or dotted with prickly bushes (nubk), where the wolf, the jackal, the fox, and the hyaena would make their homes, and where the brown serpent and the silvery-breasted poisonous snake would glide about. The population would not be so dense nor the land so fully cultivated as in the days when Josephus wrote, so that there would be a more equal mingling of the wild beauties of nature with the advancing and taming conquests of agriculture. The landscape, too, was becoming varied by the presence of many buildings. It has been said that ‘the shores of the Lake seem to have borne cities and towns instead of harvests’ (Tristram, Land of Israel, 444); and this, understood in the light of what we have already said, is very true. These would for the most part be constructed of black stone, but varied at times by buildings of white marble, while even the polished granite of Syene helped to break the monotony; and although, on the whole, the majority of the buildings would be dull and sombre, still, in the midst of waving fields of green and gold, the presence of the humble village, and the beach sparkling with the houses and the palaces, the synagogues and the temples of Jewish and Roman inhabitants, would present a scene of great beauty, so that we can well understand how the wild desolations of the pre-Christian century, and the calm and peaceful years that followed the advent of the Messiah, combined to render the district more beautiful when Christ was a citizen of Capernaum than at any other time during its whole history. iii. Climate.—The climate of the Jordan Valley is in many ways very peculiar. Its low level—the lowest depression in the world—gives it many characteristics which are all its own. The absence of all frost, and the general warmth throughout the whole year, explain to us fully the peculiar open-air life that we meet with in the Gospels. For the most part Christ speaks out of doors. So did the Rabbis of His time. Ben Azzai taught on the shores of Tiberias (Erubin, 29a), and Rabbi Jehudah in the open air (Moed Katon, 16a). In the Gospels the sick are freely carried about (Matthew 4:23, Mark 2:3), are allowed to wait in the crowd (Luke 8:43 f.), and the people are indifferent if the night find them away from home (Matthew 15:32, Mark 8:2-3). The average temperatures of the air (night and day) in January are 37° and 74° respectively, while in June they are 68° and 108°; but in July the thermometer frequently rises many degrees higher. The present writer has seen it at 106° at 6 a.m., and 139° has been recorded on the shore of the Lake at midday in August; and even the soil, the rocks, and the pebbles around the Lake side become so intensely heated that the bather must wait till long after sunset if he would enter the water without the risk of burning his feet. In such conditions, under the fiery glow of the sun and with months of drought, we can well understand that all the grass and herbage are burned up, and so in its present state of naked dreariness, visitors at such a season are naturally disappointed; but in other circumstances, and in days of universal irrigation, the whole scene would be very different (cf. Robinson’s Researches under 19th June). Another noteworthy point is that the temperature of the body may rise much higher in cases of fever, and without serious results, than would be possible in other climates, e.g. a temperature of 110° is not uncommonly recorded. This may explain the expression ‘great fever’ (πυρετῶ̣ μεγάλω̣) of Luke 4:38. The temperature of the waters of the Lake does not vary so much as might be expected, and is very little lowered even by the melting of the snows on Hermon. This is to be accounted for by the fact that such waters have already passed through Lake Huleh and have also had a considerable course in the upper Jordan. The average to a depth of 30 ft. is 68°, from 30 to 50 ft. it is 62°, and at a greater depth there is a constant temperature of 59° (PEFSt ^[9] , 1894, pp. 211–220). Rain.—The average number of rainy days during the year is 60, and the rainfall 22·5 inches. There is no rain during the months of June, July, August, and September. Two-thirds of the rainfall occurs in December, January, and February; the other months having only one to five days on which rain falls, which may mean either now and again, a whole day, or merely slight showers. The degree of humidity is greatest in January, when it stands at 77. It decreases till June, when it is 42; but in August, again, it has risen to 45; while in September it drops as low as 39. Winds.—From May till October there are often sirocco days. They generally come 3, 7, or 10 at a time, though sometimes the hot wind lasts but one day, and then the day following brings a delightful sensation of coolness, enjoyment, and satisfaction. On the sirocco days the heat on the Lake and in the surrounding region is intensely depressing, but between the visits of the hot wind, westerly breezes blow in summer, and this makes the east side of the Lake pleasant. The western shore, however, south of Mejdel benefits little, as the winds pass over the protecting hills and strike the Sea far out, leaving the air inshore close and stifling. The north end of the Lake does not suffer to the same extent, because to the west of the Plain of Gennesaret the hills are somewhat lower and farther back, and, besides, the wind blows freely down the Valley of Pigeons, and gives the district around Capernaum all that the east side enjoys at such seasons. These westerly winds usually spring up in the afternoon, they become strong as the evening advances, but generally cease about 10 p.m. During the rest of the year the weather is more variable, and the winds blow from different directions. Strong winds sometimes come from the north-east, and when they diverge to the north and come over Hermon the temperature is still more reduced, and a sensation of chill is felt in the atmosphere. This sometimes occurs till well on in May; while, on the other hand, a hot south wind will sometimes blow up the Ghor (Jordan Valley) in April, bringing with it clouds of dust which dim the sunlight and darken the hills, giving one a premature sensation of the summer’s glow. Storms.—The rainy season is generally introduced by thunderstorms. In October and November, small clouds, scarcely larger than a man’s hand, gather on Tabor, Jebel Jarmuk, and the other hills of Upper Galilee. They grow in size and in threatening aspect, and generally in three days’ time a violent thunderstorm with heavy rains bursts over the valley. This is then usually followed by a time of calm with a clear blue sky overhead. Such storms, but not generally so violent, occur from time to time during the winter, and the rainy season may be closed by something of the same nature. In the beginning of May the sky will be clouded, and there will be one or two days’ rain with or without thunder. Sometimes, however, when the valley has been enjoying the most peaceful calm, it will be affected by storms that have occurred elsewhere. The hills of Upper Galilee may have been hidden in dense mists for a day or two, but nothing has disturbed the peace of the Lake. There have been rains, however, on the high lands only a few hours distant, and these, forming themselves into mountain torrents, have come down, sweeping all before them (Matthew 7:27, Luke 6:49) in their descent, and flooding what but a few minutes earlier had been a dry channel. The present writer has personally watched the Wady Rabadḯyeh and the Wady Leimôn, both of which cross the Plain of Gennesaret, as they became in an incredibly short time changed from little more than dry, stony river-beds to impassable foaming torrents; and, when the hills have been dark with clouds, has heard the warning given to get over these wadys ‘before the stream comes down.’ Storms may occur on the Lake at any season, and there are few places where changes come so suddenly. The experience of Lynch is that of every one who has spent any time here: ‘While pulling about the Lake, a squall swept down one of the ravines, and gave us a convincing proof of how soon the placid sea could assume an angry look’ (p. 164). The storms on the Sea of Galilee are in many ways peculiar, and sometimes the wind seems to blow from various directions at one time, tossing the boat about. This arises from the fact that the winds blow violently down the narrow gorges and strike the Sea at an angle, stirring the waters to a great depth. Many of the storms, too, are quite local in their character. This may be understood by the fact that when a westerly wind is blowing, all may be smooth along the shores to the north and south of Tiberias and for a mile out, but there we may pass in a moment from the region of perfect calm into a gale so violent that the only chance of safety is to run before the wind to the eastern shore. At other times the south end of the Lake may be comparatively peaceful, but, sailing northward, we no sooner reach Mejdel than the wind from Wady el-Hamâm will seize the sail, and, unless it be instantly lowered, overturn the boat. These winds are from the west, but it is generally the wind from the north-east that raises a general storm over the whole Sea. This wind blows right into the Sea from el-Batiha, and from this direction no part is sheltered. The suddenness, too, with which the storms spring up may be illustrated by a storm which came from this direction, and which the present writer observed. A company of visitors were standing on the shore at Tiberias, and, noting the glassy surface of the water and the smallness of the Lake, they expressed doubts as to the possibility of such storms as those described in the Gospels. Almost immediately the wind sprang up. In 20 minutes the sea was w

The passage of the Red Sea with the destruction of Pharaoh’s army was one of the great miracles of Jewish history which the people loved to recall. There are three distinct references to this event in the NT. In Acts 7:36 St. Stephen mentions it as manifesting the glory of Moses. In Hebrews 11:29 it is referred to as a striking instance of what faith can do. But the chief reference is in 1 Corinthians 10:1-2, where St. Paul, in warning the Corinthians of the danger of neglecting their Christian benefits, quotes Israel’s escaping from Egypt as an illustration. Of several great benefits bestowed by God on His people Israel one was that they all passed through the Sea; while a second was that they were all baptized in the Sea as followers of Moses. But all their great benefits did not save them when they afterwards became disobedient. St. Paul here conceives the passage through the Red Sea to have been an initiatory rite like baptism (see G. G. Findlay, Expositor’s Greek Testament , ‘1 Corinthians,’ 1900, p. 857). J. W. Duncan.

A controversy (1886 - 93) between Great Britain and the United States as to the right of Canadians not licensed by the United States to carry on seal fishing in the Bering Sea, over which the United States claimed jurisdiction as a mare clausum. A court of arbitration, meeting in Paris in 1893, decided against the claim of the United States, but established regulations for the preservation of the fur seal.

A large cast bronze basin that stood in the courtyard to the southeast of Solomon's Temple (1 Kings 7:23-26 ; 2 Chronicles 4:2-5 ). The basin was cast by Hiram of Tyre who was responsible for all the bronze work in the Temple (1 Kings 7:13-14 ). The bronze for the molten sea was supplied by the spoils from David's campaigns (1 Chronicles 18:8 ). The basin was over fourteen feet in diameter, over seven feet high, and over forty-three feet in circumference. It was about three inches thick. The estimated weight is about 30 tons, and the estimated volume is about 12,000 gallons (U.S.). The brim was turned outward resembling a lily, and below the brim were two rows of gourds (but compare 1 Kings 7:24 ; 2 Chronicles 4:3 ). The sea rested on the backs of twelve oxen. The oxen were arranged in groups of three, each group facing toward one of the four compass directions (1 Kings 7:25 ; 2 Chronicles 4:4 ). The oxen were later removed by Ahaz and replaced with a stone base (2 Kings 16:17 ; compare Jeremiah 52:20 ). After the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C., the basin was broken in pieces and taken to Babylon (2 Kings 25:13 ; Jeremiah 52:17 ). The basin was used for the purification of the priests (2 Chronicles 4:6 ). Some have suggested that the molten sea was also symbolic of the great sea present when God began to create the heavens and the earth thus making the sea symbolic of God's creative activity (Genesis 1:2 ). Phil Logan

Body of water connected with town of Jazer (Jeremiah 48:32 ) but unknown to modern Bible students. Some commentators use manuscript and Isaiah 16:8 evidence to eliminate “sea of” from the text (NRSV, REB). See Jazer .

BRAZEN SEA . See Temple.

ENCAMPMENT BY THE SEA . One of the stations in the itinerary of the children of Israel, where they encamped after leaving Elim, Numbers 33:10 . If the position of Elim be in the Wady Gharandel , then the camp by the sea is on the shore of the Gulf of Suez, somewhere south of the point where the Wady Tayibeh opens to the coast. The curious return of the line of march to the seashore is a phenomenon that has always arrested the attention of travellers to Mt. Sinai: and if Mt. Sinai be really in the so-called Sinaitic peninsula, the camp can be located within a half-mile.

GALILEE, SEA OF 1. Situation , etc. The Sea of Galilee is an expansion of the Jordan, 13 miles long, about 8 miles in maximum breadth; its surface is 680 feet below that of the Mediterranean; its maximum depth is about 150 feet. In shape it is like a pear, the narrow end pointing southward. Like the Dead Sea, it is set deep among hills, which rise on the east side to a height of about 2000 feet. At the emergence of the Jordan, however, the Lake impinges on the plain of the Ghôr. 2. Names . The original name of the Sea seems to have been Chinnereth or Chinneroth , which a hazardous etymology connects with the Heb. kinnôr , ‘harp.’ The name is supposed to be given to the Sea on account of its fancied resemblance to such an instrument. It more probably takes its name from an as yet unrecognized town or district in Naphtali (which bordered the Lake on the west side) referred to in Joshua 11:2 ; Jos 19:35 , 1 Kings 15:20 . By this name it is referred to in assigning the border of the Promised Land ( Numbers 34:11 ), in stating the boundary of the trans-Jordanic tribes ( Deuteronomy 3:12 , Joshua 13:27 ), and in enumerating the kings conquered by Joshua ( Joshua 12:3 ). The Lake is referred to also by the name Gennesar in Josephus (always), and in 1Ma 11:67 (AV ^[1] ). This name also is of uncertain origin; strong grounds exist for questioning its derivation as a corruption of the earlier appellation. In the Gospels it is referred to under a variety of names: besides such general terms as ‘the lake’ ( Luke 8:22 etc.), or ‘the sea’ ( John 6:16 ), we find Lake of Gennesaret (only in Luke 5:1 ), Sea of Tiberias ( John 21:1 , and also as an explanatory or alternative name in John 6:1 ), but most frequently Sea of Galilee , which seems to have been the normal name. The modern name is Bahr Tubarîya , which is often rendered in English as ‘Lake of Tiberias,’ by which name the Sea is now frequently described (as in Baedeker’s Syria and Palestine ). 3. Importance in NT Times . The Sea in the time of Christ was surrounded by a number of important cities, each of them the centre of a cultured population. Such were Tiberias, Bethsaida, Capernaum, Chorazin, Magdala, and others. The fishing industry was extensive, and where now but a few small boats are to be seen, there evidently were formerly large fleets of fishing vessels. The fishing trade of Galilee was of great importance, and was renowned throughout the world. Owing to the great height of the mountains surrounding the Lake, differences of temperature are produced which give rise to sudden and violent storms. Two such storms are mentioned in the Gospels one in Matthew 8:23 , Mark 4:36 , Luke 8:22 , the other in Matthew 14:22 , Mark 6:46 , John 6:16 . The repetition of the event within the narrow historical limits of the Gospels indicates that such tempests, then as now, were matters of frequent occurrence. R. A. S. Macalister.

KJV translation in Lamentations 4:3 . See Dragon .

NIV translation, explained in text note as dugong (Exodus 25:5 ; Exodus 26:14 ; Numbers 4:1 ). See Badger Skins .

See Cuckow .

See Dead Sea .

See Dead Sea .

See Galilee, Sea of ; Palestine .

See Glass .

See Molten Sea .

