General Non-Fiction posted December 16, 2021 Chapters: 1 -2- 3... 


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So, You Think You Know The Sea Of Galilee?

A chapter in the book Sea Of Galilee

Sea Of Galilee - #2: Names

by Brett Matthew West


...Well, are you familiar with these tidbits about it?

Located in northwest Israel, in the Jordan Rift Valley, The Sea of Galilee historically was subjected to earthquakes and volcanoes. Abundant basalt and ingenous rocks define the geology of the lake.

The Sea of Galilee is approximately 33 miles in circumference, 13 miles long, and 8 miles wide. This almost 141 foot deep lake is the lowest freshwater lake in the world, and the second lowest lake in the world after the salt-water Dead Sea.

The Jordan River, that flows through the Sea of Galilee from north to south, is its main water source. Take your pick here, Lake Kinneret, Lake Kinnereth, Lake Tiberias, or the Sea of Galilee (they're all the same lake) is about 64.4 square miles at its fullest.

The main reason the lake's name has changed over the course of the years is based on the dominant settlements at the time. Currently, they are Tiberias and Tel Katzir. The Modern Hebrew name is Kinneret (see Numbers 34:11 and Joshua 13:27). Joshua 19:35 calls this town one of the "fenced cities".

In earlier days, the body of water was known as the Lake of Gennesaret (Luke 5:1). Referencing the Babylonian Talmud, it was known as the Sea of Ginosar (that is located on the western shore).

Toward the end of the first century, the lake became widely known as the Sea of Tiberias, in honor of the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar Augustus. He was the second Roman Emperor from 14AD to 37AD.

From the Umayyad Period through the Mamluk Period, Medieval Persians called the lake the Sea of Minya. Umayyad was the second caliphate created after Muhammad died. Characterized by non-Arab slave-soldiers and freed slaves, Mamluk lasted through the 9th Century. The Persians named the lake after their fortified village at Khirbat al-Minya, a qasr located 660 feet west of the northern end of the lake.

The name Galilee comes from the Hebrew haggalil, which translates "The District"(Isaiah 8:23). The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John refer to the lake by this name.

However you slice the pie the vast majority of the ministry of Jesus occurred around the region of this multi-named lake. The primary explanation for this was a continuous ribbon development of settlements and villages existed around the lake. So did boat ferrying and an assortment of trades.

Some of the highlights of the ministry of Jesus around the Sea of Galilee include:

-The apostles Peter, James, John, and Andrew came from villages around Galilee.

-The Sermon on the Mount happened on a hill overlooking the lake.

-Jesus walking on the water, calming the storm, His miraculous catch of fish, and feeding the five thousand in the Talgha area on the lake's northwestern shore all took place here.

-The third and fourth appearances of Jesus after His resurrection did too.

Perhaps in a future posting I'll offer some of the history of the Sea of Galilee.




Man Sagar Lake, Jaipur, India, by seshadri sreenivasan, selected to complement my posting.

So, thanks seshadri sreenivasan, for the use of your picture. It goes so nicely with my posting.
Pays one point and 2 member cents.

Artwork by seshadri_sreenivasan at FanArtReview.com

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