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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMcClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Sea
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(Heb. éָí , yam; Chahl. éַîָּà , yamma; èÜëáóóá ), as opposed to land or earth ( àֶøֶö , erets, Gen_1:10), in which all the waters of the earth are included, originated by the separation of its waters from those of the air, or the clouds (vet. 6 sq.). The sea is represented as deep (Psa_68:23; Mic_7:19; Amo_9:3; Job_38:16), wide (11:9), and mighty (Psa_104:25; Job_7:12; Lam_2:13); surrounding the earth at its utmost bounds (Deu_30:13; Psa_139:9; comp. the ancient Greek view of oceanus, ὠêÝáíïò , Fubiger, Handb. d. alt. Geogr. i, 4); the earth, indeed, resting on the ocean (Psa_24:2). The surface (comp. âõèüò , the deep, 2Co_11:25) is roused by winds (Dan_7:2; comp. Jon_1:11; Jon_1:13) into waves ( âַּìִּéí , Psa_65:8; Psa_107:25; Isa_66:18; êýìáôá , Jud_1:13; êëýäùí , Jam_1:6), so that it roars and rages (Jer_6:23; Jeremiah 1, 42; Isa_5:30; Isa_57:20; Psa_96:11; 1Ch_16:32), and is only subject to God (Job_38:11; Psa_89:10). The countless inhabitants of the sea (Jam_3:7, Rev_8:8 sq.) are given to men for food (Gen_9:2 sq.),but the people of God may only eat those which are legally clean (Lev_11:9 sq.). On the coasts of the sea (Heb. samah', ùָׂîָä ) lie great lands; and the sand of the sea ( çåֹì ; Gr. ἄììïò ) is proverbial for multitude (Gen_22:17; Jos_11:4; 2Sa_17:11; Job_29:18; Hos_1:10; 1Ma_11:1; Rev_20:8, etc.; Homer, Iliad, 9:885; Callim. Dish. p. 252; Ovid, Trist. 4:1, 55; Ars Am. i, 254. Comp. Pindar, Olymp. ii, 178; Calpurn. ii, 72. See also Gesen. Thesaur. p. 598 sq.).
It may be remarked that almost all the figures of speech taken from the sea in Scripture refer either to its power or its danger, and among the woes threatened in punishment of disobedience, one may be remarked as significant of the dread of the sea entertained by a non-seafaring people, the being brought back into Egypt "in ships" (Deu_28:68). The national feeling on this subject may be contrasted with that of the Greeks in reference to the sea. No mention of the tide is found in Scripture.
The above Heb. word,
éָí
, yam, is sometimes connected with
úְּäåֹï
, tehom (
ἄâõóóïò
, abyssus, "the deep," Gen_1:2; Jon_2:5). It also means the west (Gesen. Thesaur. p. 360, 598). When used for the sea, it very often, but not always, takes the article. Other words for the sea (in the A.V. "deep") are:
îְöåּìָä
, metsulah, or
îְöåֹìָä
, metsolah (only in the plural), or
öåּìָä
, tsulah simply (
ἄâõóóïò
,
âÜèïò
, abyssus, profundum);
îַáּåּì
, mabbul (
êáôáêëõóìüò
, diluvium, "water-flood," Psa_29:10).. Smaller pools were distinguished into
àֲâָí
, Ogdm, a natural pool or pond (evil, 35; Psa_114:8; Isa_35:7; Isa_41:18, etc.), and
áְּøֵëָä
, berekah, the same as the Arabic birkeh; an artificial pool or reservoir (2Sa_2:13; 2Sa_4:12; Nah_2:9).The following are the applications Of the term yam in Scripture:
1. The "gathering of the waters" (yammin), encore-passing the land, or what we call in a more or less deft-nite sense "the Ocean." In this sense the term is used in Gen_1:2; Gen_1:10, and elsewhere, as Deu_30:13; 1Ki_10:22; Psa_24:2; Job_26:8; Job_26:12; Job_38:8; see Homer, Iliad, 14:301, 302; Hesiod, Theog. 107, 109; and 2Pe_3:5.
2. The word is used, with the article, of some definite part of the great circumambient water, viz.:
(a.) Of the Mediterranean Sea, called the "hinder" ( àַçֲøåֹï ), the "western," and the "utmost" sea (Deu_11:24; Deu_34:2; Joe_2:20); "sea of the Philistines" (Exo_23:31); "the great sea" (Num_34:6-7; Jos_15:47); "the sea" (Gen_49:13; Psa_80:11; evil, 23; 1Ki_4:20, etc.). SEE MEDITERRANEAN.
(b.) Also frequently of the Red Sea (Exo_15:4; Jos_24:6), or one of its gulfs (Num_11:31; Isa_11:15), and perhaps (1Ki_10:22) the sea traversed by Solomon's fleet. SEE RED SEA.
The place "where two seas met" ( ôüðïò äéèÜëáóóïò , Act_27:41) is explained by Conybeare and Howson as a place where the island Salmonetta, off the coast of Malta, in St. Paurs Bay, so intercepts the passage from the sea without to the bay within as to give the appearance of two seas, just as Strabo represents the appearance of the entrance from the Bosphorus into the Euxine; but it seems quite as likely that by the "place of the double sea" is meant one where two currents, caused by the intervention of the island, met and produced an eddy, which made it desirable at once to ground the ship (Conybeare and Howson, 5, 423; Strabo, ii, 124).
3. The term is also applied to the great internal lakes of Palestine, whether fresh or salt; e.g.
(a.) The Sea of Chinnereth, éַí ëִּðֶּøֶú (Num_34:11), called in the New Test. "the Sea of Galilee" (Mat_4:18), the "Sea of Tiberias" (Joh_21:1), and "the sea (or lake) of Gennesareth" (Mat_14:34; Mar_6:53; Luk_5:17), which last is but a variation of the Hebrew name. SEE GALILEE, SEA OF.
(b.) The Dead Sea, called in Scripture the Salt Sea, éָí äָîֶּìַç (Gen_14:3), the Sea of the Plain, or the Arabah, éָí çָòֲøָáָä (Deu_4:40), and the Eastern Sea, äַéָּí çַ÷ַּãְîֹðִé (Joe_2:20; Eze_47:18; Zec_14:8). It is not named or alluded to in the New Test. It is called by Josephus (War, iii, 10, 7) ëßìíç Áóöáëôßôçò , by which name, or in the Latin form of Lacus Asphaltites, it was known to the classical writers. SEE SALT SEA.
(c.) The Lake Merom is named once only in Scripture, where it is called
îֵé îְøåֹí , waters of Merom (Jos_11:5; Jos_11:7). By Josephus it is called Semechonitis ( Óåìå÷ùíßôéò , Ant. v, 5, 1), and at present bears the name of Huleh: this is the uppermost and smallest of the three lakes on the Jordan. SEE MEROM.
4. The term yam, like the Arabic bahr, is also applied to great rivers, as the Nile (Isa_19:5; Amo_8:8, A.V. "flood ;" Nah_3:8; Eze_32:2) and the Euphrates (Jer_51:36). See Stanley, Syr. and Pal. App. p. 533; Hackett, Illust. of Script, p. 119.
5. Finally, the great copper ( ðְçùֶׁú ) or molten ( îåּöָ÷ ) laver, which stood in the court of Solomon's Temple, is called a yam (1Ki_7:23-44; 2Ki_16:17, etc.). SEE BRAZEN SEA; SEE LAVER