Sidon
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, Gen 49:13, and is believed to have been founded by Zidon, the eldest son of Canaan, Gen 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, Jdg 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, Mar 3:8, and he himself visited their freedom. Many of them also resorted to him in Galilee, Luk 6:17 . The gospel was proclaimed to the Jews at Sidon after the martyrdom of Stephen, Mal 11:19, and there was a Christian church there, when Paul visited it on his voyage to Rome, Mal 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, Mat 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.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Sidon
(, ethnic )
Sidon, called Great Zidon (Jos 11:8), was one of the maritime cities of Phcenicia, about 25 miles N. of Tyre, its rival in magnitude, fame, and antiquity (Strabo, xvi. ii. 22). After the coming of Alexander the Great, whom Sidon rapturously welcomed and Tyre frantically opposed, the two cities shared the same political fortunes, being for two centuries bones of contention between the Greek kings of Syria in the north and Egypt in the south. So long, however, as their civic autonomy was secure, their factories busy, their overseas traffic prosperous, the quarrels of their alternate overlords did not greatly trouble them. And, while their wealth was apparently almost as great as ever, they added a new interest to life by learning the language and assimilating the culture of Greece. They were not now a mere race of merchant princes or pedlars, wholly absorbed in getting and spending. Strabo says that in his time-the beginning of our era-the Sidonians not only cultivate science and study astronomy and arithmetic, to which they are led by the application of numbers and night sailing, each of which concerns the merchant and seaman, but there are distinguished philosophers, natives of Sidon, as Bcethus, with whom I studied the philosophy of Aristotle, and Diodotus his brother (xvi. ii. 24).
The two sister cities now consistently advocated a policy of peace with all their neighbours. Not possessing a fraction of the army and navy with which they once defied empires, they could no longer assert themselves even when they were in the right. When Herod Agrippa was highly displeased with the Tyrians and Sidonians (Act 12:20), they indulged in no useless heroies. Raising no question as to whether the kings displeasure was just or not, and facing the plain fact that their country was fed from the kings country, they looked about for a friend at Court and humbly asked for peace. If there was any thought of peace with honour, it was suppressed. Dependents could not afford to be angry, and the king could do no wrong. To this had great Sidon and proud Tyre now come.
No details are given of our Lords visit to Sidon, though it is definitely stated that He came through it, or at least its surrounding territory (reading not in Mar 7:31, with the best Manuscripts ), on His way to Decapolis, which He probably reached by the highway over the Lebanon to Damascus (see H. J. Holtzmann, Die Synoptiker3, 1901 [Handkommentar zum NT], and A. B. Bruce, Expositors Greek Testament , Mark, 1897, in loc). Nothing is known of the actual introduction of Christianity into Sidon. One of its bishops attended the Council of Nicaea in a.d. 325.
Sidonian was originally an ethnic name like Hittite, Sidon and Heth being named together as sons of Canaan in Gen 10:15. In Homer Sidonia is equivalent to Phcenicia and Sidonian to Phcenician. In the Latin poets, too, when the adjective qualifies such words as Dido (Virg. aen. xi. 74), nautae, rates, murex, vestis, chlamys, it means Phcenician. The modern town, called by the Arabs Saida, has about 15,000 inhabitants. Some very remarkable sarcophagi have been found in the necropolis to the S.E. of the town.
Literature.-E. Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine2, 3 vols., 1856, ii. 478 ff.; O. Hamdy-Bey and T. Reinach, La Ncropole royale de Sidon, 1892-96; C. Baedeker, Palestine and Syria2, 1894.
