Sea – Serug

Sea

The Hebrews give the name of sea to any large collection of water, Job 14:11; as to the lakes of Tiberias and Asphaltites, and also to the rivers Nile and Euphrates, Isa 11:15; 18:2; 21:1; Jer 51:36,42. The principal seas mentioned in Scripture are the following:

1. The GREAT SEA, the Mediterranean, called also the Hinder or Western Sea. Indeed, the Hebrew word for sea, meaning the Mediterranean, is often put for the west. The Great Sea is 2,200 miles long, and in the widest part 1,200 miles in width. In many places it is so deep as to give no soundings. It is little affected by tides, but is often agitated by violent winds. The prevailing direction of the wind in spring is from the southeast and southwest and from the northeast and northwest the rest of the year.

2. The RED SEA, Ex 10:19; 13:18; Ps 106:7,9,22, derived its name from Edom, which lay between it and Palestine; or from the hue of the mountains on its western coast, or of the animalcule which float in masses on its surface. It lies between Arabia on the east and northeast, and Abyssinia and Egypt on the west and southwest, and extends from the straits of Babelmandel to Suez, a distance of about 1,400 miles, with an average width of 150 miles, and a depth of 1,800 feet. At the northern end it is divided into the two gulfs Suez and Akaba, anciently called the Gulf of Heroopolis and the Elanitic Gulf. The first of these is 190 miles in length and the second is 100 miles. Between these gulfs lies the celebrated peninsula of Mount Sinai. That of Akaba is connected with the Dead Sea by the great sand valley El Arabah described under the article JORDAN. It is only these gulfs of the Red Sea that are mentioned in Scripture. The Israelites, in their exodus out of Egypt, miraculously crossed the western gulf south of Suez, and then, after many years of sojourning and wandering in the deserts of the peninsula and north of it, they came to Ezion-geber, at the extremity of the eastern gulf. See EXODUS and WANDERINGS. In Zec 10:11, both the Red Sea and the Nile appear to be mentioned.

3. The DEAD SEA, also called The Salt sea, Ge 14:3; The sea of the Plain, De 4:40; The Eastern sea, Zec 14:8; by the Greeks and Romans, lake Asphaltites; and by the modern Arabs, The sea of Lot. It lay at the southeast corner of the Holy Land, and receives the wastes of the Jordan from the north, and of the Arnon and several smaller streams from the east. It is over forty miles long, and eight or nine miles wide, and lies as in a chaldron between bare limestone cliffs, which rise on the west side 1,200 or 1,500 feet above its surface, and on the east side 2,000 feet or more. At the south end is a broad and low valley, overflowed after the annual rains. The general aspect of the region is dreary, sterile, and desolate; but at a few points there are brooks or fountains of fresh water, which in their way to the sea pass through spots of luxuriant verdure, the abode of birds in great numbers.

The waters of the Dead Sea are clear and limpid, but exceedingly salt and bitter. Their specific gravity exceeds that of all other waters known, being one-fifth or one-fourth greater than that of pure water. They are found by repeated analyses to contain one-fourth their weight of various salts, chiefly the chlorides of magnesium and sodium. Salt also is deposited by evaporation on the shore, or on garments wet in the sea. In the bed of the sea it is found in crystals and near the shore in incrustation deposited on the bottom. No fish can live in these acrid waters, and those which are brought down by the Jordan quickly die. Compare Eze 47:8-10, where the healing of this deadly sea, and its abounding in fish, as well as the new fertility and beauty of the dreary wilderness between it and Jerusalem—by means of the healing power of the Kidron flowing from beside that altar of God—forcibly illustrate the healing and renovating power of gospel grace.

A person unacquainted with the art of swimming floats at ease upon the surface of lake Asphaltites, and it requires an effort to submerge the body. The boat of Lieutenant Lynch met with a gale on entering it from the Jordan; and "it seemed at if the bows, so dense was the water, were encountering the sledgehammers of the Titans, instead of the opposing waves of an angry sea."

