Large bodies of water are called seas, and I’ve seen a few of them. I grew up on the Atlantic seacoast, and I have been to the Pacific. I currently live near the Gulf of Mexico and I’ve visited the Mediterranean, Aegean and North Seas. There is a lot of water on this earth – a lot of seas. And that is today’s word for consideration.
When God first made the earth, it was all water. But then God called the land masses into existence and differentiated between the land and the water. In Genesis 1:9-10 we read, “Then God said, ‘Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear’; and it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.” Now, this great separation of land from the seas happened on the third day of Creation.
The word “sea” is a Hebrew word used to refer to a large body of water. It is used in the Old Testament not only to refer to actual seas (like the Mediterranean Sea), but also to large lakes (like the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea). The interesting thing to note in this verse, however, is that the word is plural. God did not make just one sea—He made many. Yet, these verses say that the waters were all gathered together in one place. So, the waters were all in one place, but there were many seas.
Dr. Morris explains it this way: “Although in one ‘place,’ the waters had assembled in numerous distinct basins… All were interconnected by a complex network of tubes and waterways, so that in essence they were all ‘gathered together unto one place’.” So, on the third day, God created the seas.
Now you know the real meaning of the word.
Hey – Most people love to go to the lake or the beach. There is just something mesmerizing about large bodies of water – the seas.