James Strahan.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
Sidon
Ancient Phenician seaport, 67 miles from Caesarea, between Mount Lebanon and the Mediterranean, where Saint Paul stopped on his voyage to Rome (Acts 27). The modern port, Saida, is west of Sidon.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Sidon
The seat of a Melchite and a Maronite see in Syria. Sidon is the oldest city of the Phoenicians, and the metropolis of the great colonial empire established by this people (Strabo, XVI, i, 22). It is mentioned in the ethnological table of Genesis (x, 19); the territory of the tribe of Zabulon reached even to the gates of this city (Genesis 49:13), but the Hebrews never were its masters (Joshua 11:8; 13:3, 6; 19:28; Judges 1:31; 3:3; 10:12; 18:7). The supremacy of the Sidonians continued until about 1252 B.C., when the Philistines, after partly destroying Sidon, built on the old foundations the city of Dor, above Jaffa. The Sidonians fled to Tyre, one of their colonies, which then became the leading city. Sidon, called the mother of the Phoenician cities, for Tyre, Carthage, Hippo were settled by emigrants from there, was noted for its bronze, its commerce, navigation, knowledge of mathematics and astronomy; it is mentioned with great praise by Homer (Iliad, XXIII, 743; Odyssey, XV, 425; XIII, 285). After its downfall it is often mentioned in the Bible, but nearly always in terms of censure and as a subject of reproach (Joel 3:4, 5; Jeremiah 25:22; Ezekiel 32:30). Queen Jezabel, wife of Achab, was the daughter of a king of Sidon (1 Kings 16:31), for the city for a long time had its own rulers, although we find the inhabitants rendering service to David for the building of the temple (1 Chronicles 22:4). Sidon was taken several times by the Assyrian kings, to whom its rulers paid tribute; finally in 676, when its name was changed to Ir-Asaraddon, and its inhabitants were killed, or carried captive into Assyria. When Babylon succeeded Nineveh in the sovereignty of Asia (606 B.C.), Sidon allied itself with Tyre to throw off this yoke and that of Egypt (Ezekiel 27:8); the conqueror, Nabuchodonosor, turned his wrath on Tyre, and Sidon took advantage of this to recover some of its former glory. It was a willing subject of the Medes and Persians from 538 to 351 B.C., but, having revolted in the latter year against Artaxerxes Ochus, it was burned by its inhabitants, 40,000 of whom perished in the flames (Diod. Sic., XVI, xli-xlvi). Finally it passed under the rule of the Greeks, sometimes of the Seleucides, sometimes of the Lagides, thus becoming gradually hellenized; at this time it had a school of philosophy. Under the Romans Sidon assumed the name of Nauarchis, later that of Colonia Augusta, or Metropolis, and had its own coinage. This period begins about 110 B.C.
Jesus visited the countries of Tyre and Sidon (Matthew 15:21; Mark 7:31), passing through Sidon after healing the Syro-Phoenician woman. St. Paul, returning to Rome from Caesarea, stopped with his friends at Sidon, where there were some Christian families (Acts 27:3). At an early date Sidon became a bishopric, subject to the Metropolitan of Tyre and included in the Patriarchate of Antioch. Theodore (present at the Council of Nicaea, 325) is the first bishop of whom there is any record; the two most celebrated are Paul ar-Râheb, an Arabic writer of the thirteenth century, and Euthymius, founder of the Basilian Order of St. Saviour, and one of the first organizers of the Melchite Catholic Church, about the latter part of the seventeenth century. For others see Le Quien, “Oriens christ.”, II, 811-14. Mention is also made of two native saints: the martyr Zenobius, in the reign of Diocletian (Eusebius, “Hist. eccl.”, VIII, xiii,) and Serapion (feast 21 March), a legendary personage. A great synod on the subject of Monophysitism was held at Sidon in 512. The city was unsuccessfully attacked by the Frankish king, Baldwin I, in 1108, and was captured by the Crusaders in 1111 after a long siege by land and water. From that time it was a dependency of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. In 1187 Sidon surrendered to Saladin, who destroyed the ramparts, but it was retaken by the Franks in 1197, and held by them, notwithstanding temporary occupations by the Arabs and Mongols, until 1291, when Sultan El-Ashraft threw down the walls. In 1253 Saint Louis resided there for several months, and the Templars held possession the greater part of the time. During the Frankish occupancy it was called in Latin Sagitta, and in French Sagette, from its native name, Saida. The Latin bishopric, suffragan of Tyre, was administered by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and not by that of Antioch, as formerly; it was already in existence in 1131, having probably been founded some years previously. Dating from 1291 it was only a titular bishopric. For the Latin bishops, see Du Cange, “Les Familles d’Outre-Mer”, 805; Le Quien, “Oriens christ.”, III, 1319-24; Eubel, “Hierarchia catholica medii aevi”, I, 473;.II, 260, III, 318.
