Sea (Hastings' Dictionary)

Besides the literal use, either generally or specially, with often a descrip- tive epithet, of the Mediterranean (Ex '23^', Nu 34, I)t 11-^), the Dead Sea(Nu 34', Jos 3'«, Zee 14"), the lied Sea (Ex 10'", Ac 7, 1 Co 10'. He IP'), the Sea of Galileo (Nu 34", Jos 1'2\ Mt 4' 15-"-', Mk l'« 7", Jn 21' 6'), and even the Nile (Is 18'^ 19», Ezk 3'2^ Nah 3«) and Euphrates (Is 21', Jer Ol-"'), and the figurative use in OT for xvc.

st, because the Mediter- ranean was the ivestcrn limit of Palestine (Gn 'i8'^ Ex lO"* 27", Jos 8» 11-'), there are poetical, • Hort, however, holds that In I P 20 i» -yp^^ cannot mean ' In S<Tipture,' nur even ' in a pas.sage of Scripture,' but uuit meeu simply ' iu writing,' as Sir 393a 42? 44^ eto. 124 SEA SEA, BRAZEN mytholo<;ical, and apocalyptic references to the sea, which in several passages give to tlie word a theological signiticance.

In tliis use the word 'sea' is closely allied with the word 'deep' (ciin LXX and NT ^ S/iicrtros), whicli means (1) the primeval sea, from which all arose (Gn 1^, Ps 24") ; (2) tlie ocem stream and subterranean waters (Cn 7'- 8^ 49'», Dt 33" 8') ; (3) any mass of waters (Ex 15', Ps 42' lO?-") ; (4) the depths, the deep plares ot che underworld (Ps 7P'; see Chej'ne on Ps 88'' and 148'), as the abode of the dead generally (Ro 10'), and s^jecially of demons (Lk 8^', Itev 9'- " 11' 17*20').

^^' Idle generally used only in the third sense, the word ' sea ' seems in some passages to hon'ow the fourth sense also (Rev 13', Dn 7*). Either by poetical personihcation or as a mj-tho- logical survival, the sea is spoken of as a monster over which God sets a watt-li, and with which He wages war (Job 7'^, see Davidson, Job, p. 54 ; Is 27', see Cheyne, Uainh, i. p. 158 ; Is 51'").

The image of the sea is used regarding man and his ways : the wicked are as the sea casting up mire and dirt (Is 57'"), man's grief U af the unquiet sea SEA, BRAZEN (nrnjn o; 2K 25", 1 Ch 188, Jei 52" ; called in 1 K 7'' = 2 Ch 4= Molten Sea [o pjpo] ; also called in 1 K 7" e< al. absolutely 'The Sea ' [o;.n]). — The large basin * of copper or bronza (see Brass) which stood S.E.S.

of the house, and, as in the case of the corresponding laver (li'j) of the tabernacle, was situated between the altar anl the porch.t The metal of which it was made is said to have been taken by David from the cities Tibhath and Cun.J The basin was itself 5 cubits high, with a diameter of 10 cubits and a circum- ference of 30.§ It was a handbreadth in thickness. Its rim was bent outward as in that of many cups, being of the shape of a lily.

That is all we are told of its shape, but from these data Josephus concluded that it was a hemisphere : others have thourfit of it as cylinder-shaped. Winer,l| Riehm,1I and Thenius** hold it to liave been a kind of cylinder, in which the lower part bulged out. "Thenius, Keil, and others object to Josephus view that, if the basin were a hemisphere, it could not hold 2000, much less 3000 baths of water. The same might be said of the cylinder form which -V Cubits. J lletrea.

TRB BRAZEN 8RA (aFTBR 8TAI>BX (Jer 49"), the doubtful man is as a wave toss^ed by the wind (Ja 1"), wicked men are raging waves of the sea foaming out their own sliarae (Jude '"), invading hosts are compared to overflowing streams (Is 8', Jer 47'') and the noisy sea (Is 17**). In Rev 13' the beast rises out of the sea (as in Dn 7^ the four beasts rise), because (1) the sea as a wild, terrible power (Ps 107^^ ; see G. A. Smith, HGHL bk. ii. ch. vii.)

represents heathenism (Reuss on Dn 7') ; or (2) the Roman power actually carae from the sea, or the west (Holtzmann, Handcom. on Rev 13') ; or (3) the sea is but a synonym for the abyss (of. Rev 11' 17*); or (4) the sea represents humanity, as in the passages noted above (so in Rev 17" the many waters of v.' are explained as ' peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues ' ; see Carpenter on Rev 13' and 17" in Ellicott's NT Commentary, xii. pp. 167, 207).

The words in Rev 21' 'the sea is no more' (RV) will mean accordingly that powers hostile to God, whether men or demons, shall be brought to nought. See also art. Sea of Glass, and for ' brazen sea' and ' molten sea ' next article. A. E. Gabvie. some give it.

Benzingertt points out that 2000 baths are equivalent to 72,800 litres, and that a hemisphere of the dimensions of the brazen sea could contain but 32,707 litres, while a cylinder of these dimensions would contain, at the utmost, 49,062 litres. It is possible that the diameter and circumference are taken at the narrowest part, say immediately beneath the rim ; but it is more probable that the measurements apply to the rim, and that lower down the vessel bulged ont very much.