(Matthew 4:18; Mark 7:31; Matthew 14:28-2946). So called from its washing the E. side of Galilee. In Luke 5:1 "the sea of Gennesaret," called so from the fertile plain of Gennesurer at its N.W. angle, three and a half miles long by two and a half broad (Matthew 14:34). In Old Testament "the sea of Chinnereth" or Cinneroth, from the town so named on its shore (Joshua 19:35), of which Gennesaret is probably the corruption, though others derive it from gannah , a "garden," and Sarown , a plain between Tabor and the lake. "The sea of Tiberias" is another designation, from the city (John 6:1). All its names were drawn from places on the western side. Now Bahr Tubariyeh (Tiberius, S.W. of the lake). Close to it was "His own city" Capernaum (Matthew 4:13). Nine cities stood on the shores of the lake, of which only two are now inhabited, namely, Magdala, consisting of a few mud huts, and Tiberias, sadly changed from its ancient prosperity. Silence now reigns where formerly the din of industry was heard. On its shore Jesus called His first disciples (Matthew 4:18; Matthew 9:9; Luke 5:1-11; John 1:43, etc.). The bed of the lake is but a lower section of the great Jordan valley. Its depression is 653 ft. below the level of the Mediterranean, according to Lt. Lynch. Its length is about 13 miles, its breadth is about five or six. The view from the Nazareth road to Tiberias is beautiful. The hills from the eastern side rise apparently out of the water with a uniform slope, to the height of 2,000 ft., destitute of verdure, and shut in the lake; while far to the N. is seen snowy Hermon. The eastern hills, which are flat along the summit, are the wall that supports the table land of Bashan; from which on the N. there is a gradual descent to the valley of the Jordan, and then a rise to a plateau skirting the mountains of upper Galilee. The hills on the W., except at Khan Minyeh, where there is a small cliff, are recessed from the shore. On a western recess stands Tiberias. The whole basin betrays its volcanic origin, which also accounts for the warm spring at Tiberius The cliffs are hard porous basalt. The vegetation is tropical; the lotus thorn, palms, indigo, etc. The water is sweet, sparkling and transparent; the fish abundant as of old, many species being those of the Nile, the silurus, mugil, and sparers Galiloeus. Dr. Tristram says: "the shoals of fish Were marvelous, black masses of many hundred yards long, with the black fins projecting out of the water, as thickly as they could pack. There are the European loach, bethel, blenny and cyprinodont; the African chromis, hemichromis, and eellike clarias; and the Asiatic discognathus. The cyprinodonts are viviparous, and the sexual differences marked; they can live in cold water, or hot springs up to 90ø, fresh, brackish, or briny water. This marks a former connection between these waters and those of N.E. and S.E. Africa, the Nile, the Zambesi, and the great lakes in the interior. The papyrus also, no longer found in the Nile, is found on the shores of the sea of Galilee. As Asia, Africa, and Europe respectively were represented at Christ's cross by the Jews, Simon of Cyrene, and the Romans respectively, so the Asiatic, African, and European fish in the sea of Galilee represent the various races of mankind gathered by the spiritual fishermen into the one gospel net. Only one little boat represents the fleets of fishing vessels that once covered the lake. The fish are now taken with a hand net jerked round the fish by the fisher, usually naked, along the shore (John 21:7); or else crumbs of bread mixed with bichloride of mercury are scattered to poison the fish, and the floating dead bodies are picked up for the Tiberias market (Porter, Handbook, p. 432). Sudden and violent storms agitate the waters, sweeping down the ravines and gorges converging to the head of the lake, from the vast naked plateau of the Jaulan and the Hauran and mount Hermon in the background. It was such a storm that Jesus stilled by a word, as He had a few hours before rebuked and cast out demons. Mark 4:39, "Peace, be still," Greek "Be silent, be muzzled"; addressing the sea and warring elements as rebel forces; compare Revelation 21:1. The apostles were trying to reach Bethsaida on the western coast, when the gale from. the S.W. that brought vessels from Tiberias to the N.E. coast (John 6:23) delayed the vessel of the former, until at the fourth watch Jesus came walking over the tempest tossed waves; then followed Peter's temporary walking through faith and sinking through unbelief in the same waters, and his rescue by Jesus; then they immediately reach their desired haven for which they had set out the evening before (1618450903_8; Matthew 14:33; John 6:17; John 6:21; Mark 6:45). So impressed were the disciples that "they worshipped Him, saying, Of a truth Thou art the Son of God." Bethsaida Julias, the city of Andrew and Peter, lay on the E. bank of the Jordan where it enters the sea of Galilee on the N. Close by, and on the E. of the river and N.E. of the lake, stretched the "green grass" (Mark 6:39) plain of Batihah, the scene of feeding the 5,000. Gergesa (now Kersa) lay E. of the lake. The Jordan's outlet is at Kerak, the S.W. extremity of the lake. The lake, mirroring heaven in its union of rest and energy, represents Him who best combined the calm repose which reflected His Father's image with energetic labors for God and man.

(See CINNEROTH; GALILEE, SEA OF). At the N.W. angle was the fertile plain "Gennesaret." Crescent in shape, extending from Khan Minyeh on the N. to the steep hill behind Mejdel on the S., called el Ghuweir, "the little ghor," watered by the spring Capharnaum (B. J., 3:10, sec. 8). It is also called "the Sea of Tiberias." All its names are drawn from places on the W. side. "The land of Gennesaret" was close to Capernaum on the opposite side to the N.E. of the lake, where the feeding of the 5,000 took place (John 6:1; John 6:17; John 6:24-25). (See CAPERNAUM.) In the land of Gennesaret was spoken the parable of the sower. There was the grainfield descending to the water's edge, the trodden path through its midst, without fence to prevent the seed from falling on either side or on it, itself hardened with treading; there was the rich soil of the plain, the rocky hillside protruding here and there, the stony soil, and the thorn bushes springing up in the midst of the grain.

A beautiful American ascidian (Cynthia, / Halocynthia, pyriformis) having the size, form, velvety surface, and color of a ripe peach.

A breeze, gale, or mist from the sea.

A chiton.

A gull; the mew.

A jager gull.

A kind of bindweed (Convolvulus Soldanella) growing on the seacoast of Europe.

A kind of seaweed; tang; tangle.

A low perennial plant (Frankenia laevis) resembling heath, growing along the seashore in Europe.

A low, fleshy perennial herb (Glaux maritima) found along northern seashores.

A magnificent palm (Lodoicea Sechellarum) found only in the Seychelles Islands. The fruit is an immense two-lobed nut. It was found floating in the Indian Ocean before the tree was known, and called sea cocoanut, and double cocoanut.

A marine deity; a fabulous being supposed to live in, or have dominion over, the sea, or some particular sea or part of the sea, as Neptune.

A pirate; a sea rover.

A pirate.

A plant (Suaeda maritima) of the Goosefoot family, growing in salt marches.

A pteropod.

A rich slimy deposit in salt marshes and along the seashore, sometimes used as a manure; - called also sea ooze.

A sea urchin.

A squilla.

A surgeon fish.

A wing shell (Avicula).

Alt. of Sea girkin

An aquatic carnivore (Enhydris lutris, / marina) found in the North Pacific Ocean. Its fur is highly valued, especially by the Chinese. It is allied to the common otter, but is larger, with feet more decidedly webbed.

An ascidian. See Illust. under Tunicata.

Any bryozoan of the genus Flustra or allied genera which form frondlike corals.

Any fish of the genus Diodon, and allied genera, whose body is covered with spines. See Illust. under Diodon.

Any gorgonian which branches in a fanlike form, especially Gorgonia flabellum of Florida and the West Indies.

Any isopod crustacean of the genus Ligia.

Any large holothurian.

Any large sea animal.

Any one of many species of venomous aquatic snakes of the family Hydrophidae, having a flattened tail and living entirely in the sea, especially in the warmer parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They feed upon fishes, and are mostly of moderate size, but some species become eight or ten feet long and four inches broad.

Any one of numerous species of isopod crustaceans of Cymothoa, Livoneca, and allied genera, mostly parasites on fishes.

Any one of numerous species of soft-bodied Anthozoa, belonging to the order Actrinaria; an actinian.

Any one of several species of nudibranchiate mollusks of the genus Doris and allied genera, having a smooth, thick, convex yellow body.

Any one of the large bivalve mollusks found on the open seacoast, especially those of the family Mactridae, as the common American species. (Mactra, / Spisula, solidissima); - called also beach clam, and surf clam.

Any small holothurian resembling in form a gherkin.

One of the leaders among the Norsemen who passed their lives in roving the seas in search of plunder and adventures; a Norse pirate chief. See the Note under Viking.

One that cruises or roves the sea for plunder; a sea robber; a pirate; also, a piratical vessel.

Risk of injury, destruction, or loss by the sea, or while at sea.

Room or space at sea for a vessel to maneuver, drive, or scud, without peril of running ashore or aground.

Sea holly.

See 1st Sea pie.

See Batfish (a).

See Drag sail, under 4th Drag.

See Garfish (a).

See Marsh rosemary, under Marsh.

See Monk seal, under Monk.

See Sea foam, 2.

See Sea kale, under Kale.

See under Robin, and Illustration in Appendix.

the black-bellied plover.

The captain of a vessel that sails upon the sea.

The common lamprey.

The customary certificate of national character which neutral merchant vessels are bound to carry in time of war; a passport for a vessel and cargo.

The European black goby (Gobius niger).

The fruit of a West Indian palm (Manicaria Plukenetii), often found floating in the sea.

The gilthead (Crenilabrus melops), a fish of the British coasts.

The green color of sea water.

The green papery fronds of several seaweeds of the genus Ulva, sometimes used as food.

The horn poppy. See under Horn.

The lyrie.

The puffin.

The sea mew.

The turnstone.

(1): A California sciaenoid fish (Cynoscion nobilis); - called also white sea bass. (2): The common squeteague, and the spotted squeteague. (3): A California fish of the family Chiridae, especially Hexagrammus decagrammus; - called also spotted rock trout. See Rock trout, under Rock. (4): Any one of several species of true trouts which descend rivers and enter the sea after spawning, as the European bull trout and salmon trout, and the eastern American spotted trout.

(1): A European sculpin (Cottus scorpius) having the head armed with short spines. (2): The scorpene.

(1): A fabulous creature, half horse and half fish, represented in classic mythology as driven by sea dogs or ridden by the Nereids. It is also depicted in heraldry. See Hippocampus. (2): The walrus. (3): Any fish of the genus Hippocampus.

(1): A large marine food fish (Serranus, / Centropristis, atrarius) which abounds on the Atlantic coast of the United States. It is dark bluish, with black bands, and more or less varied with small white spots and blotches. Called also, locally, blue bass, black sea bass, blackfish, bluefish, and black perch. (2): A California food fish (Cynoscion nobile); - called also white sea bass, and sea salmon.

(1): A large serranoid food fish (Centropomus undecimalis) found on both coasts of America; - called also robalo. (2): The garfish. (3): The merluce.

(1): A sea purse. (2): A pentagonal starfish.

(1): A small uninhabited island. (2): Sea holly.

(1): A toadfish. (2): The angler. (3): A sculpin.

(1): Any marine siluroid fish, as Aelurichthys marinus, and Arinus felis, of the eastern coast of the United States. Many species are found on the coasts of Central and South America. (2): The wolf fish.

(1): Any one of several very large species of chelonians having the feet converted into paddles, as the green turtle, hawkbill, loggerhead, and leatherback. They inhabit all warm seas. (2): The sea pigeon, or guillemot.

(1): In a steamship, a cock or valve close to the vessel's side, for closing a pipe which communicates with the sea. (2): The black-bellied plover. (3): A gurnard, as the European red gurnard (Trigla pini).

(1): The clusters of gelatinous egg capsules of a squid (Loligo). (2): The gulf weed. See under Gulf. (3): A shrubby plant (Coccoloba uvifera) growing on the sandy shores of tropical America, somewhat resembling the grapevine.

(1): The dogfish. (2): The common seal. (3): An old sailor; a salt.

(1): The European sea perch. (2): The wolf fish. (3): A sea lion. (4): The sea elephant.

(1): The storm petrel. (2): The gannet. (3): See Cornish chough, under Chough. (4): The common tern.

(Dead Sea Apple) A fruit said to grow on or near the site of the biblical Sodom; it turns to smoke and ashes when plucked.

A lake in Palestine, about 13 miles long, and 7.5 miles wide, which lies in the Jordan gorge. In the time of Our Lord, vines and fig-trees and thick forests surrounded it, the nearby plains yielded rich harvests twice a year, and many cities were situated on its shores. Today they are barren and desolate, with only a few straggling villages. The Sea of Galilee is closely connected with the life of Our Lord: He came and went from one side to another with His disciples, to spread His teaching and perform miracles; commanded the winds and sea, and there came a great calm (Matthew 8); walked on its surface (Matthew 14); and explained the parables (Matthew 13). There took place the two miraculous draughts of fishes, after the first of which the Apostles were called (Luke 5) and after the second Peter was made Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth (John 21). On another occasion a tax was paid through a miraculous catch (Matthew 17).

DEAD SEA . An inland lake 47 miles long and from 2¾ to 9 miles in breadth, which receives the waters of the Jordan. Its level is 1293 ft. below that of the Mediterranean, being the lowest body of water on the surface of the earth. It has no outlet, and the water received by it is all carried off by evaporation. In consequence, the waters of the Lake are impregnated with mineral substances to a remarkable degree; they yield 25 per cent. of salt, whereas the ocean yields but 4 to 6 per cent. The modern name is of late origin (first used apparently by Pausanias) and refers to the total absence of life in its waters. It has no Scripture warrant; Hebrew writers speak of it as the ‘Salt Sea’ (Genesis 14:8 , Numbers 34:3 , Joshua 15:5 etc.), the ‘sea of the Arabah’ ( Deuteronomy 3:17 ; Deuteronomy 4:49 ), the ‘east or eastern sea’ ( Ezekiel 47:18 , Joel 2:20 ). In Arabic it is known as Bahr Lut , ‘the sea of Lot,’ a name which, however, is more probably due to the direct influence of the history as related in the Koran than to a survival of local tradition. Somewhere near the sea were Sodom and Gomorrah , but whether north or south of it is not settled; the one certain fact about their sites is that the popular belief that they are covered by the waters of the Lake is quite inadmissible. The Dead Sea owes its origin to a fault or fracture produced in the surface of the region by the earth-movements whereby the land was here raised above the sea-level. This fault took place towards the end of the Eocene period; it extends along the whole Jordan valley from the Gulf of Akabah to Hermon; and it may be taken as fairly certain that the general appearance of the Lake has not radically altered during the whole time that the human race has existed in the world. Round the border of the Lake are numerous small springs, some bursting actually under its waters, others forming lagoons of comparatively brackish water (as at ‘Ain Feshkhah on the western side). In these lagoons various specimens of small fish are to be found; but in the main body of the water itself life of any kind is impossible. Recent observations tend to show that the surface of the Lake is slowly rising. An island that was a conspicuous feature at the N. end disappeared under the surface in 1892, and has never been seen since. R. A. S. Macalister.