After the departure of the Franks, Sidon was a city of little importance, acting as a port for Damascus; under the Druse Ameer Fakhr-ed-Dín (1595-1634) many Europeans, especially French, being attracted thereto, it became very prosperous. Its downfall began, however, when Djezzar Pasha expelled (1791) all Europeans from the pashalic, and settled at Saint Jean d’Acre; its ruin was completed by the commercial development of Beirut. In 1837 it suffered from an earthquake, and in 1840 from a bombardment by European fleets; in 1860 nearly 1800 Christians were massacred in its district. In the necropolis were found the painted sarcophagi, said to be of Alexander and the Weepers, now at the museum of Constantinople, and considered the most beautiful in the world. Saida numbers 12,000 inhabitants, of whom 1200 are Melchite Catholics, 1000 Maronites, 250 Latins, 200 Protestants, and 800 Jews; the remainder are Moslems. The city, located in the midst of gardens and thus retaining its surname of “Flowery “, forms a caza of the vilayet of Beirut. Although the harbor is partly blocked by sand, its commerce is of importance. The Maronite diocese numbers 40,000 faithful, 200 priests, and 100 churches. The Melchite diocese numbers 18,550 faithful, 42 churches, 50 priests, and 36 schools. The religious of the Basilian order of St-Saviour have their mother-house at Deir-el-Moukhalles; they possess 4 convents in this diocese and number 28 priests, 65 scholastics and novices, and 9 1ay brothers. The Basilian Sisters number 30, in one convent. Protestants have made considerable headway in this diocese, which the native Catholic clergy have not as yet been able to counteract. The Franciscans, established there in 1827, conduct the Latin parish and school for boys; the Jesuits have had a house there since 1855; the Sisters of St. Joseph direct the dispensary and school for girls.
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RENAN, Mission de Phenicie (Paris, 1864), 361-526; SMITH, Dict. of Greek and Roman Geogr., s. v.; GUERIN, Description de la Palestine, Galilee, II, 488-506; CUINET, Syrie, Liban, et Palestine (Paris, 1896), 70 -81; JULLIEN, La nouvelle mission de la C. de J. en Syrie, I, 257-65; Missiones catholicae (Rome, 1907), 782, 819; Annuaire pontif. cathol. (Paris, 1911).
S. VAILHÉ Transcribed by Joseph E. O’Connor
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIIICopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Sidon (1)
Titular metropolis of Pamphylia Prima. Sidon, situated on the coast of Pamphylia, was a colony of Cumae in Æolia. Dating from the tenth century B.C., its coinage bore the head of Athena (Minerva), the patroness of the city, with a Pamphylian legend. Its people, a piratical horde, quickly forgot their own language to adopt that of the aborigines. For rendering tribute to Alexander they were accorded a Macedonian garrison. A commercial and warlike city, with a powerful navy, it was in continual rivalry with Aspendus. In its waters the fleet of Antiochus the Great, commanded by Hannibal with Sidonian vessels upon the right wing, was beaten by the Rhodians. From that time Sidon was a rendezvous of pirates, above all, a notorious slave market. After the destruction of piracy elsewhere Sidon continued to derive considerable wealth and profit from both these sources. It was the capital of Pamphylia, later of Pamphylia Prima. In the tenth century Constantine Porphyrogenitus called it still a nest of pirates. Its downfall was complete in the fourteenth century, its people having abandoned it by degrees, owing to the Turkish invasions, and lack of water. At present the deserted ruins are called Eski Adalia, Old Attalia, in the sanjak of Adalia and the vilayet of Koniah. They consist of a temple, basilica, gymnasium, aqueduct, public bath, theatre, ramparts, etc. and some inscriptions. Sidon is mentioned in I Machabees, xv, 23, among the cities and countries to which the Roman letter proclaiming their alliance with the Jews was sent. Christianity was early introduced into Sidon. St. Nestor, martyr in 251, was Bishop of Pergi, not of Sidon as Le Quien (Oriens Christ., I, 995) believed The first known bishop was Epidaurus, presiding at the Council of Ancyra, 314. Others are John, fourth century; Eustathius, 381; Amphilochius, 426-458, who played an important part in the history of the time; Conon, 536; Peter, 553; John, 680-692; Mark, 879; Theodore, 1027-1028; Anthimus, present at the Council of Constantinople where Michael Cerularius completed the schism with Rome, 1054; John, then counsellor to the Emperor Michael VII Ducas, presided at a council on the worship of images, 1082; Theodosius and his successor Nicetas, twelfth century. John, present at a Council of Constantinople 1156. The “Notitiae Episcopatuum” continued to mention Sidon as a metropolis of Pamphylia until the thirteenth century. It does not appear in the “Notitia” of Andronicus III. From other documents we learn that in 1315 and for some time previous to that, Sidon had bishops of its own — the Bishop of Sinope was called to the position, but was unable to leave his own diocese; this call was repeated in 1338 and 1345. In 1397 the diocese was united with that of Attalia; in 1400 the Metropolitan of Perge and Attalia was at the same time the administrator of Sidon. Since then, the city has disappeared from history.
