Ships And Boats
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [1]
1. In OT and Apocrypha
(1) Among the Israelites . In spite of the long line of coast by which Palestine is bordered, the Israelites were an agricultural rather than a maritime people. In fact a large part of the coast was occupied by the Phœnicians in the North and the Philistines in the South. That in the earliest times the people as a whole were ignorant of navigation is shewn by their version of the Flood, in which an unnavigable box takes the place of the navigated ship of the ancient Accadian story. Exceptions more or less to the rule in relatively ancient times were the tribes of Asher on the north, and Dan, before its emigration, on the south.
‘And Dan, why did he remain in ships?
Asher sat still at the haven of the sea,
And abode by his creeks’ ( Judges 5:17 ).
It is very doubtful whether boats were originally used, even by the Phœnicians and the Philistines, except for fishing, and perhaps for purely local traffic and communication. Zidon, the earliest Phœnician settlement, was, like its synonym, Beth-saida, derived from a root meaning to catch prey, and was doubtless first noted as a fishing town. Again, Dagon, the chief god of the Philistines, is derived from the word dag , meaning a fish.
At a somewhat later period we find Zebulun described as a ‘ haven of ships ’ ( Genesis 49:18 ), and later still, probably after the division of the kingdom, Issachar is mentioned with Zebulun as deriving wealth from naval commerce ( Deuteronomy 33:19 ).
In any case, it is not till the time of Solomon that we hear definitely of any important development of commercial enterprise. Under the direction, and with the co-operation, of the PhÅ“nicians, cedar and cypress timbers from Lebanon were cut and floated down the rivers to the coast and formed into rafts (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] floats ), which carried the sawn stones to Joppa. Here they were broken up, and both were conveyed to Jerusalem for the building of the Temple ( 1 Kings 5:9 , 2 Chronicles 2:3-18 ). Solomon had also a navy of ships navigated by PhÅ“nician sailors. They were stationed at Ezion-geber , at the head of the Gulf of Akabah, and traded with Ophir, probably in the southeast of Arabia, in gold and precious stones ( 1 Kings 9:26-28 ). The ‘ivory and apes and peacocks’ of 1 Kings 10:22 may have been imported into this region from India and more distant Eastern lands, or the ships of Hiram and Solomon may themselves have made more distant voyages. In addition to this, there was a regular trade maintained with Egypt, whence Solomon Imported chariots and horses ( 1 Kings 10:28-29 ).
The conflict between the Northern and Southern Kingdoms after Solomon’s death put a stop to the commercial activities of the Jews, and there does not appear to have been any attempt to revive them till the time of Jehoshaphat, whose fleet of ships made for trading for gold to Ophir was wrecked at Ezion-geber. An offer of Ahaziah to join in a renewal of the enterprise was afterwards rejected ( 1 Kings 22:43; 1 Kings 22:49 ). The mention in Isaiah 2:16 of ‘ships of Tarshish’ among the objects against which J″ [Note: Jahweh.] ’s judgment would be directed, makes it likely that there was again a revival of naval commerce in the prosperous reigns of Jotham and Uzziah. Finally, in the time of the Maccabees we read that Simon, the brother of Judas, made Joppa a seaport ( 1Ma 14:5 ). It was probably at this period that the Jews first began to have experience of ships of war ( 1Ma 1:17; 1Ma 15:3; cf. Daniel 11:30 ), though they must have been in use at a much earlier period. There are figures of such ships, with sharp beaks for ramming, in Layard’s History of Nineveh , and Sennacherib in his expedition against Merodach-baladan had ships manned by Tyrians. In Isaiah 33:21 the allusion is certainly to hostile ships, but the reference may he to ships of transport, rather than warships. In any case the distinction between a merchantman and a warship in early times was obviously not so definite as it afterwards became.