At times, and especially after earthquakes, quantities of asphaltum are dislodged from the bottom, rise and float on the surface, and are driven to the shores, where the Arabs collect them for various uses. Sulphur is likewise found on the shores and a kind of stone or coal, called Musca by the Arabs, which on being rubbed exhales an intolerable odor. This stone, which also comes from the neighboring mountains, is black, and takes a fine polish. Maundrell saw pieces of it two feet square, in the convent of St. John in the Wilderness, carved in bas-relief, and polished to as great a lustre as black marble is capable of. The inhabitants of the country employ it in other places of public resort. In the polishing its disagreeable odor is lost. When placed by Mr. King upon hot coals, a strong stench of sulphur issued from it, and it soon began to blaze. The blaze rose four or five inches high, and continued about two minutes.

An uncommon love of exaggeration is observable in all the older narratives, and in some of modern date, respecting the nature and properties of the Dead Sea. Chateaubriand speaks of a "dismal sound proceeding from this lake of death, like the stifled clamors of the people ingulfed in its water," and says that its shores produce a fruit beautiful to the sight, but containing nothing but ashes; and that the heavy metals float on the surface of the sea. Others allege that black and sulphurous exhalations are constantly issuing from the water, and that birds attempting to fly across it are struck dead by its pestiferous fumes. These legends are corrected by more reliable accounts, which show that the birds fly over or float upon the sea uninjured; that no vapor is exhaled from its surface, except that caused by the rapid evaporation or its waters under the hot sun; and that the low level and excessive heat of the valley of the Jordan and the Dead Sea account for the diseases prevailing there, without imagining any more fearful cause. The "apostle of Sodom" above referred to by Chateaubriand, and described by Josephus and others answer, with some exaggerations, to fruits now growing around the Dead Sea.

In 1848, Lieutenant Lynch of the United States’ navy passed down the Jordan from the Sea of Tiberias, with two metallic boats, and spent three weeks in a survey of the Sea of Sodom. He found it nearly 1,300 feet deep and its surface more than 1,300 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. From the eastern side, some eight miles from the south end, a low promontory projects three-fourths of the way towards the western cliffs, and sends up a point five miles towards the north. Below this point the lake becomes suddenly shallow, the southern bay not averaging more than twelve or fifteen feet in depth, Jos 15:2.

This lower part is believed to cover the sites of the cities destroyed by fire from heaven, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim. The vale of Siddim was once a smiling plain, well-watered, and like a garden of the Lord, Ge 13:10; it is now, and for all future ages, a monument of his just indignation, De 29:23, and an awful warning to reckless sinners that the day of the Lord will come upon them also suddenly and without remedy, Mt 10:15; 11:22-24; 2Pe 2:4-9; Jude 1:7. The bottom of the shallow bay is a deep slimy mud, Ge 14:10. On its southwest border lies a mountain or ridge composed chiefly of rock salt, and called Usdum or Sodom, between which and the sea stands a round pillar of salt forty feet high, reminding one of Lot’s wife.

At present the Dead Sea has no perceptible outlet, and the waters poured into it by the Jordan are probably evaporated by the intense heat of the unclouded sun, or in part absorbed in the earth. It is thought by some that the northern and principal part of the sea was the product of some convulsion of nature, long before that which destroyed Sodom and formed the south bay; that the Jordan at first flowed into the Red Sea through the remarkable crevasse which extends from its sources to the Gulf of Akabah; and that at some period beyond the reach of history, its bed and valley sunk down to their present level and formed the Dead Sea. Lieutenant Lynch in sounding discovered a ravine in the bed of the sea, corresponding to the channel of the Jordan in its valley north of the sea. See JORDAN.