Sidon was the home of Eustachius of Antioch (see EUSTATHIUS), of the philosopher Troilus, the master of Socrates, himself a teacher; of the celebrated fifth-century ecclesiastical writer Philip; of the famous lawyer Tribonianus (sixth century).
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SMITH, Diction. of Greek and Roman Geog. (London, 1870), s.v.; TOMASCHEK, Zur historischen Topographie von Kleinasien im Mittelalter (Vienna, 1891), 59; ALISHAN, Sisseuan (Venice, 1899), 364; TEXIER, Asie Mineure (Paris, 1862), 721 sqq.; LANCKORONSKI, Les villes de la Pamphylie et de la Pisidie (Paris, 1890), 131 seq.; BEAUFORT, Karamania, 147 sqq.; FELLOWS, Asia Minor, 201; LEAKE, Asia Minor, 195 sqq.; RAMSAY, Asia Minor, 420 and passim; WACHTER, Der Verfall des Grieehenturns in Kleinasien im XIV Jahrhundert (Leipzig, 1903), 29 sqq.
S. PÉTRIDÈS Transcribed by Joseph E. O’Connor
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIIICopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Sidon
(), the Greek form (2Es 1:11; Jdt 2:28; 1Ma 5:15; Mat 11:21-22; Mat 15:21; Mar 3:8; Mar 7:24; Mar 7:31; Luk 4:26; Luk 6:17; Luk 10:13-14; Act 12:20; Act 28:3) of the city called in the Heb. (but in the A. V. ” Sidon,” also in Gen 10:15; Gen 10:19) ZIDON SEE ZIDON (q.v.’, or rather Tsidon.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Sidon
fishing; fishery, Gen. 10:15, 19 (A.V. marg., Tzidon; R.V., Zidon); Matt. 11:21, 22; Luke 6:17. (See ZIDON)
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Sidon
(“fishing town”); SIDON or ZIDON. Gen 10:9; Gen 10:15; Jos 11:8; Jos 19:28; Jdg 1:31. Sidon was in Asher (Isa 23:2; Isa 23:4; Isa 23:12). An ancient mercantile city of Phoenicia, in the narrow plain between Lebanon and the Mediterranean, where the mountains recede two miles from the sea; 20 miles N. of Tyre. Now Saida. Old Sidon stands on the northern slope of a promontory projecting a few hundred yards into the sea, having thus “a fine naturally formed harbour” (Strabo). The citadel occupies the hill behind on the south. Sidon is called (Gen 10:15) the firstborn of Canaan, and “great Sidon” or the metropolis (Jos 11:8). Sidonians is the generic name of the Phoenicians or Canaanites (Jos 13:6; Jdg 18:7); in Jdg 18:28 Laish is said to be “far from Sidon,” whereas Tyre, 20 miles nearer, would have been specified if it had then been a city of leading importance. (See TYRE.) So in Homer Sidon is named, but not Tyre.