Hymn for Matins on those feasts of Our Lady which have no proper hymn for Matins. It is attributed to Fortunatus (530-609). There are 18 translations. The English title given above is by J. Neale.

The Hebrews called the ocean Jam, and they called also the lakes and rivers, and even large pools, by the same name. They distinguished the different seas with which they were acquainted with different names, as the Red Sea, the Salt Sea, the Great Sea, the Dead Sea, and the like; and the entrance is sometimes called the tongue of the sea. (Isaiah 11:15) It is worthy remark, however, that Jerusalem, which the Lord chose for his people had no sea or navigable river near it. There was no river of any consequence belonging to it but the sacred river Jordan, so that Jerusalem had not, as most cities, a garrison, or rocks, or water, to defend it, neither of maritime resources to open commerce and trade with other powers. But what the holy city wanted in those supplies of nature and art the Lord abundantly, compensated in his presence to protect, and in the supply of his manifold gifts, to bless. The prophet beautifully speaks of this in his usual style of devotion and elegance—"Thou shall not see (saith he, speaking of the glory of all lands) a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive, of a stammering tongue that thou canst not understand. Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down, not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken: but there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams, wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby." (Isaiah 33:19-21)

The seas referred to in scripture are: 1. THE MEDITERRANEAN,under the names of 'the great sea,' Numbers 34:6,7 ; Ezekiel 48:28 ; 'the uttermost sea,' or 'the hinder sea,' Deuteronomy 11:24 ; Zechariah 14:8 ; 'the sea of Joppa,' Ezra 3:7 ; 'sea of the Philistines,' Exodus 23:31 . The 'SEA OF CILICIA AND PAMPHYLIA,'Acts 27:5 , is the N.E. corner of the Mediterranean Sea. 2. THE SALT SEA,Numbers 34:3,12 ; also called 'the east sea,' Ezekiel 47 :18; Joel 2:20 ; 'the former sea,' Zechariah 14:8 ; 'the sea of the plain,' Deuteronomy 3:17 ; Joshua 3:16 ; Joshua 12:3 ; 2 Kings 14:25 . See SALT SEA 3. THE RED SEA,Exodus 10:19 ; Psalm 106:7,9,22 ; Hebrews 11:29 ; alsocalled 'the Egyptian sea,' Isaiah 11:15 . See RED SEA. 4. THE SEA OF GALILEE,Mark 1:16 ; also called the 'Sea of Tiberias,' John 21:1 ; the 'Sea of Chinnereth,' Numbers 34:11 ; Joshua 12:3 ; Joshua 13 :27; the 'Lake of Gennesaret,' Luke 5:1 . See GALILEE, SEA OF. 5. SEA OF JAZER,a small lake in Gilead, now represented by someponds, near where Jazer stood. Jeremiah 48:32 .

This is used as a symbol of the mass of the people unorganised. Revelation 13:1 . In Revelation 13:11 a beast arises out of the earth, pointing to organisation.

Now the "Dead Sea". Midway in the great valley stretching from Mount Hermon to the gulf of Akabah (Genesis 14:3; Numbers 34:3; Numbers 34:12). "The sea of the plain" (Arabah): Deuteronomy 3:17; Deuteronomy 4:49; Joshua 3:16. "The East Sea" (Ezekiel 47:8; Ezekiel 47:10-11; Joel 2:20). "The former sea," in opposition to "the hinder sea," i.e. the Mediterranean, because in taking the four points of the sky the spectator faced the E., having it in front of him and the W. behind him (Zechariah 14:8). It is 40 geographical miles long by nine to nine and three quarters broad. Its surface is 1,292 ft. (or, according to Lynch, 1,316; it varies greatly at different seasons) below the Mediterranean level. Its greatest depth in the northern part is 1,308 ft. Its intense saltness, specific gravity, and buoyancy, are well known. The saltness is due to masses of fossil salt in a mountain on its S.W. border, and to rapid evaporation of the fresh water which flows into it. Neither animals nor vegetables live in it. Its shores are encrusted with salt. Earthquakes (as in 1834 and 1837) throw up large quantities of bitumen, detached from the bottom, upon the southern shore. The great depth of the northern division does not extend to the southern. It was observed by Mr. Tyrwhitt Drake that the bottom is still subsiding. At the southern end the fords between Lisan and the western shore are now impassable, though but three feet deep some years ago; again the causeway between the Rijm el Bahr and the mainland has been submerged for 12 years, though previously often dry. Dr. Tristram's theory seems probable, that the valley was formed by a depression of the strata subsequent to the English chalk period. The area was filled by a chain of large lakes reaching to the sea. The depression continuing, the heat and the consequent evaporation increased, until there remained only the present three lakes, Merom, Galilee, and the Dead Sea which depends on evaporation alone for maintaining its level. Conder has traced the old shore lines of the ancient great lakes. The southern bay is shallow, and the shores marshy. It occupies probably what was originally the plain of Jordan, the vale of Siddim. Possibly the Jordan originally flowed on through the Arabah into the gulf of Akabah. The southern part of the sea, abounding in salt, bitumen, sulphur, and nitre, was probably formed at a recent date, and answers to the description of the valley of Siddim, "full of slime pits" (Genesis 14:10), and to the destruction of Sodom; etc., by fire and brimstone, and to the turning of Lot's wife into a pillar of salt. Scripture, however, nowhere says that Sodom, etc., were immersed in the sea, but that they were overthrown by fire from heaven (Deuteronomy 29:23; Jeremiah 49:18; Jeremiah 50:40; Zephaniah 2:9; 2 Peter 2:6). Josephus speaks of Sodomitis as burnt up, and as adjoining the lake Asphaltitis. Ancient testimony, the recent formation of the sea, its bituminous, saline, volcanic aspect, the traditional names (Usdum ), and the traditional site of Zoar (called by Josephus Zoar of Arabia), the hill of salt traditionally made Lot's wife, all favor the southern site for Sodom, etc. Genesis 13:10 is not to be pressed further than to mean that Lot from between Bethel and Ai saw enough to arrive at the conclusion that the Ciccar ("circuit") of the Jordan, i.e. the whole valley N. and S., was fertile and well watered. The lake, comparatively small before, after Sodom's destruction enlarged itself so as to cover the low valley land. It forms an oval divided into two parts by a peninsula projecting from its eastern side, beyond which the southern lagoon, for ten miles (one fourth of the whole length) is shallow, varying from 12 feet in the middle to three at the edges. The northern bottom lies half a mile below the level of the coast at Jaffa, and more than two thirds of a mile below that of Jerusalem! the deepest depression on the earth. The surrounding region is in many places fertile, and teeming with animal and vegetable life; but every living thing carried by the Jordan into the waters dies. Their specific gravity exceeds that of any other water. A gallon weighs over 12 1/2 lbs. instead of 10, the weight of distilled water. Dr. Robinson could never swim before, but here could sit, stand, lie, or swim. It holds in solution ingredients six times those contained in common salt water: one third common salt (chloride of sodium) and two thirds chloride of magnesium. Of the rest chloride of calcium is the chief ingredient, besides silica, bitumen, and bromine in small quantities. The greasy look attributed to it exists in imagination only; it is transparent and generally clear. The lime and earthy salts, with the perspiration of the skin, make the water feel greasy. Sulphur springs abound around, and sulphur lies over the plains in layers or in fragments. Only in the district near wady Zurka have igneous rocks been found; the lake basin's formation is mainly due to the action of water. Before the close of the eocene period the sea flowed the whole length of the Ghor and Arabah connecting them with the Red Sea; it is in fact a pool left by the retreating ocean. It receives the Jordan at the northern end; Zurka Main on its E. side (anciently Callirrhoe , and perhaps the older Εn Εglaim ), also the Mojib (Arnon) and the Beni Hemad; on the S. the Kurahy or el Ahsy; on the W. Ain Jidy. Besides it receives torrents, full in winter though dried up in summer. The absence of any outlet is one of its peculiarities; evaporation through the great heat carries off the supply from without. Owing to this evaporation a haze broods over the water. The mountain walls on either side run nearly parallel; the eastern mountains are higher and more broken by ravines than the western. In color they are brown or red, whereas the western are greyish. On the western side, opposite the peninsula separating the northern lake from the southern lagoon, stood Masada, now the rock Sebbeh, 1,300 ft. above the lake, where the Jewish zealots made their last stand against Sylva the Roman general, and slew themselves to escape capture, A.D. 71. On the western shore three parallel beaches exist, the highest about 50 ft. above the water. The Khasm Usdum or salt mount, a ridge five miles long, is at the S.W. corner. Its northern part runs S.S.E., then it bends to the right, then runs S.W.; 300 or 400 ft. high, of crystallized rock salt, capped with chalky limestone. The lower part, the salt rock, rises abruptly from the plain at its eastern base. It was probably the bed of an ancient salt lake, upheaved during the convulsion which depressed the bed of the present lake. Between the northern end of Usdum and the lake is a mound covered with stones, Um Zoghal, 60 ft. in diameter, 10 or 12 high, artificial; made by some a relic of Sodom or of Zoar. The N. and S. ends are not enclosed by highlands as the E. and W. are; the Αrabah between the S. of the Dead Sea and the Red Sea is higher than the Ghor or Jordan valley; the valley suddenly rises 100 ft. at the S. of the Dead Sea, and continues rising until it reaches 1,800 ft. above the Dead Sea, or 500 above the ocean, at a point 35 miles N. of Akabah. The peninsula separating the northern lake from the southern lagoon is called Ghor el Μezraah or el Lisan (the Tongue: so Joshua 15:2 margin); it is ten geographical miles long by five or six broad. "The Tongue," Lisan , is probably restricted to the southern side of the peninsula. The peninsula is formed of post-tertiary aqueous deposits, consisting of friable carbonate of lime, mixed with sandy marl and sulphate of lime ("gypsum"); these were deposited when the water of the lake stood much higher than now, possibly by the action of a river from the quarter of wady Kerak forming an alluvial bank at its embouchure. It is now undergoing a process of disintegration. The torrents of the Jeib, Ghurundel, and Fikreh on the S., El Ahsy, Numeirah, Humeir, and Ed Draah on the E., Zuweirah, Mubughghik, and Senin on the W., draining about 6,000 square miles, bring down the silt and shingle which have filled up the southern part of the estuary. The Stylophora pistillata coral in the Paris Cabinet d'Hist. Naturelle was brought from the lake in 1837. Ρolygasters , polythalamiae , and phytolithariae were found in the mud and water brought home by Lepsius; the phosphorescence of the waters too betokens the presence of life. Lynch mentions that the birds, animals, and insects on the western side were of a stone color, undistinguishable from the surrounding rocks. The heat is what tries health rather than any miasma from the water. The lake is said to resemble Loch Awe, glassy, blue, and transparent, reflecting the beautiful colours of the encircling mountains; but the sterile look of the shores, the stifling heat, the sulphureous smell, the salt marsh at the S. end, and the fringe of dead driftwood, justify the name "Dead Sea."

See MONSTER.

Symbolical laver seen in heaven, signifying fixed, accomplished holiness, with no need of the hands or feet being washed. Revelation 4:6 . In Revelation 15:2 the saints are seen standing upon 'a sea of glass mingled with fire': they had come out of the tribulation.

The Hebrew word is tannin, and is used for any huge creature whether of sea or land. Lamentations 4:3 . The word is also translated 'whales,' 'dragons,' and 'serpents.'

The lake on the south of Palestine, now commonly called the Dead Sea, because it was for long judged that nothing having life could exist in it; but some inferior organisms (as the polygaster) have been found in it at its northern end. It is called, 'the Salt Sea' in Numbers 34:3,12 ; Deuteronomy 3:17 ; Joshua 3:16 ; 'the Sea of the plain' ('Sea of the Arabah,' R.V.), in Deuteronomy 4:49 ; 2 Kings 14:25 ; 'the East Sea' in Ezekiel 47:18 ; Joel 2:20 ; and simply, 'the Sea' in Ezekiel 47:8 . The term, 'Salt Sea' is very appropriate; for it contains much more salt than is found in ordinary sea water, which makes it extremely nauseous. It is also very heavy, so that a person cannot sink in it; and after bathing it leaves a crust of salt on the flesh. The river Jordan and some streams run into the Salt Sea, but there is no outlet. The rocks that surround it make the heat there very great, and evaporation must be rapid. Its size is about 48 miles long, and 10 miles across at its widest part. Its surface is at times (for it varies according to the rain) about 1,292 feet below the level of the sea, making it, as far as is known, the lowest lake in existence. Its deepest part is about 1,300 feet below the surface. Altogether it is like no other known lake, and is characteristic of death and dreary desolation. On the restoration of Israel in a future day a river will issue out of the house, the future temple, which river will go down into the desert and run into this sea, and the waters will be healed. En-gedi (Ain Jidy , about half way along the coast of the Dead Sea, on the west) will be one of the stations of the fishermen. Ezekiel 47:1-10 . A beautiful figure of God's future bringing to life the dead and dry bones of Israel and Judah, and making them the means of life to others. What connection there is, if any, between the present state of the Salt Seaand the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, is not known. In Genesis 14 the battle of the four kings against the five was in "the vale of Siddim, which is the Salt Sea." Genesis 14:3 . The four kings had come from a distance, but the five kings, of whom the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were two, were near home; farther than this the connection cannot be traced. This sea is now called Bahr Lut, the 'Sea of Lot.'

The name given to the 'laver' made by Solomon when he built the temple. It was five cubits high, ten in diameter frombrim to brim and thirty in circumference. It stood upon twelve oxen, three facing each way. 1 Kings 7:23-26 ; 2 Chronicles 4:2-5 . See LAVER.