4. The SEA OF TIBERIAS or of Galilee; the lake of Gennesareth, or of Cimmereth, Nu 34:11, is so called from the adjacent country, or from some of the principal cities on its shores. It resembles, in its general appearance, the Lake of Geneva in Switzerland, though not so large. The Jordan passes through it from north to south. It is twelve or fourteen miles long, six or seven miles in breadth, and 165 feet deep. Its waters lie in a deep basin, surrounded on all sides by rounded and beautiful hills, from 500 to 1,000 feet high, except the narrow entrance and outlet of the Jordan at either end. Its sheltered location protects it in some degree from the wind, but it is liable to sudden squalls and whirlwinds, and many travellers on its shores have met with violent tempests-reminding them of those encountered by Christ and his disciples. A strong current marks the passage of the Jordan through the middle of the lake, on its way to the Dead Sea. The volcanic origin of the basin of this lake is strongly inferred from numerous indications, such as the black basaltic rocks which abound, frequent and violent earthquakes, and several hot springs. According to Lieutenant Symonds, it is 328 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. Lieutenant Lynch makes it 653 feet below. Its waters are clear and sweet, and contain various kinds of excellent fish in great abundance. The appearance of the sea from the hills on the western shore is far less grand and more beautiful than that of the Dead Sea. It should be seen in spring, when the hills around it are clothed with grain and festooned wit flowers. The towns that once crowed its shores with a teeming population, the groves and shrubbery that covered its hills, and the boats and galleys that studded its surface are gone. But the sea remains, hallowed by many scenes described in the gospels. The Saviour of mankind often looked upon its quiet beauty and crossed it in his journeys; he stilled its waves by a word, and hallowed its shores by his miracles and teachings. Here several of the apostles were called to become "fishers of men," Mt 4:18; 14:22; Lu 8:22; Joh 21:1.

"How pleasant to me thy deep blue wave,

O sea of Galilee,

For the glorious One who came to save

Hath often stood by thee.

O Savior gone to God’s right hand,

Yet the same Savior still,

Graved on thy heart is this lovely strand

And every fragrant hill."

M’CHEYNE.

5. SEA or WATERS OF MEROM. See MEROM.

The BRAZEN or MOLTEN SEA, made by Solomon for the temple, was

a circular vessel at least fifteen feet in diameter, which stood in

the court of the temple, and contained three thousand baths,

according to 2Co 4:5, or two thousand baths according to 1Ki

7:26. Calmet supposes this may be reconciled by saying that the cup

or bowl contained two thousand baths, and the foot or basin a

thousand more. It was supported by twelve oxen of brass, and was

probably the largest brazen vessel ever made-an evidence of the skill

of the workers in metal at that period. It contained from 16,000 to

24,000 gallons, and was supplied with water either by the labor of

the Gibeonites, or as Jewish writers affirm, by a pipe from the well

of Etam, so that a constant flow was maintained. This water was used

for the various ablutions of the priests, 1Ch 4:6; a perpetual

and impressive testimony from God of the necessity of moral

purification in the inexhaustible foundation of Christ’s grace. The

preceding engraving must be chiefly imaginary.

Seacons

See CANAAN

Seal, Sealing

The allusions and references to seals and sealing are frequent in the sacred writings. Seals or signets were in use at a very early period, and they were evidently of various kind. Some were used as a substitute for signing one’s name, the owner’s name or chosen device being stamped by it with suitable ink on the document to be authenticated. Seals to be used for this purpose, with or without the sign manual, appear to have been worn by the parties to whom they respectively belonged. The seal of a private person was usually worn on his finger, or his wrist, or in a bracelet, being small in size, Jer 32:10; Lu 15:22; Jas 2:2. See RINGS.

The seal of a governor was worn by him, or carried about his person in the most secure manner possible. The royal seal was either personal, to the king, or public, to the state; in other words, the seal of the king and the seal of the crown, 2Sa 1:10: the first the king retained; the latter he delivered to the proper officer of state. So far modern usages enable us to comprehend clearly the nature of this important instrument. The impress of the royal seal on any document gave it the sanction of government, 1Ki 21:8; and a temporary transfer of the seal to another hand conveyed a plenary authority for the occasion, Es 3:10,12; 8:2. Instead of the impression of a seal, probably on account of the heat of the climate, Job 38:14. The seal was a token of possession and of careful preservation, De 32:34; Job 9:7; 14:17. A portion of clay covering the lock or opening of a door, etc., guarded it from being opened clandestinely, Song 4:12; Da 6:17; Mt 27:66. Travellers in the East have met the same custom in modern times. The cord around a book, box, or roll of parchment was often secured with a sea, Isa 8:16; Re 5:1. The Holy Spirit seals Christians, impressing his image upon them as a token that they are his, Eph 1:13,14; 4:30. See SO.

Seba

See SABEANS

Sebat

The first month of the Jewish civil year, and the eleventh of the ecclesiastical year-from the new moon of February to that of March. See MONTH. They began in this month to the years of the trees they planted, the fruits of which were esteemed impure till the fourth year, Zec 1:7.