Justin Martyr makes (Jdg 18:3) Tyre a colony planted by Sidon when the king of Ascalon took Sidon the year before the fall of Troy. Tyre is first mentioned in Scripture in Jos 19:29 as “the strong city,” the “daughter of Sidon” (Isa 23:12.) Sidon and Sidonians are names often subsequently used for Tyre, Tyrians. Thus Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians (1Ki 16:31), is called by Menander in Josephus (Ant. 8:13, section 2) king of the Tyrians. By the time of Zechariah (Zec 9:2) Tyre has the precedency, “Tyrus and Sidon.” Sidon revolted from the yoke of Tyre when Shalmaneser’s invasion gave the opportunity. Rivalry with Tyre influenced Sidon to submit without resistance to Nebuchadnezzar. Its rebellion against the Persian Artaxerxes Ochus entailed great havoc on its citizens, Tennes its king proving traitor. Its fleet helped Alexander the Great against Tyre (Arrian, Anab. Al., 2:15).
Augustus took away its liberties. Its population is now 5,000. Its trade and navigation have left it for Beirut. It was famed for elaborate embroidery, working of metals artistically, glass, the blowpipe, lathe, and graver, and cast mirrors. (Pliny 36:26, H. N. 5:17; 1Ki 5:6, “not any can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians”.) Their seafaring is alluded to (Isa 23:2). Self indulgent ease followed in the train of their wealth, so that “the manner of the Sidonians” was proverbial (Jdg 18:7).. Sidon had her own king (Jer 25:22; Jer 27:3). Sidonian women in Solomon’s harem seduced him to worship Ashtoreth “the goddess of the Sidonians” (1Ki 11:1; 1Ki 11:4; 2Ki 23:13).
Joel reproves Sidon and Tyre for selling children of Judah and Jerusalem to the Grecians, and threatens them with a like fate, Judah selling their sons and daughters to the Sabeans. So Ezekiel (Eze 28:22-24) threatens Sidon with pestilence and blood in her streets, so that she shall be no more a pricking brier unto Israel. Jesus went once to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon (Mat 15:21). Paul touched at Sidon on his voyage from Caesarea to Rome (Act 27:3); by Julius’ courteous permission Paul there “went unto his friends to refresh himself.” Tyre and Sidon’s doom shall be more tolerable in the day of judgment than that of those who witnessed Christ’s works and teaching, yet repented not (Mat 11:21-22). On a coin of the age of Antiochus IV Tyre claims to be “mother of the Sidonians,” being at that time the capital city.
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
SIDON
The Mediterranean seaports of Tyre and Sidon were the two most important towns of Phoenicia. The Bible frequently mentions the two towns together as a way of referring to Phoenicia in general (Ezr 3:7; Isa 23:1; Isa 23:4; Zec 9:2; Mar 7:24). Sometimes mention of only one of the towns is sufficient. For example, Tyre, being the larger and more prosperous port, may have symbolized the greed and arrogance that Phoenicia as a whole developed because of its international shipping activity (Isa 23:1; Isa 23:8; Isa 23:17; Eze 27:3; Eze 27:25; Eze 28:5; Eze 28:9; Eze 28:16). In the same way Sidon, being a dominant religious centre, fittingly symbolized the corrupt Phoenician religion that at times troubled Israel (Jdg 10:6; 1Ki 16:31-33). (For details of Sidons commerce, religion and history see PHOENICIA.)
Fuente: Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
Sidon
SIDON (for much of common reference, see Tyre).A narrow, rocky district as well as a once famous city in Phnicia, the city being 30 miles S. of Beirt and 26 miles slightly N. by E. of Tyre, and 60 miles N. of Capernaum. Like nearly all settlements on the east coast of the Mediterranean, Sidon owed its location to certain prominent rocks in the sea, which at first served as a breakwater, and then, through gradual connexion with the land, produced a northern and a southern harbour, the latter now filled with sand.
