Tiberias, Sea of
Tiberias, Sea of
So called in John 21:1 (cf. 6:1), otherwise known as “the sea of Galilee” (Matthew 4:18; Mark 1:16; John 6:1) or as “the lake of Genesareth” (Luke 5:1, and Rabbinical writings), or as “the sea of Cenereth” (Numbers 34:11; Joshua 13:27; cf. Joshua 11:2), or as “the water of Genesar” (1 Maccabees 11:67), or, lastly, as “the Lake of Tarichea” (Pliny, “Hist. Nat.,” V, xv).
It lies in the Jordan gorge, 682 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. An irregular oval nearly thirteen miles long, its maximum width, near the northern end, is about seven and a half miles. The lake is enclosed on the east and west by mountains; the former, a uniform wall 2000 feet high sloping steeply to within half a mile of the shore; the latter, lower and more broken, gradually approaching the water as they advance northwards till, about half way up the coast, they leave only a narrow strip of littoral. At the north-west corner the mountain inclines somewhat westward and the littoral widens into a triangular plain of marvellous fertility which stretches eastwards for four miles — the Plain of Genesareth. East of this the ground is broken and sterile, overgrown with bush, and strewn with volcanic rock. The lake is fed by several torrents and by copious hot springs on the north and west, but principally by the Jordan, which enters at the north-east corner and rushes out at the south-western extremity. The depth of the lake nowhere exceeds 150 feet. Its water is sweet and good to drink. Fish are so abundant that catches of 600 pounds are not rare, and in one exceptional season (1896) 9200 pounds of fish were hauled ashore in one huge net. Storms are alarmingly sudden and frequent. The hot atmosphere of the gorge (averaging in the shade 93 deg. F. in summer, and 50 deg. in winter) sucks down the cool air of the heights through the narrow wadis to the east and west at the north end, and in half an hour the surface of the lake tosses furiously. Half an hour again suffices to restore the lake to a mirror-like calm.
To-day the shores are barren and desolate, with gloomy patches of volcanic soil to the north and west. There is scarcely a tree to be seen, nor even any verdure except where an overflowing torrent waters the north-western plain, nor any human habitation save the sombre houses of Tiberias to the west and a few straggling villages. But in the days of Christ nature and man united to render these shores singularly attractive. The vine and the fig flourished ten months in the year, and every variety of fruit ripened in the various seasons: thick woods surrounded the lake even down to the eighth century of the present era, and the plains yielded rich harvests twice in the year. Nine, perhaps ten, cities encircled the lake with an almost unbroken front of wharves and harbours. Ruins of theatres, hippodromes, temples, synagogues, baths, and villas witness to the presence of all the refinements of Graeco-Roman culture. Fishing was an important industry (cf. Beth Saida = “Fishing-House,” and Taricheæ “Pickling Factories”), and the fishermen, though reputed generally pious by the Rabbis, were a force to be reckoned with in troubled times. The fish were exported to all parts of the Roman world. The standing population of the towns, of which the smallest had at least 15,000 inhabitants, was largely increased by multitudes of sick who flocked, especially in summer, to the world renowned springs near Tiberias.
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Besides the Bible Dictionaries, consult: SMITH, Hist. Geography of the Holy Land (London, 1909), 438-63; MERRILL, East of Jordan (London, 1881); GUERIN, Description de la Palestine (Paris, 1868-80), Pt. III, Galilee, 193-263; NEUBAUER, Geographie du Talmud (Paris, 1868); BIEVER, Au bord du Lac de Tiberiade in Conferences de Saint-Etienne (Paris, 1910), 109-142; (Paris, 1911), 261-307 (a third lecture before the same audience in January, 1912, has not yet been published); BUHL, Geographie des alten Palaestina (Freiburg and Leipzig, 1896); Official Records of the Palestine Exploration Fund and Deutsche Palaestina-Verein.
JEREMIAH HARTIGAN Transcribed by John Fobian In memory of Joe Natoli
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIVCopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Tiberias, Sea of
called also the Sea of Galilee (q.v.) and of Gennesaret. In the Old Testament it is called the Sea of Chinnereth or Chinneroth. John (21:1) is the only evangelist who so designates this lake. His doing so incidentally confirms the opinion that he wrote after the other evangelists, and at a period subsequent to the taking of Jerusalem (A.D. 70). Tiberias had by this time become an important city, having been spared by the Romans, and made the capital of the province when Jerusalem was destroyed. It thus naturally gave its name to the lake.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Tiberias, Sea of
John’s (Joh 6:1; Joh 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 Joh 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 Mat 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 (Mat 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 Tubariyeh), 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.
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Tiberias, Sea of
See GALILEE, SEA OF.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Tiberias, Sea of
[Tibe’rias] See GALILEE, SEA OF.