Secret

See MYSTERY

Sect

From a Latin word answering to the Greek word hoeresis, which latter our translators have in some places rendered "sect," in others "heresy." As used in the New Testament, it implies neither approbation nor censure of the persons to whom it is applied, or of their opinions, Ac 5:17; 15:5. Among the Jews, there were four sects, distinguished by their practices and opinions, yet united in communion with each other and with the body of their nation: namely, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes, and the Herodians. Christianity was originally considered as a new sect of Judaism; hence Tertullus, accusing Paul before Felix, says that he was chief of the seditious sect of the Nazarenes, Ac 24:5; and the Jews of Rome said to the apostle, when he arrived in this city, "As concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against," Ac 28:22. See HERESY.

Secundus

A disciple at Thessalonica, who accompanied Paul in some of his journeys, Ac 20:4.

Sedition

A popular tumult, Ac 24:5, or a religious faction, Ga 5:20. The same Greek word is translated "insurrection," in speaking of Barabbas, Mr 15:7, and "dissension" in Ac 15:2.

Seed

Ge 1:11; often used figuratively in Scripture, Da 9:1; 1Pe 1:23; 1Jo 3:9. There was an injunction in the Mosaic Law against sowing a field with mingled seed of diverse kinds, Le 19:19. The "precious seed" is often committed to the ground with many fears; but the harvest, at least in spiritual things, shall be a season of joy, Ps 126:5,6.

Seer

One supernaturally enlightened to see things which God only can reveal; applied to certain Hebrews prophets, 1Sa 9:9; 2Ch 29:30; 33:18,19; Isa 29:10; 30:10. Compare Nu 24:3,4.

Seir

1. A mountain of Judah, near Kirjath-jearim, Jos 15:10.

2. A Horite, one of the primitive rulers of the country south and southeast of the Dead Sea, Ge 36:20; De 2:12.

3. A mountainous tract lying between the southern extremity of the Dead Sea and the eastern gulf of the Red Sea. Mount Hor formed part of Seir, and is the only part that retains its original name. See IDUMEA.

Sela

The name of a place mentioned in 2Ki 14:7, where it is said that Amaziah king of Judah slew ten thousand men of Edom, in the valley of Salt, and took Sela by war, and called the name of it JOKTHEEL, subdued by God. Sela, in Hebrew, signifies, a rock, and answers to the Greek word Petra; whence it has been reasonably inferred that the city bearing the name of Petra, and which was the celebrated capital of Arabia Petraea, is the place mentioned by the sacred historian. It is also mentioned in Isa 16:1, and may be intended by the word Sela, translated rock, in Judg 1:36; Isa 42:11. The ruins of this place were in modern times first visited by Burckhardt, 1812, and attest the splendor of the ancient city. He says, "At the distance of a two long days’ journey northeast from Akabah, is a rivulet and valley in the Djebel Shera, on the east side of the Arabah, called Wady Mousa. This place is very interesting for its antiquities and the remains of an ancient city, which I conjecture to be Petra, the capital of Arabia Petraea, a place which, as far as I know, no European traveller has ever visited. In the red sandstone of the which the valley is composed are upwards of two hundred and fifty sepulchres, entirely cut out of the rock, the greater part of them with Grecian ornaments. There is a mausoleum in the shape of a temple, of colossal dimensions, likewise cut out of the rock, with all its apartments, its vestibule, peristyle, etc. It is a most beautiful specimen of Grecian architecture, and in perfect preservation. There are other mausolea with obelisks, apparently in the Egyptian style, a whole amphitheater cut out of the rock, with the remains of a palace and of several temples. Upon the summit of the mountains, which closes the narrow valley on its western side, (Mount Hor,) is the tomb of Haroun, or Aaron. It is held in great veneration by the Arabs." That this was indeed the ancient Sela or Petra is established by various concurring proofs; Josephus, Eusebius, and Jerome affirm that the location and ruins correspond with the notices given in the Bible, and by Pliny and Strabo.