(2) Among neighbouring nations . Unlike the Israelites, the PhÅ“nicians were the great navigators of the ancient world. Their country was particularly favourable for such a development. Dwelling on a narrow piece of sea-board, unsuited for agriculture (they imported corn from Palestine, 1 Kings 5:11 , Acts 12:20 ), they had behind them the Lebanon range, famed for its great cedars, and a coast with good natural harbours. By the time of Solomon they would seem already to have had an extensive trade. The phrase ‘ ships of Tarshish ’ which probably meant originally ships accustomed to trade with Tartessus in Spain, had come to be used in a secondary sense, like our ‘East-Indiaman,’ of large vessels suited for such a trade. It is believed that by this time they had penetrated as far as Cornwall, and had even found their way to the Canaries. Their numerous colonies, at any rate the most distant, of which Carthage is the best known, probably began to be founded soon after. The form of their ships was, it would appear, a gradual development from the hollowed trunk of a tree to the vessel of three banks of oars, known among the Greeks as a trireme (see Hastings’ DB [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] , art. ‘Ships’). With the Assyrians navigation seems to have been confined to the Tigris and Euphrates, where small timber boats, supported by inflated skins ( keleks ), and coracles of plaited willow ( kufas ), were largely in use (see EBi [Note: Encyclopædia Biblica.] , art. ‘Ships’). On the other hand, the Babylonians seem quite to have justified the phrase ‘ships of their rejoicing’ i.e. in which they take pride ( Isaiah 43:14 ), having extended their voyages to the Persian Gulf, and even engaged in commerce with India since the 7th cent. b.c. The Egyptians used ‘ vessels of papyrus ’ for the navigation of the Nile ( Isaiah 18:2 , cf. Job 9:26 ), but it is not quite certain whether they were boats constructed out of papyrus, or rafts composed of bundles of these reeds bound together. We learn from Egyptian monuments that they had also ships of considerable size. We have very little to guide us in determining the form or size of ships during these early periods, but it is probable that while at first they appear to have varied greatly, they gradually approximated to the type of vessel used in the Levant in NT times. It is not possible to say at what time sails were first introduced. We find them, or more correctly the sail, in the one great sail mentioned in Ezekiel 27:7 in addition to the oars. In Isaiah 33:23 the sail only is mentioned. In Isaiah 33:21 the ‘ galley with oars ’ is mentioned distinctively, and in contrast to the ‘ gallant ship ,’ which probably means the larger vessel provided with a sail.
(3) In literature . That the Israelites, though, generally speaking, unused to navigation, had some acquaintance with and took an interest in shipping, is clear from the constant reference to ships in their literature. Isaiah 33:23 , in which Israel is compared to a disabled vessel, has been already alluded to. Ezekiel’s famous comparison of Tyre to a ship in Isaiah 27:4-11 gives a fair general idea of the different parts of a ship of that period, though some of them the deck-planks of ivory, the sail of fine bordered linen, the awnings of blue and purple are evidently idealized. The graphic picture in Psalms 107:23-27 of the terrors experienced by those ‘who go down to the sea in ships’ was almost certainly written by one who had experienced a storm at sea. In Psalms 104:25 the ships are, as much as leviathan, the natural denizens of the deep. Of special beauty is the simile of the ship that passes over the waves and leaves no pathway of its keel behind ( Wis 5:10 ), to express the transitoriness of human life and human hope. The danger of ship-faring is pointed out in Wis 14:5 . That people should commit their lives to a small piece of wood would be absurd but for Divine Providence.
2. In the NT . We are concerned chiefly with our Lord’s Galilæan ministry and St. Paul’s voyages.
(1) On the Sea of Galilee . The Galilæan boats were used primarily for fishing, and also for communication between the villages on the Lake, and probably for local trade. At least four of our Lord’s disciples were fishermen, and were called while engaged in their work. He frequently crossed the Lake with His disciples, and sometimes preached from a boat to the people on the shore ( Luke 5:2 , Mark 4:1 ). Among the most picturesque incidents of His life as recorded in the Gospels are the miracle of stilling the tempest and the miraculous draughts of fishes. The boats were small enough to be in danger of sinking from a very large catch of fish, and yet large enough to contain our Lord and at least the majority of His twelve Apostles, and to weather the storms which are still frequent on the Lake. It appears from the frequent use of the definite article, ‘the boat,’ that one particular boat, probably St. Peter’s, was usually employed.
(2) In the Levant . Ships played an important part in St. Paul’s missionary journeys. It was frequently necessary for him to cross the Ægæan, and sometimes to make longer voyages to and from Syria. That he was frequently exposed to great danger we learn not only from the detailed account of his shipwreck in Acts 27:1-44 , but from an express statement in 2 Corinthians 11:25 , in which, writing before this event , he says ‘thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep,’ which certainly seems to mean that he drifted for this space of time upon the spar or some part of a wrecked ship. But our interest is centred chiefly in the account of his voyage from Cæsarea to Puteoli in Acts 27:1-44; Acts 28:1-31 . From this we learn that the larger vessels were of a considerable size, that of the shipwreck containing, according to what is probably the correct text, 276 persons ( Acts 27:37; according to B, 76). It was impelled only by sail , the only oars mentioned being the paddles used as rudders , which were braced up, probably in order to allow the ship to be more easily anchored at the stern ( Acts 27:29; Acts 27:40 ). This, a custom not infrequently resorted to when some special purpose was served by it, was to enable them to thrust the vessel into a favourable place on shore without the necessity of turning her round. In addition to the mainsail , the vessel had a foresail ( artemôn ), which was used for the same purpose, as more easily adapted for altering the ship’s course ( Acts 27:40 ). The vessel had one small boat , which was usually towed behind, but was taken up for greater security during the storm ( Acts 27:16 ). Another remarkable practice is that described in Acts 27:17 as ‘using helps, undergirding the ship.’ These helps or ‘under girders’ were chains passed under and across the ship, and tightened to prevent the boards from springing. It was a common practice of ancient times, and is not unknown even in modern navigation. Soundings were taken to test the near approach to land, much as they would be at the present day. Though ships had to depend mainly on one great square sail, by bracing this they were enabled to sail within seven points of the wind. In this case, allowing another six points for leeway, the vessel under a northeaster ( Euraquilo , Acts 27:14 ) made way from Cauda to Malta, a direction considerably north of west. As, however, the vessel could not safely carry the mainsail, or even the yard-arm, these were first lowered on deck, and then the vessel must have been heaved to and been carried along and steadied by a small storm-sail of some kind. Had she drifted before the wind she would inevitably have been driven on to the Syrtis, the very thing they wished to avoid ( Acts 27:17 ). This has been shown very clearly by Smith in his classical work, The Voyage of St. Paul , ch. iii. The same writer draws attention to the thoroughly nautical character of St. Luke’s language, and the evidence of its accuracy by a comparison with what is known of ancient naval practice; and, what is perhaps even more striking, the evidence of skilful navigation to which the narrative points. He justly observes that the chief reason why sailing in the winter was dangerous ( Acts 27:9 , Acts 28:11 ) was not so much the storms, as the constant obscuring of the heavens, by which, before the discovery of the compass, mariners had chiefly to direct their course.