A European species of wormwood (Artemisia maritima) growing by the sea.

A fleshy plant (Arenaria peploides) growing in large tufts in the sands of the northern Atlantic seacoast; - called also sea sandwort, and sea purslane.

A kind of kelp (Laminaria digitata) with palmately cleft fronds; - called also sea wand, seaware, and tangle.

A sea purse.

A very large seal (Macrorhinus proboscideus) of the Antarctic seas, much hunted for its oil. It sometimes attains a length of thirty feet, and is remarkable for the prolongation of the nose of the adult male into an erectile elastic proboscis, about a foot in length. Another species of smaller size (M. angustirostris) occurs on the coast of Lower California, but is now nearly extinct.

A yellow cylindrical mass of egg capsule of certain species of whelks (Buccinum), which resembles an ear of maize.

An acorn barnacle (Balanus).

An engagement between ships at sea; a naval battle.

Any gorgonian which branches in a plumelike form.

Any gorgonian which branches like a fern.

Any one of several species of sparoid fishes, especially the common European species (Pagellus centrodontus), the Spanish (P. Oweni), and the black sea bream (Cantharus lineatus); - called also old wife.

Samphire.

Sea cabbage.

See Wrack.

The bar-tailed godwit.

The green color of sea water.

The little auk, or rotche. See Illust. of Rotche.

The thrasher shark. See Thrasher.

The turnstone.

(a.) Cruising at random on the ocean.

(n.) A globefish.

(n.) A gull; the mew.

(n.) A long, rolling swell of the sea.

(n.) A pennatula.

(1): Any fur seal. See under Fur. (2): The white bear.

(1): Any large cephalopod, as a large Octopus, or a giant squid (Architeuthis). See Devilfish. (2): The angler. (3): Any very large ray, especially any species of the genus Manta or Cepholoptera, some of which become more than twenty feet across and weigh several tons. See also Ox ray, under Ox.

(1): Meerschaum; - called also sea froth. (2): Foam of sea water.

(1): The sea otter. (2): The thrasher shark.

(1): (a.) Born of the sea; produced by the sea. (2): (a.) Born at sea.

GREAT SEA . See Sea.

Society for promoting the spiritual welfare of Catholic seafarers throughout the world, with headquarters in London. Working in cooperation with the twelve sailor centers which existed in 1920, the Apostleship began in that year a crusade which has resulted in the establishing of more tan 100 enrolling centers where sailors can add their names to the seafarers of all nations. Apostleship publicity, broadcast in many languages to the Catholic press throughout the world, has results in the formation of national section in Holland and Spain, regional headquarters in Australia, Canada, India, Italy, New Zealand, and South America. In this effort the Brothers of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society have taken a generous part. The coordinating Council of the Society and the Apostleship of the Sea provides a general clearing-house for all Catholic sailor-service activities and apostleship organizing machinery, and is at the disposal of all Catholic organizations and of individual Catholics who desire to help sailors. The Apostleship published a monthly newspaper in English, with bulletins in Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish and other languages. The Apostleship in the United States maintain a web site.

This was situate about the centre of the district of Galilee on the east. The Jordan enters it on the north, and leaves it on the south. Its waters are about 630 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, and its depth about 156 feet. Its length is about thirteen miles, and its widest part about eight miles. On the east of it was the country of the Gergesenes and the Gadarenes. Chorazin was on its north; Capernaum on its N.W.; then, coming southward, was Bethsaida of Galilee, with the plain of Gennesaret (or Chinnereth) near; then Magdala, Dalmanutha and Tiberias on the west. These places being near accounts for the sea being called the LAKE OF GENNESARET and the SEA OF TIBERIAS and of CHINNERETH. The Lord crossed the sea several times, and taught from a ship near the shore, and once He walked upon its waters. Storms often arise suddenly, as did the one when the Lord was asleep on a pillow. Mark 4:37-41 ; Luke 8:22-25 .

See GALILEE, SEA OF.

A boy employed on shipboard.

A breaking or overflow of a bank or a dike by the sea.

A chart or map on which the lines of the shore, islands, shoals, harbors, etc., are delineated.

A crinoid.

A document carried by neutral merchant vessels in time of war, to show their nationality; a sea letter or passport. See Passport.

A European amarylidaceous plant (Pancratium maritimum).

A geographical mile. See Mile.

A goddess supposed to live in or reign over the sea, or some part of the sea.

A gorgonian coral with long flexible branches.

A gown or frock with short sleeves, formerly worn by mariners.

A hydroid coral of the genus Millepora, especially M. alcicornis, of the West Indies and Florida. So called because it stings the tongue like ginger. See Illust. under Millepore.

A kind of blackish seaweed (Himanthalia lorea) found on the northern coasts of the Atlantic. It has a thonglike forking process rising from a top-shaped base.

A kind of seaweed (Chorda Filum) having blackish cordlike fronds, often many feet long.

A large blackfish seaweed (Agarum Turneri), the frond of which is punctured with many little holes.

A medusa, or jellyfish.

A pedunculated ascidian of the genus Boltonia.

A phalarope.

A pool of salt water.

A sea anemone, or any related anthozoan.

A sea open to all nations. See Mare clausum.

A sea slater.

A sea urchin.

A sertularian hydroid, especially Sertularia abietina, which branches like a miniature fir tree.

A squid of the genus Ommastrephes. See Squid.

A starfish, or brittle star.

A term used specifically by seamen; a nautical word or phrase.

Alt. of Sea cat

Alt. of Sea crayfish

Alt. of Sea poker

An American compound ascidian (Amoraecium stellatum) which forms large whitish masses resembling salt pork.

An evergeen seashore plant (Eryngium maritimum). See Eryngium.

Any bird which habitually frequents the sea, as an auk, gannet, gull, tern, or petrel; also, all such birds, collectively.

Any branched marine bryozoan resembling moss.

Any bryozoan which forms rounded or irregular patches of coral on stones, seaweeds, etc.

Any crustacean of the genus Palinurus and allied genera, as the European spiny lobster (P. vulgaris), which is much used as an article of food. See Lobster.

Any gull living on the seacoast.

Any large holothurian, especially one of those belonging to the genus Pentacta, or Cucumaria, as the common American and European species. (P. frondosa).

Any large marine mammal, as a seal, walrus, or cetacean.

Any one of numerous species of echinoderms of the order Echinoidea.

Any one of several large species of seals of the family Otariidae native of the Pacific Ocean, especially the southern sea lion (Otaria jubata) of the South American coast; the northern sea lion (Eumetopias Stelleri) found from California to Japan; and the black, or California, sea lion (Zalophus Californianus), which is common on the rocks near San Francisco.

Any one of several species of spotted seals, especially Ogmorhinus leptonyx, and Leptonychotes Weddelli, of the Antarctic Ocean. The North Pacific sea leopard is the harbor seal.

Any swimming bird frequenting the sea; a sea fowl.

Any tectibranchiate mollusk of the genus Aplysia. See Aplysia.

Coal brought by sea; - a name by which mineral coal was formerly designated in the south of England, in distinction from charcoal, which was brought by land.

Common salt, obtained from sea water by evaporation.

Land which borders on the sea; the seashore.

Legs able to maintain their possessor upright in stormy weather at sea, that is, ability stand or walk steadily on deck when a vessel is rolling or pitching in a rough sea.

Mariner's card, or compass.

Same as Florida bean.

Same as Sea letter.

See 1st Sea pie.

See 1st Sea pie.

See Marine rainbow, under Rainbow.

See Thrift.

See under Gauge, n.

See under Kale.

See under Purslane.

See under Rocket.

The beluga, or white whale.

The black-backed gull.

the common guillemot; - applied also to various other sea birds.

The common seal.

The European sea perch.

The gray snapper. See under Snapper.

The horny egg case of a skate, and of certain sharks.

The level of the surface of the sea; any surface on the same level with the sea.

The lumpfish.

The narwhal.

The peculiar language or phraseology of seamen; sailor's cant.

The pewit gull.

The pintail duck.

The porpoise.

The purple sandpiper.

The rock pipit.

The sea-sand reed. See under Reed.

The three-bearded rockling. See Rockling.

(a.) Of or pertaining to certain islands along the coast of South Carolina and Georgia; as, sea-island cotton, a superior cotton of long fiber produced on those islands.

(a.) Of or pertaining to the deeper parts of the sea; as, a deep-sea line (i. e., a line to take soundings at a great depth); deep-sea lead; deep-sea soundings, explorations, etc.

(n.) A jellyfish.

(n.) Any marine saurian; esp. (Paleon.) the large extinct species of Mosasaurus, Icthyosaurus, Plesiosaurus, and related genera.

(n.) Any species of ear-shaped shells of the genus Haliotis. See Abalone.

(1): A great blackish seaweed of the Southern Ocean, having a hollow and expanding stem and a pinnate frond, sometimes twenty feet long. (2): Any large marine univalve shell of the genus Triton. See Triton.

(1): A holothurian. (2): A nudibranch mollusk.

(1): A pirate. (2): The chimaera.

(1): A small fish of the genus Liparis, having a ventral sucker. It lives among stones and seaweeds. (2): Any small creeping marine gastropod, as the species of Littorina, Natica, etc.

(1): A young pollock. (2): The spotted squeteague. (3): See Sea bass (b).

(1): Any maioid crab; a spider crab. See Maioid, and Spider crab, under Spider. (2): Any pycnogonid.

(1): Any marine snake. See Sea snake. (2): A large marine animal of unknown nature, often reported to have been seen at sea, but never yet captured.

(1): The bellows fish. (2): A sandpiper, as the knot and dunlin.

(1): The cormorant. (2): An American cottoid fish (Hemitripterus Americanus) allied to the sculpins, found on the northeren Atlantic coasts.

(1): The cormorant. (2): The blackheaded pewit, and other gulls. (3): The chough. (4): The razorbill. (5): The coot. (6): The skua.

(1): The dunlin. (2): A dorsibranchiate annelid, belonging to Aphrodite and allied genera, having long, slender, hairlike setae on the sides.

(1): The European tanglefish, or pipefish (Syngnathus acus). (2): The European fifteen-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus spinachia); - called also bismore.

(1): The mantee. (2): The walrus. (3): The dugong.

(1): The name is applied also to other species of fishes. (2): The sea bass. (3): The cunner. (4): The European bass (Roccus, / Labrax, lupus); - called also sea dace.

(1): The oyster catcher, a limicoline bird of the genus Haematopus. (2): A dish of crust or pastry and meat or fish, etc., cooked together in alternate layers, - a common food of sailors; as, a three-decker sea pie.

(1): The pegasus. (2): A dragonet, or sculpin.

(1): The rock pipit (Anthus obscurus). (2): Any one of several small sandpipers and plovers, as the ringed plover, the turnstone, the dunlin, and the sanderling.

(1): The seashore. (2): A bank or mole to defend against the sea.

(1): (n.) One of the larger bodies of salt water, less than an ocean, found on the earth's surface; a body of salt water of second rank, generally forming part of, or connecting with, an ocean or a larger sea; as, the Mediterranean Sea; the Sea of Marmora; the North Sea; the Carribean Sea. (2): (n.) An inland body of water, esp. if large or if salt or brackish; as, the Caspian Sea; the Sea of Aral; sometimes, a small fresh-water lake; as, the Sea of Galilee. (3): (n.) The ocean; the whole body of the salt water which covers a large part of the globe. (4): (n.) The swell of the ocean or other body of water in a high wind; motion of the water's surface; also, a single wave; a billow; as, there was a high sea after the storm; the vessel shipped a sea. (5): (n.) A great brazen laver in the temple at Jerusalem; - so called from its size. (6): (n.) Fig.: Anything resembling the sea in vastness; as, a sea of glory.

Galilee, Sea of. Named from the province of Galilee, which bordered on its western side, Matthew 4:18. It was also called the "Sea of Tiberias," from the city of that name, John 6:1, and "Sea of Chinneroth" in the Old Testament. At its northwestern angle was a beautiful and fertile plain called "Gennesaret," and from that it derived the name of "Lake of Gennesaret." Luke 5:1; Numbers 34:11; Joshua 12:3, and Galilee, Joshua 19:35. Its modern name is Bahr Tubarîyeh. Most of our Lord's public life was spent in the environs of this sea. The Sea of Galilee is of an oval shape, about 12 miles long and 6 broad. It is 60 miles northeast of Jerusalem and 27 east of the Mediterranean sea. The river Jordan enters it at its northern end and passes out at its southern end. Its most remarkable feature is its deep depression, being no less than 700 feet below the level of the ocean. The scenery is bleak and monotonous, being surrounded by a high and almost unbroken wall of hills, on account of which it is exposed to frequent sudden and violent storms. The great depression makes the climate of the shores almost tropical. In summer the heat is intense, and even in early spring the air has something of an Egyptian balminess. The water of the lake is sweet, cool, and transparent; and as the beach is everywhere pebbly it has a beautiful sparkling look. It abounds in fish now as in ancient times. There were large fisheries on the lake, and much commerce was carried on upon it. There are only a few small boats now to be found on the lake.

Great Sea. Numbers 34:6. The Mediterranean sea; called also "utmost sea" and the "hinder sea;" R. V., "eastern sea" and "western sea." Joel 2:20; Zechariah 14:8. See Sea.