Subsequent travellers, especially Laborde, have given minute and graphic description of this wonderful city, with drawings of the principal ruins. The valley of Petra, 2,200 feet above the great valley El-Arabah, is about a mile long from north to south, and half a mile wide, with numerous short ravines in its sides, making its whole circuit perhaps four miles. It is accessible through ravines at the north and the south; but the cliffs, which define it on the east and west, are precipitous, and vary from two hundred to one thousand feet in height. The main passage into the city is on the east, and begins between cliffs forty feet high and fifty yards apart, which soon become higher, nearer, and full of excavated tombs. This winding ravine is a mile long, and gives entrance to a small brook; its sides at one place are but twelve feet apart and two hundred and fifty feet high. At the termination of this narrow gorge you confront the most splendid of all the structures of Petra, el-Khusneh, the temple mentioned by Burckhardt, hewn out of the face of the opposite cliff. Here you enter a wider ravine, which leads northwest, passes the amphitheatre in a recess on the left, and at length opens on the great valley of the main city towards the west. The tombs excavated in these, and in all the side gorges, are without number, rising range above range; many of them are approached by steps cut in the rock, while others are inaccessible, at the height of nearly four hundred feet. The theatre was so large as to accommodate more than three thousand persons. The palace, called Pharaoh’s house by the Arabs, is the chief structure not excavated in the mountain that survives in any good degree the ravages of time; it was evidently a gorgeous building. Most of the valley is strewn with the ruins of public edifices and with fragments of pottery. The brook flows through the valley towards the west, and passes off through a narrow gorge like that by which it entered. One of the finest temples, the Deir, stands high up in a ravine on the west side. It is hewn out of the solid rock, are eight feet in diameter. A singular charm is thrown over the whole by the beauty of the stone from which these various structures are wrought. It is fine and soft sandstone, variegated with almost every variety of hues, red, purple, black, white, azure, and yellow, the deepest crimson and the softest pink blending with each other, while high above the sculptured monuments the rocks rise in their native rudeness and majesty. The whole strange and beautiful scene leaves on the spectator’s mind impressions, which nothing can efface.

Petra was an ancient city, a strong fortress, and for many ages an important commercial center. It was the chief city among scores, which once filled that region. Yet the prophets of God foretold its downfall, and its abandonment to solitude and desolation, in terms which strikingly agree with the facts. "Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thy heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord," Jer 49:7-22. See also Isa 34:5-15; Eze 35:1-15; Joe 3:19; Am 1:11,12; Ob 1:3-16. When its ruin took place we are not informed. There were Christian churches there in the fifth and sixth centuries, but after A. D. 536 no mention is made of it in history.

Selah

A musical term which occurs seventy-three times in the Psalms, and is found also in Hab 3:3,9,13. It usually occurs at the end of a period or apostrophe, but sometimes at the end only of a clause. This difficult word, it is now generally believed, was a direction for a meditative pause in the singing of a psalm, during which perhaps there was an instrumental interlude.

Senate

Ac 5:21. See SANHEDRIN.

Senir

A name given to Mount Hermon by the Amorites, De 3:9; 1Ch 5:23; Eze 27:5. See HERMON.

Sennacherib

King of Assyria, son and successor of Shalmaneser, began to reign B. C. 710, and reigned but a few years. Hezekiah king of Judah having shaken off the yoke of the Assyrians, by which Ahaz his father had suffered under Tigloth-pileser, Sennacherib marched an army against him, and took all the strong cities of Judah. Hezekiah, seeing he had nothing left but Jerusalem, which he perhaps found it difficult to preserve, sent ambassadors to Sennacherib, then besieging and destroying Lachish, to make submission. Sennacherib accepted his tribute, but refused to depart, and sent Rabshakeh with an insolent message to Jerusalem. Hezekiah entreated the Lord, who sent a destroying angel against the Assyrian army, and slew in one night 185,000 men. Sennacherib returned with all speed to Nineveh, and turned his arms against the nations south of Assyria, and afterwards towards the north. But his career was not long; within two or three years from his return from Jerusalem, while he was paying adorations to his god Nisroch, in the temple, his two sons Adrammelech and Sharezer slew him and fled into Armenia. Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead, 2Ki 18:1-19:37; 2Ch 32:33.