The fact that two of the ships in which St. Paul sailed were ships of Alexandria engaged in the wheat trade with Italy ( Acts 27:6; Acts 27:38 , Acts 28:11; Acts 28:13; Puteoli was the great emporium of wheat), is especially interesting, as we happen to know more about them than any other ancient class of ship. In the time of Commodus a series of coins with figures of Alexandrian corn-ships was struck to commemorate an exceptional importation of wheat from Alexandria at a time of scarcity. One of these ships, moreover, was driven into the Piræus by stress of weather. Lucian lays the scene of one of his dialogues ( The Ship or Wishes ) on board of her. From the coins and the dialogue together we get a very good idea of the ships of that time (2nd cent. a.d.) and their navigation. Lucian’s ship was 180 ft. by 45 ft., with a calculated tonnage of about 1200. It is not surprising, then, that the Castor and Pottux was large enough to contain, in addition to her cargo and crew, the 276 persons of the shipwrecked vessel ( Acts 28:11 ). Josephus was wrecked in a ship containing 600. The ships had one huge square sail attached to an upright mast about the centre of the vessel, with a very long yard-arm. There was also a second small mast, set diagonally near the bow, and looking not unlike a modern bowsprit, which carried the foresail. On the principal mast there was also sometimes a small triangular topsail. Both ends of the vessel curved upwards and were pointed horizontally, and terminated, the former especially, in some sort of decoration, very frequently a swan. The two rudder paddles , the universal method of steering till about the 12th cent., were usually in the larger vessels passed through port-holes, which could also serve as hawse holes when the vessel was anchored by the stern.
(3) In literature . In the books of the NT, shipping provided the writers with some striking similes. In the Ep. to the Heb. ( Hebrews 6:19 ), Christian hope is called ‘the anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and entering into that which is within the veil.’ Again, St. James compares the tongue, in the control which its constraint exercises on the character, to the very small rudders by which ships, though they be so great, are turned about ( Hebrews 3:4 ).
F. H. Woods.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [2]
I. The Hebrews And The Sea
II. Ships In The Old Testament And The Apocr YPHA
1. Among the Hebrews
(1) In Early Times
(2) During the Monarchy
(3) In Later Times
2. Among Neighboring Nations
(1) Egypt
(3) Phoenicia
3. General References
III. Ships In The New Testament
1. In the Gospels
2. In the Acts of the Apostles
3. In Other Books
In the Old Testament the following words are found:
(1) The word most commonly used in Hebrew for "a ship" is אניּה , 'ŏnı̄yāh ( Proverbs 30:19; Jonah 1:3 , Jonah 1:4 ), of which the plural 'ŏnı̄yāh is found most frequently ( Judges 5:17; 1 Kings 22:48 f, and many other places).
The collective term for "a navy of ships" is אני , 'ŏnı̄ ( 1 Kings 9:26 f; 1 Kings 10:22 , 'ŏnı̄ Tharshı̄sh , "a navy (of ships) of Tarshish"; but Isaiah 33:21 , 'ŏnı̄ shayit , a "galley with oars").
(2) צי , cı̄ ( Numbers 24:24; Ezekiel 30:9; Isaiah 33:21 ), cı̄ 'addı̄r , "gallant ship"; Daniel 11:30 , cı̄yı̄m Kittı̄m , "ships of Kittim.'
(3) ספינה , ṣephı̄nāh , "innermost parts of the ship" the Revised Version (British and American), "sides of the ship" the King James Version ( Jonah 1:5 , the only place where the word is found).