Yâm (יָם, Strong's #3220), “sea; ocean.” This word has cognates in Aramaic, Akkadian, Ugaritic, Phoenician, and Ethiopic. It occurs about 390 times and in all periods of biblical Hebrew. This word refers to the body of water as distinct from the land bodies (continents and islands) and the sky (heavens): “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is …” (Exod. 20:11). Used in this sense yâm means “ocean.” This is its meaning in Gen. 1:10, its first biblical appearance; unlike the use in the singular, where the word is a collective noun, it appears here in the plural: “And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas.…” Yâm may be used of “seas,” whether they are salty or fresh. The Great Sea is the Mediterranean: “From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast” (Josh. 1:4). This sea is also called the sea of the Philistines (Exod. 23:31) and the hinter or western sea (Deut. 11:24; KJV, “uttermost sea”). The Dead Sea is called the Salt Sea (Gen. 14:3), the Arabah (Deut. 3:17; KV, “plain”), and the east sea (Ezek. 47:18). Thus, yâm can be used of an inland salty “sea.” It can also be used of a fresh water “sea” such as the Sea of Galilee: “… And the border shall descend, and shall reach unto the side of the Sea of Chinnereth eastward” (Num. 34:11). The word is sometimes used of the direction west or westward, in the sense of toward the (Great) Sea: “Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward” (Gen. 13:14). In Gen. 12:8 yâm means “on the west side”: “And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Hai on the east.…” This word can also refer to a side of something and not just a direction, but it is the side that faces westward: “He turned about to the west side …” (Ezek. 42:19). Exod. 10:19 uses yâm as an adjective modifying “wind”: “And the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts.…” Yâm is used of the great basin immediately in front of the Holy Place: “And the pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the brazen sea that was in the house of the Lord, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon” (2 Kings 25:13). This is also called the “sea” of cast metal (1 Kings 7:23; KJV, “molten sea”) or simply the “sea” (Jer. 27:19). Yâm is used of mighty rivers such as the Nile: “And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up” (Isa. 19:5). This statement occurs in the middle of a prophecy against Egypt. Therefore, “the river” is the Nile. But since the term “river” is in synonymous parallelism to “the sea,” this latter term also refers to the Nile. Ezek. 32:2 uses yâm of the branches of the Nile: “… And thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.” This word can also be used of the Euphrates River (Jer. 51:36). In some instances the word yâm may represent the Canaanite god Yamm, “which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea” (Job 9:8). If understood as a statement about Yamm, this passage would read: “and tramples upon the back of Yamm.” The parallelism between “heavens” and “seas,” however, would lead us to conclude that the reference here is to the literal “sea.” Ps. 89:9- 10 is a more likely place to see a mention of Yamm, for there the word is identified as one of God’s enemies in immediate proximity to the goddess Rahab: “Thou rulest the raging of the sea ^[1]: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.” Especially note Job 7:12: “Am I a sea ^[1], or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?” (cf. Job 26:12; Ps. 74:13).

Alt. of Mid-sea

(adv.) On the sea; at sea; toward the sea.

Brazen Sea. 2 Kings 25:13. See Laver.

Sea of Chinnereth (kĭn'ne-rĕth). Numbers 34:11. See Galilee, Sea of.

Sea of Chinnereth (kĭn'ne-rĕth). Numbers 34:11. See Galilee, Sea of.

Sea of Chinnereth (kĭn'ne-rĕth). Numbers 34:11. See Galilee, Sea of.

(Numbers 34:11 ; Joshua 13:27 ) the inland sea, which is most similarly known to us as the "Lake of Gennesareth" or "Sea of Galilee."

celebrated chiefly for the miraculous passage of the Israelites through its waters. They were thrust out of Egypt, says Dr. Hales, on the fifteenth day of the first month; "about six hundred thousand men on foot, beside women and children. And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks and herds, even very much cattle," Exodus 12:37-39 ; Numbers 11:4 ; Numbers 33:3 . After they set out from Rameses, in the land of Goshen, in the neighbourhood of Cairo, their first encampment was at Succoth, signifying "booths," or an "enclosure for cattle," after a stage of about thirty miles; their second, at Etham, or Adsjerud, on the edge of the wilderness, about sixty miles farther; "for the Lord led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: but God led the people about by the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea," or by a circuitous route to the land of promise, in order to train them and instruct them, in the solitudes of Arabia Petraea, Exodus 13:17-20 ; Deuteronomy 32:10 . Instead of proceeding from Etham, round the head of the Red Sea, and coasting along its eastern shore, the Lord made them turn southward along its western shore, and, after a stage of about twenty or thirty miles, to encamp in the valley of Bedea, where there was an opening in the great chain of mountains that line the western coast, called Pi-hahiroth, the mouth of the ridge between Migdol westward, and the sea eastward, "over against Baal-zephon," on the eastern coast; to tempt Pharaoh, whose heart he finally hardened, to pursue them when they were "entangled in the land," and shut in by the wilderness on their rear and flanks, and by the sea in their front. The leading motive with Pharaoh and his servants was to bring back the Israelites to bondage, and of the Egyptians in general, to recover the treasures of which they had been spoiled, Exodus 14:1-5 . So Pharaoh pursued the Israelites by the direct way of Migdol, with six hundred chariots, his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, over against Baal-zephon. When their destruction, or their return to bondage, seemed to be inevitable, the Lord interposed and fought for Israel. He opened for them a passage across the Red Sea, where it was about twelve miles wide, and brought them through in safety; while he drowned the Egyptians, who blindly followed them to their own destruction, Psalms 77:18 , &c. On this memorable deliverance Moses composed a thanksgiving, which he and the Israelites sung unto the Lord. It is also a sublime prophecy, foretelling the powerful effect of this tremendous judgment on the neighbouring nations of Edom, Moab, Palestine, and Canaan, the future settlement of the Israelites in the promised land; and the erection of the temple and sanctuary on Mount Zion, and the perpetuity of the dominion and worship of God. The precise place of this passage has been much contested. Some place it near Suez, at the head of the gulf; others, with more probability, about ten hours' journey lower down, at Clysma, or the vale of Bedea. The day before the passage, by the divine command, the Israelites encamped beside Pi-hahiroth "between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon," Exodus 14:2 ; Numbers 33:7 . Pi-hahiroth signifies "the mouth of the ridge," or chain of mountains, which line the western coast of the Red Sea, called Attaka, "deliverance," in which was a gap, which formed the extremity of the valley of Bedea, ending at the sea eastward, and running westward to some distance, toward Cairo; Migdol, signifying "a tower," probably lay in that direction; and Baal-zephon, signifying "the northern Baal," was probably a temple on the opposite promontory, built on the eastern coast of the Red Sea. And the modern names of places in the vicinity tend to confirm these expositions of the ancient. Beside Attaka, on the eastern coast opposite, is a head land, called Ras Musa, or "the Cape of Moses;" somewhat lower, Hamam Faraun, "Pharaoh's Springs;" below Girondel, a reach of the gulf, called Birket Faraum; and the general name of the gulf is Bahr al Kolsum, "the Bay of Submersion." These names indicate that the passage was considerably below Suez, according to the tradition of the natives. The depth and breadth of the gulf, from Suez downward, is thus described by Niebuhr: "I have not found in this sea, from Suez southward, any bank or isthmus under water. When we departed from Suez, we sailed as far as Girondel, without fear of encountering any such. We had in the first place, the road of Suez, four fathom and half; at three German leagues from Suez, in the middle of the gulf, four fathoms; and about Girondel, near the shore, even to ten fathoms." Bruce, also, describing the place of passage opposite Ras Musa, or a little below it, says, "There is here about fourteen fathom of water in the channel, and about nine in the sides, and good anchorage every where. The farthest side, the eastern, is a low sandy coast, and a very easy landing place." Shaw reckons the breadth of the gulf at this place about ten miles; Niebuhr, three leagues and more; Bruce, something less than four leagues; we may therefore estimate it about twelve miles, from their joint reports. But this space the host of the Israelites could easily have passed in the course of a night, from the evening to the ensuing morning watch, or dawn of day, according to the Mosaical account. And surely the depth of the sea was no impediment, when the Lord divided it by "a strong east wind," which blew across the sea all that night, and made the bottom of the sea dry land; "and the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground, and the waters were a wall unto them, on their right hand and on their left," Exodus 14:21-22 . In the queries of Michaelis, sent to Niebuhr, when in Egypt, it was proposed to him to inquire upon the spot, whether there were not some ridges of rocks where the water was shallow, so that an army at particular times may pass over; secondly, whether the Etesian winds, which blow strongly all summer from the north-west could not blow so violently against the sea as to keep it back on a heap, so that the Israelites might have passed without a miracle. And a copy of these queries was left, also, for Bruce, to join his inquiries likewise; his observations on which are excellent: "I must confess, however learned the gentlemen were who proposed these doubts, I did not think they merited any attention to solve them. This passage is told us by Scripture to be a miraculous one; and if so, we have nothing to do with natural causes. If we do not believe Moses, we need not believe the transaction at all, seeing that it is from his authority alone we derive it. If we believe in God, that he made the sea, we must believe he could divide it when he sees proper reason; and of that he must be the only judge. It is no greater miracle to divide the Red Sea than to divide the river Jordan. If the Etesian wind, blowing from the north-west in summer, could keep up the sea as a wall on the right, or to the south, of fifty feet high, still the difficulty would remain of building the wall on the left hand, or to the north. Beside, water standing in that position for a day must have lost the nature of fluid. Whence came that cohesion of particles which hindered that wall to escape at the sides? This is as great a miracle as that of Moses. If the Etesian winds had done this once, they must have repeated it many a time before and since, from the same causes. Yet Diodorus Siculus says the Troglodytes, the indigenous inhabitants of that very spot, had a tradition from father to son, from their very earliest ages, that ‘once this division of the sea did happen there; and that, after leaving its bottom some time dry, the sea again came back, and covered it with great fury.' The words of this author are of the most remarkable kind: we cannot think this Heathen is writing in favour of revelation: he knew not Moses, nor says a word about Pharaoh and his host; but records the miracle of the division of the sea in words nearly as strong as those of Moses, from the mouths of unbiassed, undesigning Pagans." Still skeptical queries have their use; they lead to a stricter investigation of facts, and, thereby tend strongly to confirm the veracity of the history they mean to impeach. Thus it appears from the accurate observations of Niebuhr and Bruce, that there is no ledge of rocks running across the gulf any where, to afford a shallow passage. And the second query, about the Etesian or northerly wind, is refuted by the express mention of a strong easterly wind blowing across, and scooping out a dry passage; not that it was necessary for Omnipotence to employ it there as an instrument, any more than at Jordan; but it seems to be introduced in the sacred history by way of anticipation, to exclude the natural agency that might in after times be employed for solving the miracle; and it is remarkable that the monsoon in the Red Sea blows the summer half of the year from the north, the winter half from the south, neither of which therefore, even if the wind could be supposed to operate so violently upon the waters, could produce the miracle in question. Wishing to diminish, though not to deny, the miracle, Niebuhr adopts the opinion of those who contend for a higher passage near Suez. "For," says he, "the miracle would be less if they crossed the sea there than near Bedea. But whosoever should suppose that the multitude of the Israelites could be able to cross it here without a prodigy would deceive himself; for, even in our days, no caravan passes that way to go from Cairo to Mount Sinai, although it would considerably shorten the journey. The passage would have been naturally more difficult for the Israelites some thousands of years back, when the gulf was probably larger, deeper, and more extended toward the north; for, in all appearance, the water has retired, and the ground near this end has been raised by the sands of the neighbouring desert." But it sufficiently appears, even from Niebuhr's own statement, that the passage of the Israelites could not have been taken near Suez; for, 1. He evidently confounded the town of Kolsum, the ruins of which he places near Suez, and where he supposed the passage to be made, with the bay of Kolsum, which began about forty-five miles lower down; as Bryant has satisfactorily proved, from the astronomical observations of Ptolemy and of Ulug Beigh, made at Heroum, the ancient head of the gulf. 2. Instead of crossing the sea at or near Ethan, their second station, the Israelites turned southward, along the western shore; and their third station at Pi-hahiroth, or Bedea, was at a full day's journey below Ethan, as Bryant has satisfactorily proved from Scripture, Exodus 14:2 . And it was this unexpected change in the direction of their march, and the apparently disadvantageous situation in which they were then placed, entangled in the land, and shut in by the wilderness, with a deep sea in front, the mountains of Attaka on the sides, and the enemy in their rear, that tempted the Egyptians to pursue them through the valley of Bedea, by the direct route from Cairo, who overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, opposite to Baal-zephon, Exodus 14:2-9 . Niebuhr wonders how the Israelites could suffer themselves to be brought into such a disadvantageous situation, or be led blindfold by Moses to their apparent destruction. "One need only travel with a caravan," says he, "which meets with the least obstacle, namely, a small torrent, to be convinced that the orientals do not let themselves be led, like fools, by their caravan baschi," or leader of the caravan. But the Israelites went out of Egypt with "a high hand," though led by Moses, yet under the visible guidance and protection of "the Lord God of the Hebrews," who "went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire;" and who, for their encouragement, to enter the passage of the sea miraculously prepared for them, removed the cloud which went before the camp of Israel hitherto, and placed it behind them. "And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to the one, but gave light by night to the other: so that the one came not near the other all the night," Exodus 14:8-20 . Niebuhr wonders, also, how Pharaoh and the Egyptians could be led to follow the Israelites. "Pharaoh must have wanted prudence. if, after having seen so many prodigies in Egypt, he had entered into a sea of more than three leagues wide: all the Egyptians, too, must have been bereft of understanding, in wishing to pursue the Israelites into such a sea. Doubtless they knew their own country well enough to distinguish the bottom of a large sea, which bounds Egypt on that side, from a desert." But Pharaoh and the Egyptians probably did not know their situation. The cloud which separated them from the Israelites increased the darkness of the night; and they probably did not enter into the sea till about midnight, by which time the van of the Israelites might have reached the eastern shore. Meanwhile the bed of the sea, now beaten by the feet of the immense multitude of men and cattle that had gone before, might not have been easily distinguishable from the desert. If we ask, Why did the Egyptians venture to pursue the Israelites by night? Why did they not wait till day light, when they could see whither they were going? Niebuhr himself has unwittingly answered the question: Pharaoh wanted "prudence," indeed, and the Egyptians were "bereft of understanding." And this is the Scriptural solution; for God hardened the heart of Pharaoh to follow after them, that he might be honoured upon Pharaoh and all his host; and that, by their miraculous destruction, the Egyptians might know that he was the Lord supreme, Exodus 14:4-18 . The Egyptians did not find out their mistake till the "morning appeared," or till day-break, when the rear of the Israelites had gained the shore, and the Egyptians had reached the middle of the sea, and their whole host had entered into it: then, indeed, they attempted to fly back, but in vain; for "their chariot wheels were broken off, so that they drave them heavily, and their host was troubled" by the Lord, who looked or frowned upon them through the cloudy pillar of fire, and overwhelmed all their host in the midst of the sea; when the sea suddenly returned to his strength at the signal of Moses stretching forth his hand over it, Exodus 14:24-28 . The particulars of this transaction demonstrate, that neither the host of the Israelites, nor the host of Pharaoh, could possibly have passed at the head of the gulf near Suez; where the sea was only half a league broad, according to Niebuhr's own supposition, and consequently too narrow to contain the whole host of Pharaoh at once; whose six hundred chariots alone, exclusive of his cavalry and infantry, must have occupied more ground. Manetho, and the Egyptian writers, have passed over in silence this tremendous visitation of their nation. An ancient writer, however, Artapanus, who wrote a history of the Jews, about B.C. 130, has preserved the following curious Egyptian traditions:— "The Memphites relate, that Moses, being well acquainted with the country, watched the influx of the tide, and made the multitude pass through the dry bed of the sea. But the Heliopolitans relate, that the king, with a great army, accompanied by the sacred animals, pursued after the Jews, who had carried off with them the substance of the Egyptians; and that Moses, having been directed by a divine voice to strike the sea with his rod, when he heard it, touched the water with his rod; and so the fluid divided, and the host passed over through a dry way. But when the Egyptians entered along with them, and pursued them, it is said, that fire flashed against them in front, and the sea, returning back, overwhelmed the passage. Thus the Egyptians perished, both by the fire, and by the reflux of the tide." The latter account is extremely curious: it not only confirms Scripture, but it notices three additional circumstances: 1. That for their protection against the God of Israel, the Egyptians brought with them the sacred animals; and by this means God executed judgment upon all the bestial gods of Egypt, as foretold, Exodus 12:12 , that perished with their infatuated votaries; completing the destruction of both, which began with smiting the first-born both of man and beast. 2. That the recovery of the jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment, which they asked and obtained of the Egyptians, according to the divine command, Exodus 12:35-36 , was a leading motive with the Egyptians to pursue them; as the bringing back the Israelites to slavery had been with Pharaoh and his servants, or officers. 3. That the destruction of the Egyptians was partly occasioned by lightning and thunderbolts from the presence of the Lord; exactly corresponding to the psalmist's sublime description: "The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled. The clouds poured out water, the air thundered, thine arrows also went abroad. Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; he shot forth lightnings, hail stones, and coals of fire, and discomfited them. Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered, at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils," Psalms 77:16-17 ; Psalms 18:13-15 . The Red Sea derived its name from Edom, signifying "red," a title of Esau, to whom the bordering country of Edom, or Idumaea, belonged, Genesis 25:30 ; Genesis 36:31-40 . It was also called Yam Suph, "the weedy sea," in several passages, Numbers 33:10 ; Psalms 106:9 , &c, which are improperly rendered "the Red Sea." Some learned authors have supposed that it was so named from the quantity of weeds in it. "But in contradiction to this," says Bruce, "I must confess, that I never in my life, and I have seen the whole extent of it, saw a weed of any sort in it. And indeed, upon the slightest consideration, it will appear to any one, that a narrow gulf, under the immediate influence of monsoons, blowing from contrary points six months each year, would have too much agitation to produce such vegetables, seldom found but in stagnant water, and seldomer, if ever, found in salt ones. My opinion then is, that it is from the large trees, or plants, of white coral, perfectly in imitation of plants on land, that the sea has taken the name ‘weedy.' I saw one of these, which, from a root nearly central, threw out ramifications in a nearly central form, measuring twenty-six feet diameter every way." This seems to be the most probable solution that has been hitherto proposed of the name. The tides in this sea are but moderate. At Suez the difference between high and low water did not exceed from three to four feet, according to Niebuhr's observations on the tides in that gulf, during the years 1762 and 1763.

