Watertight vessels for traveling on water. The Hebrews knew of traders and seafaring (2Chr 8:17-18; 2Chr 9:21; Ps 104:26; Ps 107:23-30; Prov 31:14; Ezek 27; 1Macc 8:23; 1Macc 8:26; 1Macc 8:28) and were acquainted with travel by ship for peaceful purposes (Isa 18:2; Isa 43:14; Jonah 1) or for making war (Num 24:24; Isa 33:21; Isa 33:23). Solomon relied on the commercial fleet of Hiram of Tyre for transporting the materials for the Temple (1Kgs 5:9; 2Chr 2:16) and on Hiram’s sailors for navigating the fleet supplied by him at Ezion-geber near Elath on the Red Sea (1Kgs 9:26-28; 2Chr 8:17; 2Chr 9:21). These seagoing ships traded at faraway Tarshish and Ophir for large amounts of gold for Solomon’s treasury. Jehoshaphat’s attempt to emulate Solomon’s achievement ended disastrously (1Kgs 22:47-49; 2Chr 20:35-37). Inland waters were the home of craft like the ferryboat that carried King David, newly crowned, across the river Jordan at Gilgal (2Sam 19:18). In NT times, fishing and travel across the Sea of Galilee are commonly reported (Matt 8:23; Matt 9:1; Mark 4:36; Mark 4:38; Luke 8:22-23; John 6:16; John 6:22; John 6:23; John 21:4-14). On one occasion, Jesus uses a fishing boat as pulpit (Luke 5:1-11). The Mediterranean travels of Paul were beset by shipwrecks and becalmed seas (2Cor 11:25), especially his final voyage to Rome (Acts 27).