In Apocrypha πλοῖον , ploı́on , is the usual word (The Wisdom of Song of Solomon 14:1; Sirach 33:2 , etc.), translated "vessel" in The Wisdom of Song of Solomon 14:1 , but "ship" elsewhere. For "ship" The Wisdom of Song of Solomon 5:10 has ναῦς , naús . "Boat" in 2 Maccabees 12:3,6 is for σκάφος , skáphos , and "navy" in 1 Maccabees 1:17; 2 Maccabees 12:9; 14:1 for στόλος , stólos . In The Wisdom of Song of Solomon 14:6 Noah's ark is called a σχεδσία , schedı́a , a "clumsy ship" (the literal translation "raft" in the Revised Version (British and American) is impossible).
In the New Testament there are four words in use: (1) ναῦς , naús ( Acts 27:41 , the only place where it occurs, designating the large sea-going vessel in which Paul suffered shipwreck). (2) πλοιάριον , ploiárion , "a little boat" ( Mark 3:9 and two other places, John 6:22 ff; John 21:8 ). (3) πλοῖον , ploı́on , "boat" ( Matthew 4:21 , Matthew 4:22 and many other places in the Gospels - the ordinary fishingboat of the Sea of Galilee rendered "boat" uniformly in the Revised Version (British and American) instead of "ship" the King James Version), "ship" ( Acts 20:13 , and all other places where the ship carrying Paul is mentioned, except Acts 27:41 , as above). In James 3:4; Revelation 8:9; Revelation 18:17 ff, it is rendered "ship." (4) σκάφη , skáphē , "boat" ( Acts 27:16 , Acts 27:30 , Acts 27:32 , where it means the small boat of the ship in which Paul was being conveyed as a prisoner to Rome).
Cognate expressions are: "shipmen," אניּות אנשׁי , 'anshē 'ŏnı̄yōth ( 1 Kings 9:27 ); ναῦται , naútai ( Acts 27:27 , Acts 27:30 the King James Version, "sailors" the Revised Version (British and American)); "mariners," מלּחים , mallāḥı̄m ( Jonah 1:15; Ezekiel 27:9 , Ezekiel 27:27 , Ezekiel 27:29 ), שׁטים , shāṭı̄m ( Ezekiel 27:8 the King James Version, "rowers" the Revised Version (British and American); Ezekiel 27:26 , the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American)); "pilot," חבל , ḥōbhēl ( Jonah 1:6; Ezekiel 27:8 , Ezekiel 27:27 , Ezekiel 27:28 , Ezekiel 27:29 ); "sailing," "voyage," πλοῦς , ploús ( Acts 21:7; Acts 27:9 , Acts 27:10 , the Revised Version (British and American) "voyage" in all verses).
I. The Hebrews and the Sea.
The Hebrews were a pastoral and agricultural people, and had no inducements to follow a seafaring life. They were possessed of a considerable seaboard along the Mediterranean, but the character of their coast gave little encouragement to navigation. The coast line of the land of Israel from Carmel southward had no bays and no estuaries or river-mouths to offer shelter from storm or to be havens of ships. Solomon landed his timber and other materials for the Temple at Joppa, and tradition has handed down what is called "Solomon's Harbor" there. The builders of the second temple also got timber from Lebanon and conveyed it to Joppa. It was Simon Maccabeus, however, who built its harbor, and the harbor at Joppa was "the first and only harbor of the Jews" (G. A. Smith, Hghl , 136). Caesarea in New Testament times was a place of shipping and possessed a harbor which Josephus declared to be greater than the Piraeus, but it was Herodian and more Greek and Roman than Jewish. It was mostly inhabited by Greeks (Josephus, Bj , III, ix, 1). Now Caesarea has disappeared; and Joppa has only an open roadstead where vessels lie without shelter, and receive and discharge cargo and passengers by means of boats plying between them and the shore. It was in other directions that Israel made acquaintance with the activities of the sea. Of internal navigation, beyond the fishing-boats on the Sea of Galilee which belong exclusively to the New Testament, the ferry boat on the Jordan ( 2 Samuel 19:18 , עברה , ‛ăbhārāh ) alone receives notice, and even that is not perfectly clear (the Revised Version margin "convoy," but a "ford" is doubtless meant). It is from Tyre and Egypt and even Assyria and Babylonia, rather than from their own waters, that the Hebrew prophets and psalmists drew their pictures of seafaring life.
II. Ships in the Old Testament and Apocrypha.
1. Among the Hebrews:
(1) In Early Times.
In the early books of the Old Testament there are references connecting certain of the tribes, and these northern tribes, with the activities of the sea. In the "Blessing of Jacob" and in the "Blessing of Moses" Zebulun and Issachar are so connected ( Genesis 49:13; Deuteronomy 33:19 ); and in Deborah's Song, which is acknowledged to be a very early fragment of Hebrew literature, Dan and Asher are also spoken of as connected with the life and work of the sea ( Judges 5:17 ). The Oracle of Balaam ( Numbers 24:24 ) looks forward to a day when a fleet from Kittim should take the sea for the destruction of Assyria. "Ships of Kittim" are mentioned in Daniel ( Daniel 11:30 ). Kittim is referred to in the three greater Prophets ( Isaiah 23:1 , Isaiah 23:12; Jeremiah 2:10; Ezekiel 27:6 ). The land of Kittim is Cyprus, and in the references in Isaiah it is associated with Tyre and the ships of Tarshish.
