Was reading about Jesus' 5th sign, walking on the waves on the Sea of Galilee, John 6:15-21. When the sea is mentioned in the Bible, I often forget that most of the time it is referring to a massive lake, rather than a body of water like the Pacific or Atlantic ocean, or the Mediterranean Sea. In verse 16, it says that "And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea" (KJV).
I remembered that this is referring to a relatively small land-locked body of water. I wondered, Just how large is the Sea of Galilee anyway? I realized that because they knew very little, if anything, about the topography of the Earth, this massive water feature would naturally be a sea to them. So what is the area and some interesting facts about this water area with the 3 names?
I thought that there were only 3 names that it is known by:
- Sea of Galilee
- Sea of Tiberius
- Sea of Gennesaret
- Sea of Chinnereth
- Ginnosar
- Bahr Tubariya.
Wikipedia, my fav place to do research (though it is not academically accepted), states that Lake Chinnereth "is approximately:
- 53 km (33 mi) in circumference,
- about 21 km (13 mi) long,
- and 13 km (8.1 mi) wide
- area is 166.7 km2 (64.4 sq mi) at its fullest,
- and its maximum depth is approximately 43 m (141 feet)."
An interesting mystery! But, where Jesus is there are mysteries galore, and revelations, lol. Wikipedia states that The Sea of Galilee was also called the Sea of Minya.
Wikipedia
BiblePlaces.com
King James Bible
Image: Wikipedia