Sidon is so ancient that all certainty as to the origin of its name has vanished. Some have deemed it fishing-town, others the seat of the worship of a deity Sid. Sidon and the Sidonians are heard of earlier and more influentially than Tyre, which finally distanced its northern rival. All the Phnician cities seem to have known little but rivalry down to the appearance of such world-powers as Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, and Rome, which made them all, sooner or later, subject and abject. Each had its king, its god, its colonies, its coinage. Each sent its trading vessels seaward to the Mediterranean world; landward, each was in touch with the markets of Damascus and the East by means of those caravans of ships of the desert; each sat as queen over a semicircular domain with a radius of some 15 to 20 miles. Through faction in the 8th cent. b.c. Sidon lost many of her merchants, chiefly to Tyre. At length her limited territory, her merely commercial aim, her being sapped by colonization and dissension, her final surrender of leadership to Tyre, combined with her conquests by the world-powers, left her under the Romans in the days of Christ a merely provincial capital, richer in the vices of ancient paganism than in its virtues. Some from Sidon were in the multitude that thronged Jesus at the Sea of Galilee (Mar 3:8), and Sidon was pronounced more excusable in the day of judgment than the more favoured cities of Jesus own country and race (Mat 11:21 f.). The present Saida has about 10,000 inhabitants, and is surrounded by delightful orange groves, beneath which lie archaeological treasures. Beirt, with its Damascus railway and improved harbour, has robbed Sidon of its last vestiges of commerce.
In a sense Sidon was, and in another sense was not, within the limits of the Holy Land. In the ideal distribution of Canaan recorded in Joshua the lot of Asher would seem to have included about all of Phnicia, extending even unto great Sidon (Jos 19:28). The coast cities and their daughter villages, however, remained utterly unconscious of their assignment, while Asher became so assimilated thereto as to retain in Israelitish history little more than a name.
The Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 declares that Jesus came through Sidon, a distinct and exact statement unknown to the Authorized Version ; and thereon depends our conception whether or not Jesus Himself, from choice, ever went into the way of the Gentiles. Many points as to the primariness, structure, and transmission of the Gospels are illustrated by this case.
Mat 15:21 ff. Authorized Version Mar 7:24 ff. Authorized Version
Mat 15:21 Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. Mat 15:22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, etc.Mar 7:24 And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. For a certain woman, etc. [A Greek].
Mat 15:29 And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there.Mar 7:31 And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. [East of the Jordan].
After the Revisers most conscientious work, with their better evidence, this is the form in which we read the same:
And Jesus went out thence, and withdrew into the parts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a Canaanitish woman came out from those borders, etc.And from thence he arose, and went away into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered into an house, and would have no man know it: and he could not be hid. But straightway a woman, etc. [A Greek].
Marg. Some ancient authorities omit and Sidon.
And Jesus departed thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and he went up into the mountain, and sat there.And again he went out from the borders of Tyre, and came through Sidon unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of Decapolis.
B. Weiss sides completely with the some ancient authorities of (Revised Version margin) , and reads: Jesus went away into the borders of Tyre. And again he went out from the borders of Tyre, and came through Sidon unto the sea of Galilee, etc. Thus the primary Gospel of Mark, the more ancient Sinaitic and Vatican Manuscripts , Professor Weiss, and the Revisers do not hesitate to depict Jesus as entering Gentile territory (twice), entering a (probably) heathen house, and dispensing blessings upon a pagan woman, going then yet farther through Sidon and Decapolis. The more theological First Evangelist, however, and the judicious transcribers disliked so to state the case. So Edersheim: the house in which Jesus sought shelter and privacy would, of course, be a Jewish home; and by through Sidon I do not understand the town of that name, which would have been quite outside the Saviours route, but the territory of Sidon (Life and Times, ii. 38, 44).
Anything like a direct route from the Israelitish borders of Tyre, or of Tyre and Sidon,for Edersheim emphasizes Matthews indication that the woman came from her territory to that of Jesus,would take one in a south-easterly direction, and therefore away from Sidon. Accordingly, Jesus choice to go in a northerly direction, through Sidon, shows that He was not taking any near and direct and usual route, but for a reason was seeking travel into heathen territory. Mk.s connexion indicates that Jesus journeyed into the Gentile land with His disciples, on the occasion of the abolition of the Levitical distinctions as to the ceremonially clean and unclean, so as to give to His followers an example and object lesson as to the same. Sidon on the far north was for this reason included, as was the hog-herding Decapolis. It was at Caesarea, a similar Gentile city almost 100 miles nearer Jerusalem, that St. Peter received his fuller lesson on the same subject.