(2) During the Monarchy.
It is not till the time of the monarchy that the Hebrews begin to figure as a commercial people. Already in the time of David commercial relations had been established between Israel and Tyre ( 2 Samuel 5:11 f). The friendly cooperation was continued by Solomon, who availed himself not only of the cedar and the fir at Hiram's command on Lebanon, but also of the skilled service of Hiram's men to bring the timber from the mountains to the sea. Hiram also undertook to make the cedar and the fir into rafts ( 1 Kings 5:9 , דּברות , dōbherōth , the King James Version "floats"; 2 Chronicles 2:16 , רפסדות , raphṣōdhōth , "flotes" the King James Version, "floats" the Revised Version (British and American)) to go by sea and to deliver them to Solomon's men at the place appointed, which the Chronicler tells us was Joppa. From this cooperation in the building of the Temple there grew up a larger connection in the pursuit of sea-borne commerce. It was at Ezion-geber near to Eloth on the Red Sea, in the land of Edom which David had conquered, that Solomon built his fleet, "a navy of ships" ( 1 Kings 9:26-28 ). Hiram joined Solomon in these enterprises which had their center on the Red Sea, and thus the Phoenicians had water communication with the coasts of Arabia and Africa, and even of India. The same partnership existed for the commerce of the West. "For the king (Solomon) had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks" ( 1 Kings 10:22 ).
Tarshish is the name of the Phoenician colony on the river Tartessus, called also Baetis, the modern Guadalquivir. It was the farthest limit of the western world as known to the Hebrews. Attempts have been made to identify it with Tarsus of Cilicia, but they are not convincing. It is conceived of in Hebrew literature as remote ( Isaiah 66:19; Jonah 1:3; Jonah 4:2 ), as rich ( Psalm 72:10; Jeremiah 10:9 ), as powerful in commerce ( Ezekiel 38:13 ). Ships of Tarshish were no doubt ships actually built for the Tarshish trade ( 2 Chronicles 20:36 f; Jonah 1:3 ), but the expression became a general designation for large sea-going vessels to any quarter. Ships of Tarshish made a deep impression upon the imagination of the Hebrew people. The Psalmist takes it as a proof of the power of Yahweh that He breaks the ships of Tarshish with an east wind ( Psalm 48:7 ). Isaiah includes them among the great and lofty objects of power and glory which the terror of the Lord would certainly overtake ( Isaiah 2:16 ). Ezekiel regards them as the caravans that bore the merchandise of the mistress of the sea ( Ezekiel 27:25 ). It is in ships of Tarshish that the prophet of the Return sees the exiles borne in crowds to Jerusalem as their natural home ( Isaiah 60:9 ).
From Solomon's time onward the kings of Judah retained their hold upon Eloth ( 1 Kings 22:48 f; 2 Chronicles 20:35-37 ) till it was seized by the Syrians in the days of Ahaz ( 2 Kings 16:6 ).
(3) In Later Times.
As Solomon had the cooperation of Hiram in securing material and craftsmen for the building of the first Temple, so Joshua and Zerubbabel by the favor of Cyrus obtained timber from Lebanon, and masons and carpenters from Sidon and Tyre for the building of the second. Again, cedar trees were brought from Lebanon by sea to Joppa, and thence conveyed to Jerusalem ( Ezra 3:7 ).
From Joppa Jonah fled to avoid compliance with God's command to go to Nineveh and preach repentance there ( Jonah 1:1 ff). He found a ship bound for Tarshish as far toward the West as Nineveh to the East. The fare ( ṣākhār ) paid by him as a passenger, the hold of the ship in which he stowed himself away ( ṣephı̄nāh ), the crew ( mallāḥı̄m ) the captain or shipmaster ( rabh ha - ḥōbhēl ), the storm, the angry sea, the terrified mariners and their cry to their gods, and the casting of Jonah overboard to appease the raging waters - all make a lifelike picture.
It was in the time of Simon, the last survivor of the Maccabean brothers, that Joppa became a seaport with a harbor for shipping - "Amid all his glory he took Joppa for a haven, and made it an entrance for the isles of the sea" ( 1 Maccabees 14:5 ). When Simon reared his monument over the sepulcher of his father and brothers at Modin, he set up seven pyramids with pillars, upon which were carved figures of ships to be "seen of all that sail on the sea" ( 1 Maccabees 13:29 ). About this period we hear of ships in naval warfare. When Antiochus 4 Epiphanes planned his expedition against Egypt, he had with other armaments "a great navy," presumably ships of war ( 1 Maccabees 1:17 ); and at a later time Antiochus 7 speaks expressly of "ships of war" ( 1 Maccabees 15:3 ).
