Get to Know Bible Places: The Sea of Galilee (Part One)
Location
The Sea (Lake) of Galilee is located in the land of Israel. During the Old Testament times after the conquest, we would note that the ancestral lands of the tribe of Gad, Napthali, and Manasseh bordered the Sea of Galilee, thus the Sea would have been part of the rule of the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the period of the divided kingdom. In New Testament times, the areas known as Galilee, Decapolis, and Gaulainitis all bordered the Sea under Roman rule. The Sea of Galilee is located in the northern part of the Jordan Valley (Pfeiffer, 306).
Names
The Sea of Galilee is not the exclusive name of this body of water. We most frequently use this name in the church because of the importance of that region during the Lord’s earthly ministry. It is first noted in the Old Testament as the Sea of Chinnereth yam kinnerth (יָםכִּנֶּ֖רֶת־,) probably from a city of that name which stood on the shore (cf. Joshua 12:3; 19:35) (McGarvey, 32-33). The word Chinnereth is also noted as meaning harp which the body of water resembles. (Pfeiffer, 26). Numbers 34:10-12 includes the Sea of Chinnereth in the list of the eastern boundaries for Israel when they entered Canaan.
And ye shall mark out your east border from Hazar-enan to Shepham; and the border shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain; and the border shall go down, and shall reach unto the [a]side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward; and the border shall go down to the Jordan, and the goings out thereof shall be at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land according to the borders thereof round about (ASV-1901).
Deuteronomy 3:16-17 references the sea in reference to boundaries for Gad.
And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the valley of the Arnon, the middle of the valley, and the border thereof, even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon; the Arabah also, and the Jordan and the border thereof, from Chinnereth even unto the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah eastward.
Regarding the New Testament, this lake is sometimes called the Lake of Gennesaret (Γεννησαρέτ) (cf. Matthew 14:34; Mark 6:53; Luke 5:1), from the small plain on its western shore (McGarvey, 33). Elsewhere in the New Testament it is referred to as the Sea of Tiberias, evidently named for the largest city on its shore (Wright,235). John uses this term in his gospel account and defines the Sea of Galilee as the Sea of Tiberias (cf. John 6:1; 21:1). Tiberias is the only ancient town from the times of Jesus that remains (McGarvey, 320).
Geographical Significance
The Sea of Galilee is actually a lake rather than a sea. It is the largest freshwater lake in all the land of Israel. It is 12.5 miles long and roughly 7.5 miles wide (Pfeiffer, 306). It covers 64 square miles and is up to 150 feet deep in the north. The south is much shallower (Wright, 235). This body of water is found in a region where water is somewhat scarce, however, it only played a minor role in the recorded history of the Old Testament. In the first century AD the sea became more popular as Jesus made Capernaum on its northern shore His home base for a time (cf. Matt. 4:13) Josephus also gives a detailed account of the Galileans’ response to the Great Revolt against Rome in AD 66-67 (Wright, 234).
The Sea is fed by the Jordan River in the North which enters the east of Bethsaida and exists in the south near ancient Sennabris. In addition to the Jordan, the Sea is fed by other freshwater streams, most of which enter off the hills of Upper Galilee from the northwest or off the Golan from the northeast. Other sources are closer but are less fresh. Seven springs that are slightly salty once entered the sea at Heptapegon (Tabgha) on the northwestern shore; some are still present. Hot mineral springs at Hammath-Tiberias were used by Roman and Ottomans for their medicinal benefits (Wright, 236).
This body of water, though not often mentioned in the Old Testament, was and still remains significant as a source of water for a region where water is not in overabundance. Wright adds,
In the days of the Bible, the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River met the water needs of the people living along the river, but virtually no one elses. Today the Sea of Galilee is the most plentiful source of water for the state of Israel. Since 1964, the Kinneret has been pumped via Israel’s National Water Carrier to the Eshkol Reservoir in Western Lower Galilee, treated and then piped to cities as far away as Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Beer-sheba. (Wright, 42).
This is comparable to efforts in California to bring waters from the Sierra Nevada down the California Aqueduct to supply cities such as Los Angeles in southern California.
Works Cited:
McGarvey, J. W. Lands of the Bible. Gospel Advocate, 1966.
Pfeiffer, Charles F., et al. Baker’s Bible Atlas. Baker Book House, 2003.
Wright, Paul H. Holman Illustrated Guide to Biblical Geography: Reading the Land. B&H Publishing Group, 2020.
