Although Galilee is called a “sea”, it is, in fact, fresh water. As
far as size goes, Galilee is less than one quarter the size of Lake Simcoe (744
km2) in Ontario. At minus 696 feet, it is “the lowest freshwater
lake on Earth.” For you geology buffs, note that Galilee, the
Jordan River, the Dead Sea, and the entire Arabah, the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red
Sea are on the edges of two tectonic plates (the African and the Arabian) slipping
in opposite directions to each other and, in some areas, spreading away from
each other (and causing several earthquakes mentioned in the Old Testament).
The Sea of Galilee (Matt.4:19;
15:29), about 60 miles northeast of Jerusalem,
figures so strongly in the story of Jesus that it’s worth learning a little bit
about it. For instance, it has several other names in scripture too: Sea of Chinnereth
(Num.34:11; Josh.12:3; 13:27), Lake of
Gennesaret (Luke 5:1), and Sea of Tiberias
(John 6:1; 21:1). The box shows a few statistics taken from Wikipedia:
Lake type
|
Monomictic [the waters mix completely once per year]
|
Primary inflows
|
Upper Jordan river and local runoff
|
Primary outflows
|
Lower Jordan River, evaporation
|
Catchment area
|
2,730 km2 (1,050 mi2)
|
Basin countries
|
Israel, Syria,
Lebanon
|
Max. length
|
21 km (13 mi)
|
Max. width
|
13 km (8.1 mi)
|
Surface area
|
166 km2 (64 mi2)
|
Average depth
|
25.6 m (84 ft)
|
Max. depth
|
43 m (141 ft)
|
Water volume
|
4 km3 (0.96 mi3)
|
Residence time
|
5 years
|
Shore length
|
53 km (33 mi)
|
Surface elevation
|
-212.07 m (-695.8 ft)
|
Islands
|
2
|
But statistics are dry;
statistics are dull. What life-stories do we know about people around the lake?
Way back in Numbers, Deuteronomy,
and Joshua, the slopes east of the sea of “Kinnereth” were to be the eastern
boundary of the nine and a half tribes, and the western boundary of the two and
a half tribes (Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh). This is where
the history of the name Gad-ara comes from, where Jesus let the demons go
into the swine.
Moving into the New
Testament we read in Mark 1:16-19, “As Jesus walked beside the sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake…When he had
gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a
boat, preparing their nets.”
This is the lake where our mind’s eye
can see Him as He sits in a boat to speak to His audience along the shore at
the water’s edge. We see Him calm the storm and the waves. We see Him walk on this
water. We see Him direct His disciples to a miraculously huge catch of fish.
And this is where, after His resurrection, He prepares fish on a fire of coals,
feeds His disciples, and three times asks Peter to feed His sheep.
Many of us will never
“walk where Jesus walked”, in a physical sense, but we can still take His words
to heart: To the disciples working on their nets, He said, “I will make you
fishers of men.” From the boat, He said, “…other seed fell on good soil. It
came up, grew and produced a crop...” In
the storm He said, “Peace, be still.” From His sure footing on this very sea,
He said, “It is I; be not afraid.” After the failed all-night fishing trip, He
said, “Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.” And on
the beach of Galilee He said, “Come and dine.”
What more can we say?
Let’s fish for men and women for Christ. Let’s produce a good crop for Him;
let’s be at peace and unafraid. Then we know that He will come in and commune
with us, and we with Him.
Ì
No comments:
Post a Comment