Sea of chinnereth, sea of galilee
See Ualilee, Sea of. SEA OF GLASS (AV), GLASSY SEA (RV), 0i\auaa iiaklvq, occurring Rev 4° 15*'"', has no exact parallel in previous or contemporary litera- ture. But, as the scene in Rev 4 .attaches itself to Ezk 1, it is natural to find in the 'glassy sea before the throne ' a reproduction of the picture in Ezk 1^ 'the likeness of a firmament (Heb. TJ)~i = ' expanse ' ; LXX aTepiuiia. = ' solid structure,' whence Vulg.
firmitmentum) like the colour of the terrible crystal ' (LXX ut Spaatt Kpu<rTd\\ou, ' having the look of crystal '), extending over the head of the living creatures and under ' the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone ' (Ezk 1'^).
We are reminded also of Ex 24''- ", where it is said that, when Moses and Aaron and the elders of Israel ascended the mount and ' saw the God of Israel,' ' there was under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and as it were the very heaven (LXX (Uos arepew/iaTos Toii oiipai/oD, ' the appearance of the heaven's firma- ment') for clearness.' And just as there was 'fire on the top of the mount' (Ex 24"), so also in Ezk 1-'' we are told that ' there was an appearance of fire . .
round about,' and again in Kev 15- the glassy sea is ' mingled with fire.' Another im- perfect parallel is found in Enoch 14". The walls of the heavenly house from which Enoch saw in vision a second house and a throne in it and the great glory thereon, were ' like a mosaic crystal tluor, and its groundwork was of crystal . . and its lloor was fire.' Perhajis the most nearly exact parallel occurs in the Boo/c uf the Secret.
^ of Enoch (the Slavonic fragment of the Enoch literature, Erobably composed in its present form in the first alf of the 1st cent. A.l).)* In 3^ Enoch tells how the angels had taken him up into the lirst heaven, next above the a:ther : ' and they showed me (he adds) a very great sea, greater than the earthly (i.e. the Mediterranean), and they brought before my face the elders.' Afterwards, in a higher heaven (tlie seventh in Enoch) he saw the throne and the glory. In Test. xii. Pair.
, Levi 2, tliis sea is said to lie between the first and second heavens, and is called the 'water hanging' between tlie two. It is to be noted, further, tiiat just as we have, in connexion with the crystal appearance, 'living creatures' in Ezekiel, and 'holy ones 'in Enoch, and, in connexion with the preat sea, •elders' in the Secrets of Enoch, so also in Rev. we have, in connexion with the glas!<y sea, ' living creatures ' (ch. 4) and victorious saints (cli. 15).
It is not necessary to harmonize all these apoca- lyptic images. But it is clear that the writer of ftevelatioii is in contact at various points with previous apocalyptic literature when he conceives of a wide expanse of water in heaven, stretching away in front of the throne, smooth, clear, bright with a golden slieen t (21"), like a, fire, ujion it, that flashes from tlie seven burning lamps ; while hard by (or u[ion) this sea stand types of created life (ch.
4), and a trium|ihant host of those whose life has been created anew (ch. 15), glorifying the * See Charles and MorHU's edition. t See article Glass. 42G SEA OF JAZER SEAL, SEALING Lord God Almighty. It is possible tliat the idea of the glassy sea may have come from the temple Savenient of ornamental polished stones (2 Ch 7' ; OS. BJ VI. i. 8 and iii. 2) on which the people bowed themselves in thanks;;iving to the Lord, and the gleam of which tlie Habhis compared to the gleam of crystal.
* The suggested relation to the ' molten sea' (OaXaaaa xoXxij), the large copper reservoir of Solomon's temple used for the ablutions of the priests (2 S S" [LXX], 1 K 7^), aeems to be more remote. If not quite imaginary. J. MAS.SIE. SEA OF JAZER See vol. ii. p. 553» nolet.