A most remarkable confirmation of the above Bible history has been found in the long buried ruins of ancient Nineveh. The mound called Kouyunijik, opposite Mosul, has been to a good degree explored, and its ruins prove to be those of a palace erected by this powerful monarch. The huge stone tablets which formed the walls of its various apartments are covered with bas-reliefs and inscriptions; and though large portions of these have perished by violence and time, the fragments that remain are full of interest. One series of tablets recounts the warlike exploits of Sennacherib, who calls himself "the subduer of kings from the upper sea of the setting sun to the lower sea of the rising sun," that is, from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf.

The most important of these mural pages to Bible readers, are those recounting the history of his war against Syria and the Jews, in the third year of his reign. Crossing the upper part of Mount Lebanon, he appears to have conquered Tyre and all the cities south of it on the seacoast to Askelon. In this region he came in conflict with an Egyptian army, sent in aid of King Hezekiah; this host he defeated and drove back. See 2Ki 19:9; Isa 37:1-38. The inscription then proceeds to say, "Hezekiah king of Judah, who had not submitted to my authority, forty-six of his principal cities, and fortresses and villages dependant upon them, of which I took no account, I captured, and carried away their spoil. The fortified towns, and the rest of his towns which I spoiled, I severed from his country, and gave to the kings of Askelon, Ekron, and Gaza, so as to make his country small. In addition to the former tribute imposed upon their countries, I added a tribute the nature of which I fixed." Compare 2Ki 18:13; Isa 36:1. He does not profess to have taken Jerusalem itself, but to have carried away Hezekiah’s family, servants, and treasures, with a tribute of thirty talents of gold and eight hundred talents of silver. The amount of gold is the same mentioned in the Bible narrative. The three hundred talents of silver mentioned in Scripture may have been all that was given in money, and the five hundred additional claimed in the Ninevite record may include the temple and palace treasures, given by Hezekiah as the price of peace.

In another apartment of the same palace was found a series of wellpreserved bas-reliefs, representing the siege and capture by the Assyrians of a large and strong city. It was doubly fortified, and the assault and the defense were both fierce. Part of the city is represented as already taken, while elsewhere the battle rages still in all its fury. Meanwhile captives are seen flayed, impaled, and put to the sword; and from one of the gates of the city a long procession of prisoners is brought before the king, who is gorgeously arrayed and seated on his throne upon a mound or low hill. They are presented by the general in command, very possibly Rabshakeh, with other chief officers. Two eunuchs stand behind the king, holding fans and napkins. Above his head is an inscription, which is thus translated: "Sennacherib the mighty king, king of the country of Assyria, sitting on the throne of judging at the gate of the city Lachisa; I give permission for its slaughter." The captives are stripped of their armor, ornaments, and much of their clothing, and are evidently Jews.

Little did Sennacherib then anticipate the utter of his ruin of his own proud metropolis, and still less that the ruins of his palace should preserve to this remote age the tablets containing his own history, and the image of his god Nisroch so incapable of defending him, to bear witness for the God whom he blasphemed and defied. See NINEVEH, NISROCH, SHALMANESER, and SO.

Sephar

"A mountain of the East," a boundary of the Joktanite tribes, Ge 10:30. It is perhaps the same as Mount Sabber in Southwestern Arabia.

Sepharad

A place in Asia Minor near the Bosphorus, to which Jewish captives were conveyed, Ob 1:20.

Sepharvaim

When Shalmaneser king of Assyria carried away Israel from Samaria to beyond the Euphrates, he sent people in their stead into Palestine, among whom were the Sepharvaim, 2Ki 17:24,31. That Sepharvaim was a small district under its own king, is apparent from 2Ki 19:13; Isa 37:13. It may, with most probability, be assigned to Mesopotamia, because it is named along with other places in that region, and because Ptolemy mentions a city of a similar name, Sipphara, as the most southern of Mesopotamia.

Septuagint

The seventy, is the name of the most ancient Greek version of the Old Testament, and is so called because there were said to have been seventy translators.

The accounts of its origin disagree, but it should probably be assigned to the third century before Christ. This ancient version contains many errors, and yet as a whole is a faithful one, particularly in the books of Moses; it is of great value in the interpretation of the Old Testament, and is very often quoted by the New Testament writers, who wrote in the same dialect. It was the parent of the first Latin, the Coptic, and many other versions, and was so much quoted and followed by the Greek and Roman fathers as practically to supersede the original Hebrew, until the last few centuries. The chronology of the Septuagint differs materially from that of the Hebrew text, adding, for example, 606 years between the creation and the deluge. See ALEXANDRIA.

