This arm, anciently called Heroopoliticus Sinus, and now the Gulf of Suez, is Igo miles long by an average breadth of 21 miles; but at one part (Birket el-Faroun) it is as wide as 32 miles. The eastern arm, which terminates at Akabah, and bears the name of the Gulf of Akabah, was anciently called iElaniticus Sinus, from the port of iElana, the Scriptural Elath, and is about 112 miles long by an average breadth of 15 miles. Towards its extremity were the ports of Elath and Eziongeber, celebrated in the history of the attempts made by the Hebrew kings to establish a maritime traffic with the East. (See the several words.) (3) The Sea of Chinnereth (Num. xxxiv:II), called in the New Testament 'the Sea of Galilee' (Matt. iv:18), the 'Sea of Tiberias' (John xxi:t), and 'the sea' or 'lake of Gennesaret' (Luke v: I-11), which last is but a variation of the Hebrew name.
This lake lies very deep, among fruitful hills and mountains, from which, in the rainy season, many rivulets descend; its shape will be seen from the map. The Jordan enters it on the north, quently mentioned in the New Testament, but very rarely in the Old. The borders of the lake were in the time of Christ well peopled, being covered with numerous towns and villages; but now they are almost desolate, and the fish and water-fowl are hut little disturbed.
(4) The Dead Sea, called in Scripture the Salt Sea (Gen. xiv:3), the Sea of the Plain, or the Arabah (Dent. iv:49). and the Eastern Sea (Joel ii :2o; Ezek. xlvii :IS; Zech. xiv :8). It is not named or alluded to in the New Testament. It is called by Josephus (De Bell. Ind. iii, to, 7) Lima Asphallites, by which name, or in the Latin form of Locus Asphallites, it was known to the classical writers. This designation it ob tained from the large quantities of asphaltum which it afforded. The Arabs call it Birket 'the Sea of Lot.' From its history and qualities, it is the most remarkable of all the lakes of Pal estine; and is supposed either to have originated in, or at least to have been greatly enlarged by, the awful event which overwhelmed the cities of the plain.
It is about thirty-nine or forty geographical miles long from north to south, and nine or ten miles wide from east to west it lies deeply embedded between lofty cliffs on the western side, which are about ',sex) feet high, and moun tains on the eastern chore, the highest ridges of which are reckoned to be from 2,00o to 2,500 feet above the water. The water of the lake is much salter than that of the sea. From the quantity of salt which it holds in solution it is thick and heavy, and no fish can live or marine plants grow in it. The old stories about the pes tiferous qualities of the Dead Sea and its waters are mere fables or delusions; the actual appear ances being the natural and obvious effects of the confined and deep situation, the intense heat and the uncommon saltness of the waters.
On the borders of this lake is found much sulphur, in pieces as large as walnuts, and even larger. There is also a black, shining stone, which will partly burn in the fire, and which then emits a bituminous smell ; this is the 'stink stone' of Burckhardt. At Jerusalem it is made into rosaries and toys, of which great quantities are sold to the pilgrims who visit the sacred places. Another remarkable production, from
and smallest of the three lakes on the Jordan. It serves as a kind of reservoir to collect the waters which form that river and again to send them forth in a single stream. In the spring, when the waters are highest, the lake is seven miles long and three and a half broad; but in summer it becomes a mere marsh. In some parts it is sown with rice, and its reeds and rushes afford shelter to wild hogs.
Figurative. (I) Vast multitudes of people are likened to the sea, because of their noise, and their overwhelming force (Jer. 1i:42). (2) Wicked men are like the troubled sea, that can not rest, and whose waters cast forth mire and dirt (Is.• lvii :20). (3) To "shut up the sea with doors" (Job xxxviii :8) is a symbolical expres sion for restraining, fixing a bound thereto. (4) "The sea bath spoken" (Is. xxiii :4) is figurative for the rock island upon which new Tyre stood, and made her lamentation. (5) The noise of hostile armies is likened to the "roaring of the which, indeed, the lake takes one of its names, is the asphaltum, or bitumen. Josephus says, that 'the sea in many places sends up black masses of asphaltum, which float upon the surface, having the size and shape of headless oxen' (De Bell. Iud. iv, 8, 4). From recent information it appears that large masses are rarely found, and then generally only after earthquakes. The substance is doubtless produced from the bottom of the sea, in which it coagulates, and rises to the surface; or possibly the coagulation may have been an cient, and the substance adheres to the bottom until detached by earthquakes and other convul sions, when its buoyancy brings it to the surface. We know that 'the vale of Siddim' (Gen. xiv :to) was anciently 'full of slime-pits.' or sources of bitumen ; and these, now under the water, prob ably supply the asphaltum which is found on such occasions.
(5) Lake Merom. This lake or sea is named once only in Scripture, where it is called waters of Illerom (Josh. xi :5. 7). By Josephus it is called cemechonitis (Antiq. v, 5, 11, and at present bears the name of Huleh ; this is tne uppermost sea" (Is. v :30; Jer. vi :23). (6) The abundance of the seas, is converted to the church, when multitudes in Lesser Asia, Europe, and the isles, are turned to the Lord by the gospel, and conse crate their trade and wealth to him (Is. lx :5).
(7) "The princes of the sea" (Ezek. xxvi :16) is a figurative term for the merchants of Tyre.
(8) "From sea to sea" (Amos viii :12 ; Mic. 12) stands for "from one end of the world to the other. (9) "Waves of the sea" represent right eousness (Is. xlviii :18), a devastating army (Ezek. xxvi :3, 4), and in their restlessness the wicked (Is. lvii :20), and the unsteady (James i :6). ( to) The diffusion of spiritual truth over the earth is symbolized by the covering waters of the sea (Is. xi :9 ; Hab. :14). (11) Am I a sea or a whale, that thou settest a mark over me? Am I like the sea or a whale, quite ungovernable? or, am I able to endure one storm after another, as the sea ? (Job vii :12). (12) "Raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame" (Jude 13), is a figurative description of false teachers who threw out their vile teachings like wrecks upon the shore.