2. Among Neighboring Nations:
(1) Egypt.
The Egyptians, like other nations of antiquity, had a great horror of the open sea, although they were expert enough in managing their craft upon the Nile. Pharaoh-necoh built up a powerful navy to serve him both in commerce and in war. See Pharaoh-Necoh .
Of explicit references to Egyptian ships in the Old Testament there are but few. Isaiah speaks of "vessels of papyrus upon the waters" of the Upper Nile, on board of which are the messengers of Cush or Ethiopia returning to tell the tidings of the overthrow of Assyria to the inhabitants of those remote lands ( Isaiah 18:2 the King James Version has "bulrushes" instead of "papyrus"). Ezekiel also, foretelling the overthrow of Egypt, speaks of messengers traveling with the news on swift Nile boats to strike terror into the hearts of the "careless Ethiopians" ( Ezekiel 30:9 ). When Job compares his days to "the swift ships" ("the ships of reed" the Revised Version margin), the allusion is most likely to Egypt's, these being skiffs with a wooden keel and the rest of bulrushes, sufficient to carry one person, or at most two, and light, to travel swiftly ( Job 9:26 ).
(2) Assyria and Babylonia.
The Assyrians and Babylonians were mainly an inland people, but their rivers gave them considerable scope for navigation. The Assyrian monuments contain representations of naval engagements and of operations on the seacoast. When Isaiah pictures Yahweh as a better defense of Judah than the rivers and streams of Assyria and Egypt are to their people he says, "There Yahweh will be with us in majesty, a place of broad rivers and streams, wherein shall go no galley with oars ( 'ŏnı̄ shayiṭ ), neither shall gallant ship ( cı̄ 'addı̄r ) pass thereby.... Thy tacklings (ropes, cables) are loosed; they could not strengthen the foot of their mast, they could not spread the sail" ( Isaiah 33:21 , Isaiah 33:23 ). Speaking of Yahweh's wonders to be performed toward His people after Babylon had been overthrown, the prophet declares: "Thus saith Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring down all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing" ( Isaiah 43:14 ). In this case, however, the ships are not war ships, but more probably merchant ships, or ships for pleasure, sailing in the Euphrates.
(3) Phoenicia.
It was from the Phoenicians that the Mediterranean peoples learned seamanship and skill in navigation. It is fitting, therefore, that in his dirge over the downfall of the mistress of the sea, Ezekiel should represent Tyre as a gallant ship, well built, well furnished, and well manned, broken by the seas in the depths of the waters, fallen into the heart of the seas in the day of her ruin. Ezekiel's description (chapter 27, with Davidson's notes) brings together more of the features of the ship of antiquity than any other that has come down to us. Her builders have made her perfect in beauty with planks of fir or cypress, mast of cedar, oars of the oak of Bashan, benches or deck of ivory inlaid with boxwood, sail of fine linen with broidered work from Egypt, and an awning of blue and purple from the coastlands of Elisha (possibly Sicily). She is manned with oarsmen of Sidon and Arvad, pilots of the wise men of Tyre, calkers from Gebal to stop up the cracks and seams in her timbers, mariners and men of war from other lands who enhanced her beauty by hanging up the shield and helmet within her. She is freighted with the most varied cargo , the produce of the lands around, her customers, or as they are called, her traffickers , being Tarshish in the far West, Sheba and Arabia in the South, Haran and Asshur in the East, Javan, which is Greece, and Togarmah, which is Armenia, in the North.
One or two of the particulars of this description may be commented upon. ( a ) As regards rigging , the Phoenician ships of the time of Ezekiel, as seen in Assyrian representations, had one mast with one yard and carried a square sail . Egyptian ships on the Red Sea about the time of the Exodus, from reliefs of the Xix th Dynasty, had one mast and two yards, and carried also one large square sail. The masts and yards were made of fir, or of pine, and the sails of linen, but the fiber of papyrus was employed as well as flax in the manufacture of sail-cloth. The sail had also to serve "for an ensign " ( lenēs , Ezekiel 27:7 ). "The flag proper," says Davidson (ad loc.), "seems not to have been used in ancient navigation; its purpose was served by the sail, as for example at the battle of Actium the ship of Antony was distinguished by its purple sail."
( b ) As regards the crew , in the two-banked Phoenician ship the rowers of the first bank work their oars over the gunwale, and those of the second through portholes lower down, so that each may have free play for his oar. The calkers were those who filled up seams or cracks in the timbers with tow and covered them over with tar or wax, after the manner of the instruction given to Noah regarding the Ark: "Thou ... shalt pitch it within and without with pitch" ( Genesis 6:14 ).
( 100 ) As regards cargo , it is to be noted that "the persons of men," that is, slaves, formed an article of merchandise in which Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, countries to the North, traded with Tyre.