Wilbur Fletcher Steele.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Sidon
SIDON.See Zidon.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Sidon
SIDON or ZIDON. A fishing town made memorable from our Lord’s occasional visits there. Some derive it from the word Tzada, to fish. It was an antient place. (See Jos 11:8; Mat 15:21)
Fuente: The Poor Mans Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures
Sidon (1)
sdon (, cdhon): The oldest son of Canaan (Gen 10:15).
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Sidon (2)
sdon (, cdhon; , Sidon; the King James Version, Sidon and Zidon; the Revised Version (British and American) SIDON only):
1. Location and Distinction:
One of the oldest Phoenician cities, situated on a narrow plain between the range of Lebanon and the sea, in latitude 33 degrees 34 minutes nearly. The plain is well watered and fertile, about 10 miles long, extending from a little North of Sarepta to the Bostrenus (Nahr el-Auly). The ancient city was situated near the northern end of the plain, surrounded with a strong wall. It possessed two harbors, the northern one about 500 yds. long by 200 wide, well protected by little islets and a breakwater, and a southern about 600 by 400 yards, surrounded on three sides by land, but open to the West, and thus exposed in bad weather. The date of the founding of the city is unknown, but we find it mentioned in the Tell el-Amarna Letters in the 14th century BC, and in Gen 10:19 it is the chief city of the Canaanites, and Joshua (Jos 11:8) calls it Great Sidon. It led all the Phoenician cities in its early development of maritime affairs, its sailors being the first to launch out into the open sea out of sight of land and to sail by night, guiding themselves by the stars. They were the first to come into contact with the Greeks and we find the mention of them several times in Homer, while other Phoenician towns are not noticed. Sidon became early distinguished for its manufactures and the skill of its artisans, such as beautiful metal-work in silver and bronze and textile fabrics embroidered and dyed with the famous purple dye which became known as Tyrian, but which was earlier produced at Sidon. Notices of these choice articles are found in Homer, both in the Iliad and the Odyssey. Sidon had a monarchical form of government, as did all the Phoenician towns, but it also held a sort of hegemony over those to the South as far as the limit of Phoenicia. It likewise made one attempt to establish an inland colony at Laish or Dan, near the headwaters of the Jordan, but this ended in disaster (Jdg 18:7, Jdg 18:27, Jdg 18:28). The attempt was not renewed, but many colonies were established over-sea. Citium, in Cyprus, was one of the earliest.
2. Historical:
(1) The independence of Sidon was lost when the kings of the XVIIIth and XIXth Dynasties of Egypt added Palestine and Syria to their dominions (1580-1205 BC). The kings of Sidon were allowed to remain on the throne as long as they paid tribute, and perhaps still exercised authority over the towns that had before been subject to them. When the power of Egypt declined under Amenhotep IV (1375-1358), the king of Sidon seems to have thrown off the yoke, as appears from the Tell el-Amarna Letters. Rib-addi of Gebal writes to the king of Egypt that Zimrida, king of Sidon, had joined the enemy, but Zimrida himself claims, in the letters he wrote, to be loyal, declaring that the town belonging to him had been taken by the Khabiri (Tab. 147). Sidon, with the other towns, eventually became independent of Egypt, and she retained the hegemony of the southern towns and perhaps added Dor, claimed by the Philistines, to her dominion. This may have been the reason for the war that took place about the middle of the 12th century BC, in which the Philistines took and plundered Sidon, whose inhabitants fled to Tyre and gave the latter a great impetus. Sidon, however, recovered from the disaster and became powerful again. The Book of Judges claims that Israel was oppressed by Sidon (Jdg 10:12), but it is probable Sidon stands here for Phoenicia in general, as being the chief town.