The Hebrews gave the name of sea to all great collections of water, to great lakes or pools. Thus the sea of Galilee, or of Tiberias, or of Cinnereth, is no other than the lake of Tiberias, or Gennesareth, in Galilee. The Dead Sea, the sea of the Wilderness, the sea or the East, the sea of Sodom, the sea of Salt, or the Salt Sea, the sea of Asphaltites, or of bitumen, is no other than the lake of Sodom. The Arabians and orientals in general frequently gave the name of sea to great rivers, as the Nile, the Euphrates, the Tigris, and others, which, by their magnitude, and by the extent of their overflowings, seemed as little seas, or great lakes. In Isaiah 11:15 , these words particularly apply to the Nile at the Delta.

This was anciently called the Sea of the Plain, Deuteronomy 3:17 ; Deuteronomy 4:49 , from its situation in the great hollow or plain of the Jordan; the Salt Sea, Deuteronomy 3:17 ; Joshua 15:5 , from the extreme saltness of its waters; and the East Sea, Ezekiel 47:18 ; Joel 2:20 , from its situation relative to Judea, and in contradistinction to the West Sea, or Mediterranean. It is likewise called by Josephus, and by the Greek and Latin writers generally, Lacus Asphaltites, from the bitumen found in it and the Dead Sea, its more frequent modern appellation, from a tradition, commonly though erroneously received, that no living creature could exist in its saline and sulphureous waters. It is at present known in Syria by the names of Almotanah and Bahar Loth: and occupies what may be considered as the southern extremity of the vale of Jordan; forming, in that direction, the western boundary to the Holy Land. The Dead Sea is about seventy miles in length, and twenty in breadth at its broadest part; having, like the Caspian, no visible communication with the ocean. Its depth seems to be altogether unknown; nor does it appear that a boat has ever navigated its surface. Toward its southern extremity, however, in a contracted part of the lake, is a ford, about six miles over, made use of by the Arabs: in the middle of which they report the water to be warm; indicating the presence of warm springs beneath. In general, toward the shore, it is shallow; and rises and falls with the seasons, and the quantity of water carried into it by seven streams, which fall into this their common receptacle, the chief of which is the Jordan. The water now covering these ruins occupies what was formerly the vale of Siddim; a rich and fruitful valley, in which stood the five cities, called the cities of the plain, namely, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Bela or Zoar: the four first of which were destroyed, while the latter, being "a little city," was preserved at the intercession of Lot; to which he fled for refuge from the impending catastrophe, and where he remained in safety during its accomplishment. The specific gravity of the waters of the Dead Sea is supposed to have been much exaggerated by the ancient writers, but their statements are now proved to be by no means very wide of the truth. Pliny says, that no living bodies would sink in it; and Strabo, that persons who went into it were borne up to their middle. Van Egmont and Heyman state, that, on swimming to some distance from the shore, they found themselves, to their great surprise, lifted up by the water. "When I had swam to some distance," says the latter, "I endeavoured to sink to the bottom, but could not; for the water kept me continually up, and would certainly have thrown me upon my face, had I not put forth all the strength I was master of, to keep myself in a perpendicular posture; so that I walked in the sea as if I had trod on firm ground, without having occasion to make any of the motions necessary in treading fresh water; and when I was swimming, I was obliged to keep my legs the greatest part of the time out of the water. My fellow traveller was agreeably surprised to find that he could swim here, having never learned. But this proceeded from the gravity of the water, as this certainly does from the extraordinary quantity of salt in it." Mr. Joliffe says, he found it very little more buoyant than other seas, but he did not go out of his depth. "The descent of the beach," he says, "is so gently gradual, that I must have waded above a hundred yards to get completely out of my depth, and the impatience of the Arabians would not allow of time sufficient for this." Captain Mangles says: "The water is as bitter and as buoyant as the people have reported. Those of our party who could not swim, floated on its surface like corks. On dipping the head in, the eyes smarted dreadfully." With regard to the agents employed in this catastrophe, there might seem reason to suppose that volcanic phenomena had some share in producing it; but Chateaubriand's remark is deserving of attention. "I cannot," he says, "coincide in opinion with those who suppose the Dead Sea to be the crater of a volcano. I have seen Vesuvius, Solfatara, Monte Nuovo in the lake of Fusino, the peak of the Azores, the Mamalif opposite to Carthage, the extinguished volcanoes of Auvergne; and remarked in all of them the same characters; that is to say, mountains excavated in the form of a tunnel, lava, and ashes, which exhibited incontestable proofs of the agency of fire." After noticing the very different shape and position of the Dead Sea, he adds: "Bitumen, warm springs, and phosphoric stones are found, it is true, in the mountains of Arabia; but then, the presence of hot springs, sulphur, and asphaltos is not sufficient to attest the anterior existence of a volcano." The learned Frenchman inclines to adopt the idea of Professors Michaelis and Busching, that Sodom and Gomorrah were built upon a mine of bitumen; that lightning kindled the combustible mass, and that the cities sunk in the subterraneous conflagration. M. Malte Brun ingeniously suggests, that the cities might themselves have been built of bituminous stones, and thus have been set in flames by the fire of heaven. We learn from the Mosaic account, that the vale of Siddim, which is now occupied by the Dead Sea, was full of "slime pits," or pits of bitumen. Pococke says: "It is observed, that the bitumen floats on the water, and comes ashore after windy weather; the Arabs gather it up, and it serves as pitch for all uses, goes into the composition of medicines, and is thought to have been a very great ingredient in the bitumen used in embalming the bodies in Egypt: it has been much used for cerecloths, and has an ill smell when burnt. It is probable that there are subterraneous fires, that throw up this bitumen at the bottom of the sea, where it may form itself into a mass, which may be broken by the motion of the water occasioned by high winds; and it is very remarkable, that the stone called the stone of Moses, found about two or three leagues from the sea, which burns like a coal, and turns only to a white stone, and not to ashes, has the same smell, when burnt, as this pitch; so that it is probable, a stratum of the stone under the Dead Sea is one part of the matter that feeds the subterraneous fires, and that this bitumen boils up out of it." To give force to this last conjecture, however, it would be requisite to ascertain, whether bitumen is capable of being detached from this stone, in a liquid state, by the action of fire. The stone in question is the black fetid limestone, used at Jerusalem in the manufacture of rosaries and amulets, and worn as a charm against the plague. The effluvia which it emits on friction, is owing to a strong impregnation of sulphuretted hydrogen. If the buildings were constructed of materials of this description, with quarries of which the neighbouring mountains abound, they would be easily susceptible of ignition by lightning. The Scriptural account, however, is explicit, that "the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from heaven;" which we may safely interpret as implying a shower of inflamed sulphur, or nitre. At the same time it is evident, that the whole plain underwent a simultaneous convulsion, which seems referable to the consequences of a bituminous explosion. In perfect accordance with this view of the catastrophe, we find the very materials, as it were, of this awful visitation still at hand in the neighbouring hills; from which they might have been poured down by the agency of thunder storms, directed by the hand of offended Heaven. Captains Irby and Mangles collected, on the southern coast, lumps of nitre and fine sulphur, from the size of a nutmeg up to that of a small hen's egg, which, it was evident from their situation, had been brought down by the rain: "their great deposit must be sought for," they say, "in the cliff." These cliffs then were probably swept by the lightnings, and their flaming masses poured in a deluge of fire upon the plain.

See SALT SEA.

This sea is renowned in O.T. history on account of the miraculous passage made for the Israelites, and the destruction of their enemies therein. The Red Sea, situated on the east of Egypt and the west of South Arabia, is somewhat in the form of the letter Y. Its southern extremity opens into the Indian Ocean, from whence it runs N.N.W. for about 1,400 miles, when it divides into two branches; the one on the east being the Gulf of Akaba, about 112 miles long; and the one on the west, the Gulf of Suez, about 200 miles long. It is the latter that the Israelites crossed, and, as is supposed, farther north than the gulf now extends, but the position is not known. It is to this branch that theSuez Canal has been attached, opening a passage to the MediterraneanSea. THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA.The number of the Israelites wasprobably about two millions. They encamped by the sea shore and Pharaoh naturally thought they were entangled in the land. With his army and his chariots he pursued after them. The Israelites greatly feared, but Moses said, "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah." The angel of God and the pillar of the cloud went between the Israelites and the Egyptians. To the Israelites the cloud gave light, but to the Egyptians it was a cloud of darkness, all night. Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and God caused a strong east wind to blow all that night, and the waters were divided, and the Israelites went over on dry land. Pharaoh had not yet learned the power of Jehovah, and the Egyptians pursued them. God fought for the Israelites: He embarrassed the Egyptians, took off the chariot wheels, and thus so hindered them that they began to see that Jehovah was opposing them. It was, however, too late to retreat, Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and it returned in its strength, and they were overwhelmed. Their dead bodies were cast up on the sea shore. The faith of the Israelites was confirmed by the destruction of the Egyptians: they feared Jehovah, and believed Jehovah and His servant Moses. He and the Israelites could then sing the song of redemption, and praise Him who had purchased them. He also would plant them in the mountain of His inheritance, yea, in the sanctuary which His hands had established. Jehovah shall reign for ever and ever. Exodus 14 , Exodus 15 . For the typical teaching of the passage of the Red Sea, see JORDAN.

