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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 (Gen. 10:15, Gen. 10: 19). It was the first home of the Phoenicians on the coast of Palestine, and from its extensive commercial relations became a "great" city (Josh. 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 (Judg. 1:31). The Zidonians long oppressed Israel (Judg. 10:12). From the time of David its glory began to wane, and Tyre, its "virgin daughter" (Isa. 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, 1-Kings 11: 33). This city was famous for its manufactures and arts, as well as for its commerce (1-Kings 5:6; 1-Chr 22:4; Ezek. 27:8). It is frequently referred to by the prophets (Isa. 23:2, Isa. 23: 4, 12; Jer. 25:22;27:3;47:4; Ezek. 27:8;28:21, 28: 22;32:30; Joel 3:4). Our Lord visited the "coasts" of Tyre and Zidon = Sidon (q.v.), Matt. 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, Acts 27: 4). This city is now a town of 10,000 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.
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