Sepulchre

A place of burial. The Hebrews were always very careful about the burial of their dead. Many of their sepulchres were hewn in rocks: as that of Shebna, Isa 22:16; those of the kings of Judah and Israel; and that in which our Savior was laid on Calvary. These tombs of the Jews were sometimes beneath the surface of the ground; but were often in the side of a cliff, and multitudes of such are found near the ruins of ancient cities, 2Ki 23:16; Isa 22:16. Travellers find them along the bases of hills and mountains in all parts of Syria; as on the south side of Hinnom, the west side of Olivet, at Tiberias, in Petra, in the gorge of the Barada, and in the sea-cliffs north on the Acre. The tombs, as well as the general graveyards, were uniformly without the city limits, as is apparent at this day with respect to both ancient and modern Jerusalem, 2Ki 23:6; Jer 26:23; Lu 7:12; Joh 11:30. See ACELDAMA.

The kings of Judah, almost exclusively, appear to have been buried within Jerusalem, on Mount Zion, 1Ki 2:10; 2Ki 14:20; 2Ch 16:14; 28:27; Ac 2:29. Family tombs were common, and were carefully preserved, Ge 50:5-13; Judg 8:32; 2Sa 2:32; 1Ki 13:22. Tombstones with inscriptions were in use, Ge 35:20; 2Ki 23:16,17. Absalom was buried under a heap of stones, 2Sa 18:17. In many ancient heathen nations, a king was buried under a vast mound, with his arms, utensils, horses, and attendants, Eze 32:26,27; and the pyramids of Egypt are believed to be the tombs of kings, each having but one or two apartments, in one of which the stone coffin of the builder has been found.

It was thought an act of piety to preserve and adorn the tombs of the prophets, but was often an act of hypocrisy and our Savior says that the Pharisees were like whited sepulchres, which appeared fine without, but inwardly were full of rottenness and corruption, Mt 23:27-29; and Lightfoot has shown that every year, after the winter rains were over, the Hebrews whitened them anew. In Lu 11:44, Christ compares the Pharisees to "grave which appear not," so that men walk over them without being aware of it, and many thus contract an involuntary impurity. A superstitious adoration of the tombs and bones of supposed saints was then and is now a very prevalent form of idolatry; and our Savior tells the Jews of his day they were as guilty as their fathers, Lu 11:47,48: they built the sepulchres of the prophets, their fathers slew them; the hypocritical idolatry of the sons was as fatal a sin as the killing of the prophets by their fathers. These worshippers of the prophets soon afterwards showed that they allowed the deeds of their fathers, by crucifying the divine Prophet who Moses had foretold. In Syria at the present day the tomb of David on Mount Zion and that of Abraham at Hebron are most jealously guarded, and any intruder is instantly put to death; while almost all the laws of God and man may be violated with impunity. Deserted tombs were sometimes used as places of refuge and residence by the poor, Isa 65:4; Lu 8:27; the shepherds of Palestine still drive their flocks into them for shelter, and wandering Arabs live in them during the winter. See BURIAL.

Maundrell’s description of the sepulchre north of Jerusalem—supposed by many to be the work of Helena queen of Adiabene, though now known as "the tombs of the kings,"—may be useful for illustrating some passages of Scripture:

"The next place we came to was those famous grots called the sepulchres of the kings; but for what reason they go by that name is hard to resolve; for it is certain none of the kings, either of Israel or Judah, were buried here, the holy Scriptures assigning other places for their sepulchres. Whoever was buried here, this is certain that the place itself discovers so great an expense, both of labor and treasure, that we may well suppose it to have been the work of kings. You approach to it at the east side through an entrance cut out of the natural rock, which admits you into an open court of about forty paces square, cut down into the rock with which it is encompassed instead of walls."