Name. --The sea known to us as the Red Sea was by the Israelites called "the sea," (Exodus 14:2,9,16,21,28 ; 15:1,4,8,10,19 ; Joshua 24:6,7 ) and many other passages, and specially "the sea of Suph ." ( Exodus 10:19 ; 13:18 ; 15:4,22 ; 23:31 ; Numbers 14:25 ) etc. This word signifies a sea-weed resembling wool , and such sea-weed is thrown up abundantly on the shores of the Red Sea; hence Brugsch calls it the sea of reeds or weeds . The color of the water is not red. Ebers says that it is of a lovely blue-green color, and named Red either from its red banks or from the Erythraeans, who were called the red people. Physical description . --In extreme length the Red Sea stretches from the straits of Bab el-Mendeb (or rather Ras Bab el-Mendeb), 18 miles wide. in lat. 12 degrees 40' N., to the modern head of the Gulf of Suez, lat. 30 degrees N., a distance of 1450 miles. Its greatest width may be stated at about 210 miles. At Ras Mohammed, on the north, the Red Sea is split by the granitic peninsula of Sinai into two gulfs; the westernmost, or Gulf of Suez, is now about 150 miles in length, with an average width of about 20, though it contracts to less than 10 miles; the easternmost or Gulf of el-'Akabeh, is about 100 miles long, from the Straits of Tiran to the 'Akabeh, and 15 miles wide. The average depth of the Red Sea is from 2500 to 3500 feet, though in places it Isaiah 6000 feet deep. Journeying southward from Suez, on our left is the peninsula of Sinai; on the right is the desert coast of Egypt, of limestone formation like the greater part of the Nile valley in Egypt, the cliff's on the sea margin stretching landward in a great rocky plateau while more inland a chain of volcanic mountains, beginning about lat. 28 degrees 4' and running south, rear their lofty peaks at intervals above the limestone, generally about 15 miles distant. Ancient limits. --The most important change in the Red Sea has been the drying up of its northern extremity, "the tongue of the Egyptian Sea." about the head of the gulf has risen and that near the Mediterranean become depressed. The head of the gulf has consequently retired gradually since the Christian era. Thus the prophecy of Isaiah has been fulfilled, ( Isaiah 11:15 ; 10:5 ) the tongue of the Red Sea has dried up for a distance of at least 50 miles from its ancient head. An ancient canal conveyed the waters of the Nile to the Red Sea, flowing through the Wadi-t Tumeylat and irrigating with its system of water-channels a large extent of country. It was 62Roman miles long, 54 feet wide and 7 feet deep. The drying up of the head of the gulf appears to have been one of the chief causes of the neglect and ruin of this canal. The country, for the distance above indicated, is now a desert of gravelly sand, with wide patches about the old sea-bottom, of rank marsh land, now called the "Bitter Lakes." At the northern extremity of this salt waste is a small lake, sometimes called the Lake of Heropolis; the lake is now Birket-et-Timsah "the lake of the crocodile," and is supposed to mark the ancient head of the gulf. The canal that connected this with the Nile was of Pharaonic origin. It was anciently known as the "Fossa Regum" and the "canal of Hero." The time at which the canal was extended, after the drying up of the head of the gulf, to the present head is uncertain, but it must have been late, and probably since the Mohammedan conquest. Traces of the ancient channel throughout its entire length to the vicinity of Bubastis exist at intervals in the present day. The land north of the ancient gulf is a plain of heavy sand, merging into marsh-land near the Mediterranean coast, and extending to Palestine. This region, including Wadi-t-Tumeylat , was probably the frontier land occupied in pact by the Israelites, and open to the incursions of the wild tribes of the Arabian desert. Navigation. --The sea, from its dangers and sterile shores, is entirely destitute of boats. The coral of the Red Sea is remarkably abundant, and beautifully colored and variegated; but it forms so many reefs and islands along the shores that navigation is very dangerous, and the shores are chiefly barren rock and sand, and therefore very sparsely inhabited so that there are but three cities along the whole 1450 miles of its west coast --Suez, at the head, a city of 14,000 inhabitants; Sanakin, belonging to Soudan, of 10,000; and Massau, in Albyssinia, of 5000. Only two ports, Elath and Ezion-geber, are mentioned in the Bible. The earliest navigation of the Red Sea (passing by the pre-historical Phoenicians) is mentioned by Herodotus: --"Seostris (Rameses II.) was the first who passing the Arabian Gulf in a fleet of long vessels, reduced under his authority the inhabitants of the coast bordering the Erythrean Sea." Three centuries later, Solomon's navy was built "in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea (Yam Suph), in the land of Edom." ( 1 Kings 9:20 ) The kingdom of Solomon extended as far as the Red Sea, upon which he possessed the harbors of Elath and Ezion-geber. ^[1] It is possible that the sea has retired here as at Suez, and that Ezion-geber is now dry land. Jehoshaphat also "made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold; but they went not; for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber." (1 Kings 22:48 ) The scene of this wreck has been supposed to be Edh-Dhahab. The fleets appear to have sailed about the autumnal equinox, and returned in December or the middle of January. The Red Sea, as it possessed for many centuries the most important sea-trade of the East contained ports of celebrity. The Heroopolite Gulf (Gulf of Suez) is of the chief interest; it was near to Goshen, it was the scene of the passage of the Red Sea, and it was the "tongue of the Egyptian Sea." It was also the seat of the Egyptian trade in this sea and to the Indian Ocean. Passage of the Red Sea . --The passage of the Red Sea was the crisis of the exodus. It is usual to suppose that the most northern place at which the Red Sea could have been crossed is the present head of the Gulf of Suez. This supposition depends upon the erroneous idea that in the time of Moses the gulf did not extend farther to the northward then at present. An examination of the country north of Suez has shown, however, that the sea has receded many miles. The old bed is indicated by the Birket-et Timsah , or "lake of the crocodile," and the more southern Bitter Lakes, the northernmost part of the former probably corresponding to the head of it the at the time of the exodus. It is necessary to endeavor to ascertain the route of the Israelites before we can attempt to discover where they crossed the sea. The point from which they started was Rameses, a place certain in the land of Goshen, which we identified with the Wadi-t-Tumeylat . They encamped at Succoth. At the end of the second day's journey the camping place was at Etham, "in the edge of the wilderness." ( Exodus 13:20 ; Numbers 33:6 ) Here the Wadi-t-Tumeylat was probably left, as it is cultivable and terminates in the desert. At the end of the third day's march for each camping place seems to mark the close of a day's journey the Israelites encamped by the sea, place of this last encampment and that of the passage would be not very far from the Persepolitan monument at Pihahiroth. It appears that Migdol was behind Pi-hahiroth and on the other hand Baalzephon and the sea. From Pi-hahiroth the Israelites crossed the sea. This was not far from halfway between the Bitter Lakes and the Gulf of Suez, where now it is dry land. The Muslims suppose Memphis to have been the city at which the Pharaoh of the exodus resided before that event occurred. From opposite Memphis a broad valley leads to the Red Sea. It is in part called the Wadi-t-Teeh , or "Valley of the Wandering." From it the traveller reaches the sea beneath the lofty Gebel-et-Takah , which rises in the north and shuts off all escape in that direction excepting by a narrow way along the seashore, which Pharaoh might have occupied. The sea here is broad and deep, as the narrative is generally held to imply. All the local features seem suited for a great event. The only points bearing on geography in the account of this event are that the sea was divided by an east wind. Whence we may reasonably infer that it was crossed from west to east, and that the whole Egyptian army perished, which shows that it must have been some miles broad. On the whole we may reasonably suppose about twelve miles as the smallest breadth of the sea. The narrative distinctly states that a path was made through the sea, and that the waters were a wall on either hand. The term "wall" does not appear to oblige us to suppose, as many have done, that the sea stood up like a cliff on either side, but should rather be considered to mean a barrier, as the former idea implies a seemingly needless addition to the miracle, while the latter seems to be not discordant with the language of the narrative. It was during the night that the Israelites crossed, and the Egyptians followed. In the morning watch, the last third or fourth of the night, or the period before sunrise Pharaoh's army was in full pursuit in the divided sea, and was there miraculously troubled, so that the Egyptians sought to flee. ( Exodus 14:23-25 ) Then was Moses commanded again to stretch out his hand and the sea returned to its strength, and overwhelmed the Egyptians, of whom not one remained alive, Ibid. 26-28. (But on the whole it is becoming more probable that the place where the Israelites crossed "was near the town of Suez, on extensive shoals which run toward the southeast, in the direction of Ayim Musa (the Wells of Moses). The distance is about three miles at high tide. This is the most probable thee Near here Napoleon, deceived by the tidal wave, attempted to cross in 1799, and nearly met the fate of Pharaoh. But an army of 600,000 could of course never have crossed it without a miracle."--Schaff's Through Bible Lands . Several routes and places of crossing advocated by learned Egyptologists can be clearly seen by the accompanying maps. The latest theory is that which Brugsch-bey has lately revived that the word translated Red Sea is "Sea of Reeds or Weeds," and refers to the Serbonian bog in the northeastern part of Egypt, and that the Israelites crossed here instead of the Red Sea. "A gulf profound, as that Serbonian bog . . . where armies whole have sunk." --Milton. And among these armies that of Artarerxes, king of Persia, B.C. 350. But it is very difficult to make this agree with the Bible narrative, and if is the least satisfactory of all the theories. --ED.)

Alt. of Mid-sea

Dead Sea. See Salt Sea.

Red Sea. The Greeks meant by the Erythraean or Red Sea not only the Arabian Gulf but also the ocean between the Indian and Arabian peninsulas. Some suppose it was so named from the red color of the mountains on the western shores, some from the red coral, or the red appearance of the water occasioned by certain zoophytes; others think that, as the Edomitish territory reached down to this gulf, it might be the Sea of Edom, Edom meaning red. The Red Sea, from the straits of Bab el-Mandeb to its most northerly point at Suez, is about 1400 miles in length, its greatest width being about 200 miles; it is divided by the Sinaitic peninsula into two large arms or gulfs, the eastern extending northeast or northerly about 100 miles, with an average width of 15 miles, while the western extends northwest near 180 miles, with an average width of 20 miles. The great event associated with the Red Sea is the passage of the Israelites and the overthrow of the Egyptians. Ex. chaps. 14, 15. This miraculous event is frequently referred to in the Scriptures. Numbers 33:8; Deuteronomy 11:4; Joshua 2:10; Judges 11:16; 2 Samuel 22:16; Nehemiah 9:9-11; Psalms 66:6; Isaiah 10:26; Acts 7:36; 1 Corinthians 10:1-2; Hebrews 11:29, etc. The place of the crossing has been a matter of much controversy. The head of the gulf is probably at least 50 miles farther south than it was at the time of the Exodus. If the Red Sea then included the Bitter Lakes of Suez, the crossing may have been farther north than would now appear possible. Thus the predictions of Isaiah 11:15; Isaiah 19:5, "The Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian Sea," "The waters shall fail from the sea," are fulfilled. After crossing, the Israelites marched down and encamped on the east side of the Red Sea (Gulf of Suez). Numbers 33:10. From the way of the Red Sea came locusts, Exodus 10:12-19, and the quails which supplied them with food came from the same source. Numbers 11:31. They journeyed by the way of the Red Sea (the eastern arm or Gulf of Akabah) to compass Edom. Numbers 21:4. In the prosperous reign of Solomon he "made a navy of ships" at Ezion-geber and Elath, which were ports at the head of the Gulf of Akabah. 1 Kings 9:26; 1 Kings 10:22; 2 Chronicles 8:17-18.

Sea of Chinnereth (kĭn'ne-rĕth). Numbers 34:11. See Galilee, Sea of.

Sea, the Salt. Genesis 14:3. See Salt Sea.

Sea. The Hebrew word yam, or "sea," is used in Scripture: 1. For the "gathering of waters," or the ocean. Genesis 1:2; Numbers 34:6-79; Deuteronomy 30:13. 2. As referring to the Mediterranean Sea, under the title of the "hinder," the "western," the "utmost," sea, or the "sea of the Philistines," the "great sea," or simply "the sea." Deuteronomy 11:24; Deuteronomy 34:2; Joel 2:20; Exodus 23:31; 1618450903_22; Joshua 15:47; Genesis 49:13; Psalms 80:11; Psalms 107:23; 1 Kings 4:20. 3. As referring to the Red Sea. Exodus 15:4. 4. As referring to inland lakes, like the Salt or Dead Sea. 5. To any great collection of waters, as the Nile or the Euphrates in time of a flood or high water. Isaiah 19:5; Amos 8:8, A. V., "flood;" Nahum 3:8; Ezekiel 32:2; Jeremiah 51:36.

A lake in Palestine, about 13 miles long, and 7.5 miles wide, which lies in the Jordan gorge. In the time of Our Lord, vines and fig-trees and thick forests surrounded it, the nearby plains yielded rich harvests twice a year, and many cities were situated on its shores. Today they are barren and desolate, with only a few straggling villages. The Sea of Galilee is closely connected with the life of Our Lord: He came and went from one side to another with His disciples, to spread His teaching and perform miracles; commanded the winds and sea, and there came a great calm (Matthew 8); walked on its surface (Matthew 14); and explained the parables (Matthew 13). There took place the two miraculous draughts of fishes, after the first of which the Apostles were called (Luke 5) and after the second Peter was made Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth (John 21). On another occasion a tax was paid through a miraculous catch (Matthew 17).

A large cast bronze basin that stood in the courtyard to the southeast of Solomon's Temple (1 Kings 7:23-26 ; 2 Chronicles 4:2-5 ). The basin was cast by Hiram of Tyre who was responsible for all the bronze work in the Temple (1 Kings 7:13-14 ). The bronze for the molten sea was supplied by the spoils from David's campaigns (1 Chronicles 18:8 ). The basin was over fourteen feet in diameter, over seven feet high, and over forty-three feet in circumference. It was about three inches thick. The estimated weight is about 30 tons, and the estimated volume is about 12,000 gallons (U.S.). The brim was turned outward resembling a lily, and below the brim were two rows of gourds (but compare 1 Kings 7:24 ; 2 Chronicles 4:3 ). The sea rested on the backs of twelve oxen. The oxen were arranged in groups of three, each group facing toward one of the four compass directions (1 Kings 7:25 ; 2 Chronicles 4:4 ). The oxen were later removed by Ahaz and replaced with a stone base (2 Kings 16:17 ; compare Jeremiah 52:20 ). After the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C., the basin was broken in pieces and taken to Babylon (2 Kings 25:13 ; Jeremiah 52:17 ). The basin was used for the purification of the priests (2 Chronicles 4:6 ). Some have suggested that the molten sea was also symbolic of the great sea present when God began to create the heavens and the earth thus making the sea symbolic of God's creative activity (Genesis 1:2 ). Phil Logan

Any priest making a sea voyage is empowered to administer the Sacrament of Penance provided he has received sacramental jurisdiction from his own Ordinary or from the Ordinary of the port of embarkation or from the Ordinary of any port touched on during the voyage. Such a priest can validly and licitly impart sacramental absolution to his fellow-voyagers and to those who for any reason visit the ship at some port; moreover, in case he goes on shore for a brief visit (not more than three days) he can hear the confessions of persons who ask him to do so, and can even absolve from cases reserved to the Ordinary of the place.

EAST SEA, EASTERN SEA . See Dead Sea.

Hymn for Matins on September 15,. Feast of the Seven Dolors of Our Lady. It is attributed to Callisto Palumbella who lived in the 18th century. Six translations are in existence; the English title given is by E. Caswall.

SEA, n. see. This word, like lake, signifies primarily a seat, set or lay, a repository, a bason. 1. A large bason, cisternor laver which Solomon made in the temple, so large as to contain more than six thousand gallons. This was called the brazen sea, and used to hold water for the priests to wash themselves. 1 Kings 7 . 2 Chronicles 4 2. A large body of water, nearly inclosed by land, as the Baltic or the Mediterranean as the sea of Azof. Seas are properly branches of the ocean, and upon the same level. Large bodies of water inland, and situated above the level of the ocean, are lakes. The appellation of sea, given to the Caspian lake, is an exception, and not very correct. So the lake of Galilee is called a sea, from the Greek. 3. The ocean as, to go to sea. The fleet is at sea, or on the high seas. 4. A wave a billow a surge. The vessel shipped a sea. 5. The swell of the ocean in a tempest, or the direction of the waves as, we head the sea. 6. Proverbially, a large quantity of liquor as a sea of blood. 7. A rough or agitated place or element. In a troubled sea of passion tost. Milton.

