Unto the Sea, from Deuteronomy

¹⁶ And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the river Arnon half the valley, and the border even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon;

¹⁷ The plain also, and Jordan, and the coast thereof, from Chinnereth even unto the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, under Ashdoth pisgah eastward.

¹⁸ And I commanded you at that time, saying, The Lord your God hath given you this land to possess it: ye shall pass over armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all that are meet for the war.

Deuteronomy, iii v. 16- 18

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* Chinnereth becomes in later Israel, the Sea of Galilee and it is 680 ft. below the level of the Mediterranean and varies in depth from 130 ft. to 148 ft., being deepest along the course of the Jordan (Barrois, PEFS, 1894, 211-20). 

The Sea of Chinnereth/Galilee is from the point where the Jordan enters in the North to its exit in the South is about 13 miles while i’s greatest breadth is in the North, from el-Mejdel to the mouth of Wady Semak being rather over 7 miles. It gradually narrows toward the South, taking the shape of a gigantic pear, with a decided bulge to the West. The water of the lake is clear and sweet. i.e. not salty.

from Merriam-Webster.

1. A sea is generally just a salty body of water. It also has the connotation of being “landlocked”.

But in Webster’s 1828, he mentions, 

•  A large body of water, nearly inclosed by land, as the Baltic or the Mediterranean; as the sea of Azof.
• Seas are properly branches of the ocean, and upon the same level. 
• Large bodies of water inland, and situated above the level of the ocean, are lakes.

• The appellation of sea, given to the Caspian lake, is an exception, and not correct but habit prevails.

• So too, the lake of Galilee that is improperly called a sea, from the Greek.

The 1913 Webster’s elaborates that historically any large area of water where the shore could not be seen was considered a “sea”. A lake OTOH the opposing shores were visible.