Aocordin^ to 2 Ob 4^ and Josephus, ^n<. vni. iii. 5, the sea held not 20uO, but SOOO baths. Keil and Thenius trace the error to a tran8cril>er, and accordingly alter 3000 to 2000. There is. however, no external support (or the change, and it is ex- ceedingly likelv that we owe the larger number to the fondness of the Ciironicler for exaggeration — a fondness equalled at least by the Jewish historian. Below the rim, somewhere near the middle of * The Romans called large vessels lakes (Zocim).

t Ex 3018. t 1 Ch 188, of. 28 SB. The name* of places differ In theu parallel versea. J LXX 33. ||/!irB»U.6». IfllTB'LSSe. •• Com. tt Com. on 1 K 7«. SEA, BR.

VZEX SEA OF GLASS 425 the vessel, probablj' two rows of colocynths * were dfiured, these being cast with the basin, and not subsequently carved, btade t has shown on gram- matical and other grounds that the numeral ' ten ' must go with 'cubits' and not with 'colocynths,' and that, in sliort, the words constitute a, clumsy gloss, and had far better be left out. The brazen Sea rested upon 12 brazen oxen, with their heads turned towards the four cardinal jioints, 3 looking in each direction.

All of them probably ■tood upon one basement of metal. It is likely thiit the space between the several groups was greater than that between the several nienioers of the group ; but we have no information on this, or concerning the height of the oxen or tlieir other dimensions.

Jose|ihu8 ; »«ays that in making them Solomon broke the law of Mo6es which loriiade the making of any graven image,} as he did aUo in making the tions that were about his throne, tie migbt furely ha\e added the cherubim, which come under the lame category. Uietim says the 6gure8 of oxen were chosen to form a rest for the txisin, because oxen formed so large a part of the offerings. This may also supplya reason for the horns at the four cornerB, as Kranz Delitzscb suggests.

II 8tade, Ben- einger, Nowack.and others hold that the oxen have a connexion with the worship of Jehovah in the form of a bull, which pre- vailed in the North ; the horns of the altar are traced to the same source. Kostera H tries to prove that the ' Sea ' stands for the Di-ift — 'the deep,' one source of water supply, and that the lavers** represent the clouds, the source of the rain supply. Benzinger gives his approval to this theory,! t and so did Bmendit before him.

On these matters the Bible is silent. We are not told how the basin was supplied with water, nor how llie water was got out. As to the lirst, Keil thinks it was filled by means of a crane which raised the water from the fountain close to the altar and transferred it by means of some vessel to the 'Sea' wlienever it was wanted.

Witli regard to the second, tliere must liave been some apertures low enough to be reached ; possibly the water came out of the mouths of the oxen through pipes supplied with taps. For the opinions of leading rabbinical writers, see Lundius, Jiid. Heilig., Hamliurg, 1738, p. 356. Not a word is said in the older and soberer account of Kings of tlie purpose served by the Brazen Sea.

Hut in 2 Ch 4' it is said to be for the priests to wash in : that is, if we take the account of tlie f'S or laver §§ of the tabernacle to guide us, the priests washed their hands and feet with its water before they proceeded to otter sacrifices. The next point at which we meet the Brazen Sea is in 2 K 16", where it is narrated that Ahaz, for the sake of their value, took away the brazen 3xen, and laid the 'Sea 'on the stone pavement.

The Chaldteans at a later time, led by Nebuchad- nezzar, broke the ' Sea ' into pieces and carried away these pieces to Babylon. |l|| .\tter this we read no more about it. Yet Sir 5«/111l seems to show that in the mind of the writer • Tlie addition ' ten colocynths to every c\ibit ' has no sup- port in the MT, nor In the LXX, though Thenlus and Keil defend this rendering. t XATWiii. 167 f. : Ant. vni. vii, n. I Ex 20<. r Uiehni, UWII'' I. 76».

He compares the Greek and Roman alum with rams' heads at the oornere. Cf. TiutrLK, Altar <tf burnt-o'h-rin/t. •1 n T. 1B79, 446 ft. •• See 1 K 71" 39, and cf. La vita. It 11 til. Arch. iSSH; ct. also N'owack, Ueb. Arch. U. 44 f., and Kittel, KOnige, p. M. t Lrhrbueli der alttfut. Religitmtquchichte, p. ISO (not In 2nd ed., Hmend having now, as he informs the present writer, abandoned Kosters' view as being based on dogmatic rather than critical considerations].

88 -"^ec Ex SO'sf : this laver Is to Ije aharplv distinguished from the llj lavcrs of the temple. See Lavrh, an(l cf. a very elaborate article bv Stnde, entitled ' Die Keaselwagen des satoni. Tempels, 1 K TV 36,' in ZATW, 1901, p. 145B. nil 2 K 2.'>i:i. 10, Jer 621'- ». In the last passage it Is stated that the ChaUluians took away the oxen as well. This is not said in the Book of Kings. •Ill ' In his days ' (those of .

Simon the high priest) ' the cistern to receive water, being in compass as the sea, was covered with pkilee of brass ' (but see the lleb., and cf. Kautisch, Apokr.] the second temple had its Brazen Sea too, though apart from the vague hint contained in this verse of the Apoerj'plia we read nothing about a Brazen or Molten Sea in any temple except Solomon's. LiTERATCRR.— Reland, Antifj. Sacr. i. 6 fl. ; Keil, Temptl SalomvUy 118 II.

; the Bible Dictionaries of Winer^, Riehm'-^, and the works on Biblical Archajology by Lundius, Benzinger, and Nowack ; Stade's ijfsckickte des Volki's Igrael, i. 335 f.; the Commentaries of Tlienius, Kittel, Benzinger on ' Kings ' — the Urst very full and able, the last two short, compact, and up to d«t«- T. \V. Davies.