place
Great Sea
גָּדוֹל
The Great Sea, also known as the Sea of the Philistines, refers to the Mediterranean Sea, which formed the western boundary of the Promised Land (Numbers 34:6-7; Joshua 1:4; 9:1; 15:12, 47; 23:4; Ezk.47.10, 15, 19-20; 48:28; Exodus 23:31).
- verses
- 13
- first named
- Exodus 23:31
- last named
- Ezekiel 48:28
- feature
- body of water
- coordinates
- 31.80°N · 34.17°E
Mediterranean Sea (OpenBible)
The gazetteer records one identification, and no competing one.
Description
Great Sea in the text
The Great Sea, also referred to as the Sea of the Philistines, is the biblical name for the Mediterranean Sea, which formed the western boundary of the Promised Land. In the description of the boundaries of the land allocated to the Israelites, the Great Sea is mentioned as the western limit (Numbers 34:6-7; Joshua 15:12; Ezk.47.20). The extent of the Promised Land is described as reaching from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates River (Exodus 23:31). The Great Sea played a significant role in the history and geography of the region, with many important cities and ports located along its coast. The Philistines, who were a major enemy of the Israelites, occupied the coastal plain along the Great Sea (Joshua 9:1; 15:47). In the prophetic visions of Ezekiel, the Great Sea is mentioned in the context of the boundaries of the restored land of Israel (Ezk.47.10, 15, 19; 48:28). The Mediterranean Sea was a vital trade route and a source of resources for the ancient civilizations that inhabited the region, including the Israelites, Phoenicians, and Greeks.
Relations
Direct connections
Every entity the graph places in a stated relation with this one, grouped by the kind of link. Each relation is authored once and its inverse derived, so both ends always agree. Rows marked “registry” come from the identity spine rather than from a verse, and a row marked “which bearer is the source’s decision” is one where the name could have meant more than one person. The last group is not a relation at all — it counts the events two entities stand in together.
The pattern
Where Great Sea is named
Every book of the corpus in the order it is read, each as wide as the chapters it holds. A bar is the verses of that book which write the name, and the flat stretches are as much of the answer as the bars.
13 verses across 4 of 66 books; 62 write the name nowhere. Named in Exodus (1), Numbers (2), Joshua (5) and Ezekiel (5).
Read it
Where to read it
Every verse of the text carried here that names this entity — 13, across 4 books.
Onward
Where this page goes
Nothing in the graph stands one hop from this entity yet. These are the best-connected entities of the same type, so the page still ends somewhere. Descriptions by STEPBible TIPNR.
Where they appear
What happened here
Atlas's reading of each chapter this place appears in, in canonical order. One line per chapter, and each leads to the whole of it.
- Exodus 23The Sea of the Philistines forms the western end of the borders established for Israel.
- Numbers 34The Great Sea forms the western boundary and begins the northern one.
- Joshua 1The Great Sea marks the western limit of the territory.
- Joshua 23The Great Sea formed the western reach of the land Joshua described as allotted to Israel.
- Ezekiel 47The Great Sea forms the western boundary of the land.
Sources