Zidon: A fishery, a town on the Mediterranean coast, about 25 miles north
of Tyre. It received its name from the "first-born" of Canaan, the
grandson of Noah (Genesis 10:15,19) It was the first home of the
Phoenicians on the coast of Palestine, and from its extensive
commercial relations became a "great" city (Joshua 11:8; 19:28) It was the
mother city of Tyre. It lay within the lot of the tribe of Asher, but
was never subdued (Judges 1:31) The Zidonians long oppressed Israel
(Judges 10:12) From the time of David its glory began to wane, and
Tyre, its "virgin daughter" (Isaiah 23:12) rose to its place of
pre-eminence. Solomon entered into a matrimonial alliance with the
Zidonians, and thus their form of idolatrous worship found a place in
the land of Israel (1 Kings 11:1,33) This city was famous for its
manufactures and arts, as well as for its commerce (1 Kings 5:6; 1 Chronicles 22:4)
(Ezekiel 27:8) It is frequently referred to by the prophets
(Isaiah 23:2,4,12; Jeremiah 25:22; 27:3; 47:4; Ezekiel 27:8; 28:21,22; 32:30; Joel 3:4)
Our Lord visited the "coasts" of Tyre and Zidon Sidon (q.v.),
(Matthew 15:21; Mark 7:24; Luke 4:26) and from this region many came forth to
hear him preaching (Mark 3:8; Luke 6:17) From Sidon, at which the ship
put in after leaving Caesarea, Paul finally sailed for Rome (Acts 27:3,4)
This city is now a town of 20,000 inhabitants, with remains of walls
built in the twelfth century A.D. In 1855 the sarcophagus of
Eshmanezer was discovered. From a Phoenician inscription on its lid,
it appears that he was a "king of the Sidonians," probably in the
third century B.C., and that his mother was a priestess of Ashtoreth,
"the goddess of the Sidonians." In this inscription Baal is mentioned
as the chief god of the Sidonians.