3. General References:
Of general references to shipping and seafaring life there are comparatively few in the Old Testament. In his great series of Nature-pictures in Psalm 104 , the Psalmist finds a place for the sea and ships ( Psalm 104:25 ff), and in Ps 107 there is a picture of the storm overtaking them that go down to the sea in ships, and of the deliverance that comes to them when God "bringeth" them into their desired haven" ( Psalm 107:23 ff). In the Book of Proverbs the ideal woman who brings her food from far is like "the merchant ships" ( Proverbs 31:14 ). In the same book the drunkard, because of his unnatural insensibility to danger, is likened to a man "that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast" ( Proverbs 23:34 ); and among the inscrutable things of the world the writer includes "the way of a ship in the midst of the sea" ( Proverbs 30:19 ). In Wisdom, human life is described "as a ship passing through the billowy water, whereof, when it is gone by, there is no trace to be found, neither pathway of its keel in the billows" (Wisd 5:10). The same book notes it as a striking example of the case of a divine and beneficent Providence that "men entrust their lives to a little piece of wood, and passing through the surge on a raft are brought safe to land" (Wisd 14:1-5). The Jews like the Egyptians and the Assyrians had a natural shrinking from the sea, and Ecclesiasticus interprets their feeling when he says: "They that sail on the sea tell of the danger thereof; and when we hear it with our ears, we marvel" (43:24).
III. Ships in the New Testament.
1. In the Gospels:
It is the fishing-boats of the Sea of Galilee which exclusively occupy attention in the Gospels. In the time of our Lord's ministry in Galilee the shores of the Sea were densely peopled, and there must have been many boats engaged in the fishing industry. Bethsaida at the northern end of the Lake and Tarichea at the southern end were great centers of the trade. The boats were probably of a size and build similar to the few employed on the Lake today, which are between 20,30 ft. in length and 7 ft. in breadth. The word "launch," of putting a boat or a ship into the sea, has disappeared from the Revised Version (British and American), except in Luke 8:22 , where it is more appropriate to an inland lake. They were propelled by oars, but no doubt also made use of the sail when the wind was favorable ( Luke 8:23 ), though the pictures which we have in the Gospels are mostly of the boatmen toiling in rowing in the teeth of a gale ( Mark 6:48 ), and struggling with the threatening waves ( Matthew 14:24 ). In the boat on which Jesus and the disciples were crossing the Lake after the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus was in the stern "asleep on the cushion" ( Mark 4:38 , the King James Version "a pillow"; Greek proskephálaion , "headrest"). More than once Jesus made special use of a boat. As He was by the seashore a great concourse of people from all parts made it desirable that "a small boat" ( ploiarion ) should be in attendance off the shore to receive Him in case of need, though He does not seem to have required it ( Mark 3:9 ). On another occasion, when the crowds were still greater, He went into a boat and sat "in the sea" with the multitude on the sloping beach before Him ( Mark 4:1; Luke 5:3 ). This boat is said in Luke's narrative to have been Simon's, and it seems from references to it as "the boat" on other occasions to have been generally at the disposal of Jesus.
2. In the Acts of the Apostles:
It is Paul's voyages which yield us the knowledge that we possess from Biblical sources of ships in New Testament times. They are recorded for us in the Acts by Luke, who, as Sir William Ramsay puts it, had the true Greek feeling for the sea ( St. Paul the Traveler , 21). In Luke's writings there are many nautical terms, peculiar to him, used with great exactitude and precision.
When Paul had appealed to Caesar and was proceeding to Rome in charge of Julius, the centurion, along with other prisoners, a ship of Adramyttium, a coasting vessel, carried the party from Caesarea along the Syrian coast, northward of Cyprus, past Cilicia and Pamphylia, to Myra of Lycia. There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy, one of the great corn fleet carrying grain from Egypt for the multitudes of Rome. (After the capture of Jerusalem the emperor Titus returned to Italy in such a vessel, touching at Rhegium and landing at Puteoil.) The size of the vessel is indicated by the fact that there were 276 persons on board, crew and passengers all told ( Acts 27:37 ). Luke has made no note of the name of this or of the previous vessels in which Paul had voyaged. Of the presumably larger vessel, also an Alexandrian corn ship bound for Rome, which had wintered in Melita, and which afterward took on board the shipwrecked party ( Acts 28:11 ), "the sign" (παράσημον , parásēmon ) is given, and she is called "The Twin Brothers." The expression shows that it was in painting or relief; a figurehead, with the Twin Brothers represented, would be given by ἐπίημον , epı́sēmon . The cargo ( Φορτίον , phortı́on , Acts 27:10 , the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) "lading") in this case was wheat ( Acts 27:38 ), but another word is used, γόλμος , gómos , by Luke of a ship's load of varied wares ( Acts 21:3; compare Revelation 18:11 ff).
