| Word | American Tract Society - Definition |
| SIDON | In the Old Testament ZIDON, now called Saida, was celebrated city of Phoenicia, on the Mediterranean Sea, twenty miles north of Tyre and as many south of Beyroot. It is one of the most ancient cities in the world, Ge 49:13, and is believed to have been founded by Zidon, the eldest son of Canaan, Ge 10:15 49:13. In the time of Homer, the Zidonians were eminent for their trade and commerce, their wealth and prosperity, their skill in navigation, astronomy, architecture, and for their manufactures of glass, etc. They had then a commodious harbor, now choked with sand and inaccessible to any but the smallest vessels. Upon the division of Canaan among the tribes by Joshua, Great Zidon fell to the lot of Asher, Jos 11:8 19:28; but that tribe never succeeded in obtaining possession, Jud 1:31 3:3 10:12. The Zidonians continued long under their own government and kings, though sometimes tributary to the kings of Tyre. They were subdued successively by the Babyloniaus, Egyptians, Seleucidae, and Romans the latter of whom deprived them of their freedom. Many of the inhabitants of Sidon became followers of our Savior, Mr 3:8, and he himself visited their freedom. Many of them also resorted to him in Galilee, Lu 6:17. The gospel was proclaimed to the Jews at Sidon after the martyrdom of Stephen, Ac 11:19, and there was a Christian church there, when Paul visited it on his voyage to Rome, Ac 27:3. It is at present, like most of the other Turkish towns in Syria, dirty and full of ruins, thought it still retains a little coasting trade, and has five thousand inhabitants. It incurred the judgments of God for its sins, Eze 28:21-24, though less ruinously than Tyre. Our Savior refers to both cities, in reproaching the Jews as more highly favored and less excusable than they, Mt 11:22. Saida occupies an elevated promontory, projecting into the sea, and defended by walls. Its environs watered by a stream from their beautiful gardens, and fruit trees of every kind. |