See SEA .

See SEA .

Society for promoting the spiritual welfare of Catholic seafarers throughout the world, with headquarters in London. Working in cooperation with the twelve sailor centers which existed in 1920, the Apostleship began in that year a crusade which has resulted in the establishing of more tan 100 enrolling centers where sailors can add their names to the seafarers of all nations. Apostleship publicity, broadcast in many languages to the Catholic press throughout the world, has results in the formation of national section in Holland and Spain, regional headquarters in Australia, Canada, India, Italy, New Zealand, and South America. In this effort the Brothers of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society have taken a generous part. The coordinating Council of the Society and the Apostleship of the Sea provides a general clearing-house for all Catholic sailor-service activities and apostleship organizing machinery, and is at the disposal of all Catholic organizations and of individual Catholics who desire to help sailors. The Apostleship published a monthly newspaper in English, with bulletins in Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish and other languages. The Apostleship in the United States maintain a web site.

The Hebrews give the name of sea to any large collection of water, Job 14:11 ; as to the lakes of Tiberias and Asphaltites, and also to the rivers Nile and Euphrates, Isaiah 11:15 18:2 21:1 Jeremiah 51:36,42 . The principal seas mentioned in Scripture are the following: 1. The GREAT SEA, the Mediterranean, called also the Hinder or Western Sea. Indeed, the Hebrew word for sea, meaning the Mediterranean, is often put for the west. The Great Sea Isaiah 2,200 miles long, and in the widest part 1,200 miles in width. In many places it is so deep as to give no soundings. It is little affected by tides, but is often agitated by violent winds. The prevailing direction of the wind in spring is from the southeast and southwest and from the northeast and northwest the rest of the year. 2. The Exodus 10:19 13:18 Psalm 106:7,9,22 , derived its name from Edom, which lay between it and Palestine; or from the hue of the mountains on its western coast, or of the animalcule which float in masses on its surface. It lies between Arabia on the east and northeast, and Abyssinia and Egypt on the west and southwest, and extends from the straits of Babelmandel to Suez, a distance of about 1,400 miles, with an average width of 150 miles, and a depth of 1,800 feet. At the northern end it is divided into the two gulfs Suez and Akaba, anciently called the Gulf of Heroopolis and the Elanitic Gulf. The first of these Isaiah 190 miles in length and the second Isaiah 100 miles. Between these gulfs lies the celebrated peninsula of Mount Sinai. That of Akaba is connected with the Dead Sea by the great sand valley El Arabah described under the article Zechariah 10:11 , both the Red Sea and the Nile appear to be mentioned. 3. The Genesis 14:3 ; The sea of the Plain, Deuteronomy 4:40 ; The Eastern sea, Zechariah 14:8 ; by the Greeks and Romans, lake Asphaltites; and by the modern Arabs, The sea of Lot. It lay at the southeast corner of the Holy Land, and receives the wastes of the Jordan from the north, and of the Arnon and several smaller streams from the east. It is over forty miles long, and eight or nine miles wide, and lies as in a chaldron between bare limestone cliffs, which rise on the west side 1,200 or 1,500 feet above its surface, and on the east side 2,000 feet or more. At the south end is a broad and low valley, overflowed after the annual rains. The general aspect of the region is dreary, sterile, and desolate; but at a few points there are brooks or fountains of fresh water, which in their way to the sea pass through spots of luxuriant verdure, the abode of birds in great numbers. The waters of the Dead Sea are clear and limpid, but exceedingly salt and bitter. Their specific gravity exceeds that of all other waters known, being one-fifth or one-fourth greater than that of pure water. They are found by repeated analyses to contain one-fourth their weight of various salts, chiefly the chlorides of magnesium and sodium. Salt also is deposited by evaporation on the shore, or on garments wet in the sea. In the bed of the sea it is found in crystals and near the shore in incrustation deposited on the bottom. No fish can live in these acrid waters, and those which are brought down by the Jordan quickly die. Compare Ezekiel 47:8-10 , where the healing of this deadly sea, and its abounding in fish, as well as the new fertility and beauty of the dreary wilderness between it and Jerusalemby means of the healing power of the Kidron flowing from beside that altar of Godforcibly illustrate the healing and renovating power of gospel grace. A person unacquainted with the art of swimming floats at ease upon the surface of lake Asphaltites, and it requires an effort to submerge the body. The boat of Lieutenant Lynch met with a gale on entering it from the Jordan; and "it seemed at if the bows, so dense was the water, were encountering the sledgehammers of the Titans, instead of the opposing waves of an angry sea." At times, and especially after earthquakes, quantities of asphaltum are dislodged from the bottom, rise and float on the surface, and are driven to the shores, where the Arabs collect them for various uses. Sulphur is likewise found on the shores and a kind of stone or coal, called Musca by the Arabs, which on being rubbed exhales an intolerable odor. This stone, which also comes from the neighboring mountains, is black, and takes a fine polish. Maundrell saw pieces of it two feet square, in the convent of St. John in the Wilderness, carved in bas-relief, and polished to as great a lustre as black marble is capable of. The inhabitants of the country employ it in other places of public resort. In the polishing its disagreeable odor is lost. When placed by Mr. King upon hot coals, a strong stench of sulphur issued from it, and it soon began to blaze. The blaze rose four or five inches high, and continued about two minutes. An uncommon love of exaggeration is observable in all the older narratives, and in some of modern date, respecting the nature and properties of the Dead Sea. Chateaubriand speaks of a "dismal sound proceeding from this lake of death, like the stifled clamors of the people ingulfed in its water," and says that its shores produce a fruit beautiful to the sight, but containing nothing but ashes; and that the heavy metals float on the surface of the sea. Others allege that black and sulphurous exhalations are constantly issuing from the water, and that birds attempting to fly across it are struck dead by its pestiferous fumes. These legends are corrected by more reliable accounts, which show that the birds fly over or float upon the sea uninjured; that no vapor is exhaled from its surface, except that caused by the rapid evaporation or its waters under the hot sun; and that the low level and excessive heat of the valley of the Jordan and the Dead Sea account for the diseases prevailing there, without imagining any more fearful cause. The "apostle of Sodom" above referred to by Chateaubriand, and described by Josephus and others answer, with some exaggerations, to fruits now growing around the Dead Sea. In 1848, Lieutenant Lynch of the United States' navy passed down the Jordan from the Sea of Tiberias, with two metallic boats, and spent three weeks in a survey of the Sea of Sodom. He found it nearly 1,300 feet deep and its surface more than 1,300 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. From the eastern side, some eight miles from the south end, a low promontory projects three-fourths of the way towards the western cliffs, and sends up a point five miles towards the north. Below this point the lake becomes suddenly shallow, the southern bay not averaging more than twelve or fifteen feet in depth, Joshua 15:2 . This lower part is believed to cover the sites of the cities destroyed by fire from heaven, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim. The vale of Siddim was once a smiling plain, well-watered, and like a garden of the Lord, Genesis 13:10 ; it is now, and for all future ages, a monument of his just indignation, Deuteronomy 29:23 , and an awful warning to reckless sinners that the day of the Lord will come upon them also suddenly and without remedy, Matthew 10:15 11:22-24 2 Peter 2:4-9 Jude 1:7 . The bottom of the shallow bay is a deep slimy mud, Genesis 14:10 . On its southwest border lies a mountain or ridge composed chiefly of rock salt, and called Usdum or Sodom, between which and the sea stands a round pillar of salt forty feet high, reminding one of Lot's wife. At present the Dead Sea has no perceptible outlet, and the waters poured into it by the Jordan are probably evaporated by the intense heat of the unclouded sun, or in part absorbed in the earth. It is thought by some that the northern and principal part of the sea was the product of some convulsion of nature, long before that which destroyed Sodom and formed the south bay; that the Jordan at first flowed into the Red Sea through the remarkable crevasse which extends from its sources to the Gulf of Akabah; and that at some period beyond the reach of history, its bed and valley sunk down to their present level and formed the Dead Sea. Lieutenant Lynch in sounding discovered a ravine in the bed of the sea, corresponding to the channel of the Jordan in its valley north of the sea. See JORDAN . 4. The SEA OF TIBERIAS or of Galilee; the lake of Gennesareth, or of Cimmereth, Numbers 34:11 , is so called from the adjacent country, or from some of the principal cities on its shores. It resembles, in its general appearance, the Lake of Geneva in Switzerland, though not so large. The Jordan passes through it from north to south. It is twelve or fourteen miles long, six or seven miles in breadth, and 165 feet deep. Its waters lie in a deep basin, surrounded on all sides by rounded and beautiful hills, from 500 to 1,000 feet high, except the narrow entrance and outlet of the Jordan at either end. Its sheltered location protects it in some degree from the wind, but it is liable to sudden squalls and whirlwinds, and many travellers on its shores have met with violent tempests-reminding them of those encountered by Christ and his disciples. A strong current marks the passage of the Jordan through the middle of the lake, on its way to the Dead Sea. The volcanic origin of the basin of this lake is strongly inferred from numerous indications, such as the black basaltic rocks which abound, frequent and violent earthquakes, and several hot springs. According to Lieutenant Symonds, it Isaiah 328 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. Lieutenant Lynch makes it 653 feet below. Its waters are clear and sweet, and contain various kinds of excellent fish in great abundance. The appearance of the sea from the hills on the western shore is far less grand and more beautiful than that of the Dead Sea. It should be seen in spring, when the hills around it are clothed with grain and festooned wit flowers. The towns that once crowed its shores with a teeming population, the groves and shrubbery that covered its hills, and the boats and galleys that studded its surface are gone. But the sea remains, hallowed by many scenes described in the gospels. The Saviour of mankind often looked upon its quiet beauty and crossed it in his journeys; he stilled its waves by a word, and hallowed its shores by his miracles and teachings. Here several of the apostles were called to become "fishers of men," Matthew 4:18 14:22 Luke 8:22 John 21:1 . "How pleasant to me thy deep blue wave, O sea of Galilee, For the glorious One who came to save Hath often stood by thee. O Savior gone to God's right hand, Yet the same Savior still, Graved on thy heart is this lovely strand And every fragrant hill." M'CHEYNE. 5. SEA or WATERS OF MEROM. See MEROM . The BRAZEN or MOLTEN SEA, made by Solomon for the temple, was a circular vessel at least fifteen feet in diameter, which stood in the court of the temple, and contained three thousand baths, according to 2 Corinthians 4:5 , or two thousand baths according to 1Ki 7:26. Calmet supposes this may be reconciled by saying that the cup or bowl contained two thousand baths, and the foot or basin a thousand more. It was supported by twelve oxen of brass, and was probably the largest brazen vessel ever made-an evidence of the skill of the workers in metal at that period. It contained from 16,000 to 24,000 gallons, and was supplied with water either by the labor of the Gibeonites, or as Jewish writers affirm, by a pipe from the well of Etam, so that a constant flow was maintained. This water was used for the various ablutions of the priests, 1 Chronicles 4:6 ; a perpetual and impressive testimony from God of the necessity of moral purification in the inexhaustible foundation of Christ's grace. The preceding engraving must be chiefly imaginary.

The northwest arm of the Indian Ocean, about 1400 miles long and 200 miles wide, lying between Arabia on the east, and Africa on the west, connected with the Mediterranean Sea by the Gulf of Suez and the Suez Canal, and with the Indian Ocean by the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. No important river flows into it, and it is noted principally for its heat. In the Bible it is famous as the scene of the miraculous crossing of the Israelites at the time of the Exodus (Exodus 14).

The northwest arm of the Indian Ocean, about 1400 miles long and 200 miles wide, lying between Arabia on the east, and Africa on the west, connected with the Mediterranean Sea by the Gulf of Suez and the Suez Canal, and with the Indian Ocean by the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. No important river flows into it, and it is noted principally for its heat. In the Bible it is famous as the scene of the miraculous crossing of the Israelites at the time of the Exodus (Exodus 14).

^[1]

In Ezra 3:7 , the meaning is 'the sea at Joppa.'

So called from the province of Galilee, which bordered on the western side. (Matthew 4:18 ) It was also called the "Sea of Tiberias," from the celebrated city of that name. (John 6:1 ) At its northwestern angle was a beautiful and fertile plain called "Gennesaret," and from that it derived the name of "Lake of Gennesaret." (Luke 5:1 ) It was called in the Old Testament "the Sea of Chinnereth" or "Cinneroth," (Numbers 34:11 ; Joshua 12:3 ) from a town of that name which stood on or near its shore. (Joshua 19:35 ) Its modern name is Bahr Tubariyeh . Most of our Lord's public life was spent in the environs of this sea. The surrounding region was then the most densely peopled in all Palestine. no less than nine very populous cities stood on the very shores of the lake. The Sea of Galilee is of an oval long and six broad. It Isaiah 60 miles northeast of Jerusalem and 27 east of the Mediterranean Sea. The river Jordan enters it at its northern end and passes out at its southern end. In fact the bed of the lake is just a lower section of the Great Jordan valley. Its more remarkable feature is its deep depression, being no less than 700 feet below the level of the ocean. The scenery is bleak and monotonous, being surrounded by a high and almost unbroken wall of hills, on account of which it is exposed to frequent sudden and violent storms. The great depression makes the climate of the shores almost tropical. This is very sensibly felt by the traveller in going down from the plains of Galilee. In summer the heat is intense, and even in early spring the air has something of an Egyptian balminess. The water of the lake is sweet, cool and transparent; and as the beach is everywhere pebbly is has a beautiful sparkling look. It abounds in fish now as in ancient times. There were large fisheries on the lake, and much commerce was carried on upon it.

This name nowhere occurs in the Bible, and appears not to have existed until the second century after Christ. ^[1]

One of Palestine’s most unusual geological features is the Dead Sea. It is part of a deep north-south valley that extends along the Jordan River as far as the Gulf of Aqabah (north-eastern arm of the Red Sea) to the south. The Dead Sea, which is the lowest part of this valley, has a water level approximately 400 metres below sea level. It is about seventy-five kilometres long and fifteen kilometres wide. People in ancient times gave it the names Salt Sea and Dead Sea because it was extremely salty and, so far as they could see, nothing could live in it (Numbers 34:12; Joshua 3:16; cf. Ezekiel 47:8-9). (See also PALESTINE, sub-heading ‘Jordan Valley and Dead Sea’.)