The Life of Jesus in Harmony | Index

Sidon

Sometimes Zidon, as in the KJV. This ancient Phoenician city was built on a small island, which was connected with the mainland by a bridge. The town was some 20 miles N of Tyre, is called Saida at present, and is now located in the republic of Lebanon.

It is situated between mountains to its back and the sea to its front. Its people very early took to seafaring commerce. As the oldest capital of the Phoenicians, its antiquity is attested by (Gen 10:15). The city is referred to around 1400 BC in the Amarna Letters.

The Phoenicians were called Sidonians from the eleventh to the eighth centuries B.C. The city's early preeminence is attested by Homer, who often mentions Sidon but never Tyre, and who employs the name as synonymous with Phoenicia and Phoenicians. Later, however, it was outclassed by Tyre, but Phoenicians generally continued to be known as Sidonians (1 Ki 5:6; 16:31).

Solomon was influenced by Sidonian cults (11:5-7) and hired expert Sidonian timber cutters. Sidonians worshiped Baal and Ashtoreth. Jezebel of infamy was a daughter of Ethbaal, "king of the Sidonians." Her introduction of the licentious worship of Canaanite cults into Israel brought internal misery (16:31-33; etc.).

Shalmaneser of Assyria captured the city in 725 B.C. It was invaded by Sennacherib, dominated by Esarhaddon, overrun by the Babylonians after the fall of Assyria, and made a province by the Persians. It was conquered by Alexander the Great (330 BC). It enjoyed importance under the Romans, and Herod embellished it.

Our Lord visited the general territory (Mk 7:24,31) and made reference to the iniquity of its inhabitants (Mt 11:21-24). Paul visited the place on his way to Rome (Acts 27:3). It figures in early church history, at the time of the Crusades and finally under Muslim rule.