"On the west side of the court is a portico nine paces long and four broad, hewn likewise out of the natural rock. This has a kind of architrave, running along its front, adorned with sculpture, of fruits and flowers, still discernible, but by time much defaced. At the end of the portico, on the left hand, you descend to the passage into the sepulchres. The door is now so obstructed with stones and rubbish, that it is a thing of some difficulty to creep through it. But within you arrive in a large fair room, about seven yards square, cut out of the natural rock. Its sides and ceiling are so exactly square, and its angles so just, that no architect, with levels and plummets, could build a room more regular. And the whole is so firm and entire that it may be called a chamber hallowed out of one piece of marble. From this room you pass into, I think, six more, one within another, all of the same fabric with the first. Of these the two innermost are deeper than the rest, having a second descent of about six or seven steps into them. In every one of these rooms, except the first, were coffins of stone placed in niches in the sides of the chambers. They had been at first covered with handsome lids, and carved with garlands; but now most of them were broken to pieces by sacrilegious hands."

Serah

A daughter of Asher, thrice named among those who migrated to Egypt, Ge 46:17; Nu 26:46; 1Ch 7:30. Why she was thus distinguished is unknown, but the rabbis have many fables respecting her.

Seraiah

The name of six persons, alluded to in the following passages: 2Sa 8:17; 2Ki 25:18; Ezr 7:1; Jer 36:26; 40:8; 51:59. The last is termed "a quiet prince" or "chief chamberlain." He bore to the Jews in Babylon a message from the prophet Jeremiah.

Seraphim

Burning ones, celestial beings surrounding the throne of God. Compare De 4:24; Heb 12:29. They appear to be distinguished from the cherubim, Eze 1:5-12. The prophet Isaiah, Isa 6:2,3, represents them as reverently adoring the triune God, and burning with zeal to fly and execute his will. Each one had six wings, with two of which he covered his face, with two his feet, and with the two others he flew. They cried to one another, and said, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"

Sergeants

Ac 16:35, properly Roman lictors, public servants who bore a bundle of rods, sometimes with an axe in the center, before the magistrates of cities and colonies as insignia of their office, and who executed the sentences which their masters pronounced.

Sergius Paulus

Proconsul or governor of the isle of Cyprus, was converted under the ministry of Paul, A. D. 48, Ac 13:7.

Serpents

These reptiles, unclean among the Hebrews, Le 11:10,41, are widely diffused through the world, but are most numerous and venomous in tropical climates. About one-sixth part of all that are known to be poisonous. These are distinguished by having two hollow poisonfangs in the upper jaw, and are usually of slower motion than most snakes. Venomous serpents were abundant in Egypt and Arabia, and seven different kinds are mentioned in the Hebrew scriptures, some of which are identified with existing species. See ADDER, ASP, COCKATRICE, and VIPER.

The serpents mentioned in Nu 21:1-35; Isa 14:29; 30:6, and by whom multitudes of the Israelites were destroyed in the desert north of the Gulf of Akabah, were probably called "fiery" and "flying" with reference to the agonizing heat caused by their poison, and the rapidity of their darting motion. Herodotus indeed speaks of winged serpents as appearing every spring on the Arabian border of Egypt; but he did not see them, nor are there any to be met with in modern times. The serpent of brass, made and erected on a pole by Moses, had no healing virtue in itself, but was a test of the penitence and faith of the people. The author of Ecclesiasticus says of the Israelites, "They were troubled for a small season that they might be admonished, having a sign of salvation to put them in remembrance of the commandment of thy law. For he that turned towards it was not saved by the thing that he saw, but by thee, that art the Savior of all." Our Savior himself shows that the brazen serpent was a type of Him, Joh 3:14,15. The believing view of Christ is salvation to the soul infected by the fatal poison of sin. Respecting the brazen serpent, see NEHUSHTAN. Hezekiah destroyed a true and most sacred relic; Rome, on the contrary, fabricates false relics and adores them. See CHARMERS.

Interpreters have largely speculated concerning the nature of the serpent that tempted Eve. Some have thought that serpents originally had feet and speech; but there is no probability that this creature was ever otherwise than it now is. Its subtle, crafty malignity is often alluded to the Scriptures, Ge 3:1; Mt 10:16; 22:33. Besides, it cannot be doubted but that by the serpent we are to understand the devil, who employed the serpent as a vehicle to seduce the first woman, Ge 3:13; 2Co 11:3; Re 12:9.

Serug

A descendant of Shem, and an ancestor of Abraham, Ge 11:20-23; Lu 3:35. Jewish tradition says he was the first of his line that fell into idolatry, Jos 24:2.