Of those engaged in handling the ship we find ( Acts 27:11 ) the master ( κυβερνήτης , kubernḗtēs ), the owner ( ναύκληρος , naúklēros , although this expression seems not quite consistent with the ownership of a grain ship of the imperial service, and Ramsay's distinction between the words, making the former "sailing-master" and the latter "captain," may be better), the sailors ( Acts 27:30 , who treacherously sought to lower the ship's boat on the pretense of laying out anchors from the "foreship" or prow, and to get away from the doomed vessel).
Of operations belonging to the navigation of the vessel in the storm there were (1) the taking on board of the ship's boat and securing it with ropes ( Acts 27:16 , in which operation Luke seems to have taken part; compare 27:32), (2) the undergirding of the ship ( Acts 27:17 , using helps , that is taking measures of relief and adopting the expedient, only resorted to in extremities, of passing cables under the keel of the ship to keep the hull together and to preserve the timbers from starting), (3) the lowering of the gear ( Acts 27:17 , reducing sail, taking down the mainsail and the main yard), (4) throwing freight overboard and later casting out the tackling of the ship ( Acts 27:19 ), (5) taking soundings ( Acts 27:28 ), (6) letting go four anchors from the stern ( Acts 27:29 , stern-anchoring being very unusual, but a necessity in the circumstances), (7) further lightening the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea ( Acts 27:38 ), (8) cutting the anchor cables, unlashing the rudders, hoisting up the foresail to the wind, and holding straight for the beach ( Acts 27:40 ).
Of the parts of the ship's equipment there are mentioned "the sounding lead" ( βολίς , bolı́s , though it is the verb which is here used), "the anchors" ( ἄγκυραι , ágkurai , of which every ship carried several, and which at successive periods have been made of stone, iron, lead and perhaps other metals, each having two flukes and being held by a cable or a chain), "the rudders" ( πηδάλια , pēdália , of which every ship had two for steering, which in this case had been lifted out of the water and secured by "bands" to the side of the ship and unlashed when the critical moment came), "the foresail" ἀρτέμων , artémōn , not the mainsail, but the small sail at the bow of the vessel which at the right moment was hoisted to the wind to run her ashore), and "the boat" ( σκάφη , skáphē , which had been in tow in the wake of the vessel, according to custom still prevalent in those seas - coasting-vessels being sometimes becalmed, when the crew get into the small boat and take the ship in tow, using the oars to get her round a promontory or into a position more favorable for the wind). The season for navigation in those seas in ancient times was from April to October. During the winter the vessels were laid up, or remained in the shelter of some suitable haven. The reason for this was not simply the tempestuous character of the weather, but the obscuration of the heavens which prevented observations being taken for the steering of the ship ( Acts 27:20 ).
3. In Other Books:
In 2 Corinthians 11:25 Paul mentions among sufferings he had endured for Christ's sake that thrice he had suffered shipwreck, and that he had been "a night and a day in the deep," implying that he had been in danger of his life clinging to a spar, or borne upon a hurriedly constructed raft. It may be a reminiscence of the sea when Paul in the very earliest of his Epistles ( 1 Thessalonians 4:16 ), speaking of the coming of the Lord, says "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout" ἐν κελεύσματι , en keleúsmati ), where the picture is that of the κελευστής , keleustḗs , giving the time to the rowers on board a ship. Although ὑπηρέτης , hupērétēs , was "an underrower" and ὑπηρεσία , hupēresı́a , "the crew of a ship" as contrasted with κυβερνήτης , kubernḗtēs , "the sailing-master," the derived meaning of "servant" or "officer" has lost in the New Testament all trace of its origin ( Matthew 5:25; Luke 1:2 and many passages; compare στέλλειν , stéllein , and συστέλλειν , sustéllein , where the idea of "furling" or "shifting a sail" is entirely lost: 1 Corinthians 7:29; 2 Corinthians 8:20 ).
Figurative:
In Hebrews the hope of the gospel is figured as "an anchor ... sure and stedfast, and entering into that which is within the veil" ( Hebrews 6:19 , especially with Ebrard's note in Alford, at the place). James, showing the power of little things, adduces the ships, large though they be, and driven by fierce winds, turned about by a very small "rudder" (πηδάλιον , pēdálion ), as "the impulse of the steersman willeth" ( James 3:4 ). In Revelation there is a representation of the fall of Babylon in language reminiscent of the fall of Tyre (Ezek 27), in which lamentations arise from the merchants of the earth who can no more buy her varied merchandise (τόν γόμον , tón gómon , "cargo" the Revised Version margin), and shipmasters and passengers and seafaring people look in terror and grief upon the smoke of her burning ( Revelation 18:12-18 ).
Literature.
The usual books on Greek and Roman antiquities furnish descriptions and illustrations. Works on the monuments like Layard, Nineveh , II, 379 ff; Maspero, Ancient Egypt and Assyria ; Ball, Light from the East , and Reissner, Cairo Museum Catalogue , "Models of Ships and Boats," 1913, contain descriptions and figured representations which are instructive. On shipping and navigation in classical antiquity Smith of Jordanhill, Voyage and Shipwreck of Paul , is still the standard authority.