(2) Sidon submitted to the Assyrian kings as did the Phoenician cities generally, but revolted against Sennacherib and again under Esar-haddon. The latter destroyed a large part of the city and carried off most of the inhabitants, replacing them by captives from Babylon and Elam, and renamed it Ir-Esar-had-don (City of Esar-haddon). The settlers readily mingled with the Phoenicians, and Sidon rose to power again when Assyria fell, was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar at the time of his siege of Jerusalem and Tyre, and was taken, having lost about half of its inhabitants by plague. The fall of Babylon gave another short period of independence, but the Persians gained control without difficulty, and Sidon was prominent in the Persian period as the leading naval power among the Phoenicians who aided their suzerain in his attacks upon Greece. In 351 BC, Sidon rebelled under Tabnit II (Tennes), and called in the aid of Greek mercenaries to the number of 10,000; but Ochus, the Persian king, marched against him with a force of 300,000 infantry and 30,000 horse, which so frightened Tabnit that he betrayed the city to save his own life. But the citizens, learning of the treachery, first burned their fleet and then their houses, perishing with their wives and children rather than fall into the hands of Ochus, who butchered all whom he seized, Tabnit among them. It is said that 40,000 perished in the flames. A list of the kings of Sidon in the Persian period has been recovered from the inscriptions and the coins, but the dates of their reigns are not accurately known. The dynasty of the known kings begins with Esmunazar I, followed by Tabnit I, Amastoreth; Esmunazar II, Strato I (Bodastart), Tabnit II (Tennes) and Strato II. Inscriptions from the temple of Esmun recently discovered give the name of a Bodastart and a son Yatonmelik, but whether the first is one of the Stratos above mentioned or a third is uncertain; also whether the son ever reigned or not. As Bodastart calls himself the grandson of Esmunazar, he is probably Strato I who reigned about 374-363 BC, and hence, his grandfather, Esmunazar I, must have reigned in 400 BC or earlier. Strato II was on the throne when Alexander took possession of Phoenicia and made no resistance to him, and even aided him in the siege of Tyre, which shows that Sidon had recovered after the terrible disaster it suffered in the time of Ochus. It perhaps looked upon the advance of Alexander with content as its avenger. The destruction of Tyre increased the importance of Sidon, and after the death of Alexander it became attached to the kingdom of the Ptolemies and remained so until the victory of Antiochus III over Scopas (198 BC), when it passed to the Seleucids and from them to the Romans, who granted it a degree of autonomy with native magistrates and a council, and it was allowed to coin money in bronze.
3. New Testament Mention:
Sidon comes into view several times in the New Testament; first when Christ passed into the borders of Tyre and Sidon and healed the daughter of the Syro-phoenician woman (Mar 7:24-30); also when Herod Agrippa I received a delegation from Tyre and Sidon at Caesarea (Act 12:20), where it appears to have been outside his jurisdiction. Paul, on his way to Rome, was permitted to visit some friends at Sidon (Act 27:3). See also Mat 11:21 f and Mar 3:8.
It was noted for its school of philosophy under Augustus and Tiberius, its inhabitants being largely Greek; and when Berytus was destroyed by an earthquake in 551, its great law school was removed to Sidon. It was not of great importance during the Crusades, being far surpassed by Acre, and in modern times it is a small town of some 15,000.
Literature.
See PHOENICIA.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Sidon
Sidon [ZIDON]
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Sidon
G4605
1. Called Zidon. Son of Canaan
Gen 10:15; 1Ch 1:13
2. A city on the northern boundary of the Canaanites:
– General references
Gen 10:19
– Designated by Jacob as the border of Zebulun
Gen 49:13
– Was on the northern boundary of Asher
Jos 19:28; 2Sa 24:6
– Belonged to the land of Israel according to promise
Jos 13:6
– Inhabitants of, dwelt in security and carelessness
Jdg 18:7
– Israelites failed to make conquest of
Jdg 1:31; Jdg 3:3
– The inhabitants of, contributed cedar for the first and second temple
1Ki 5:6; 1Ch 22:4; Ezr 3:7
– Solomon marries women of
1Ki 11:1
– Ahab marries a woman of
1Ki 16:31
– People of, come to hear Jesus
Mar 3:8; Luk 6:17
– Inhabitants of, offend Herod
Act 12:20-23
– Commerce of
Isa 23:2; Isa 23:4; Isa 23:12
– Seamen of
Eze 27:8
– Prophecies concerning
Jer 25:15-22; Jer 27:3-11; Jer 47:4; Eze 28:21-23; Eze 32:30; Joe 3:4-8
– Jesus visits the region of, and heals the daughter of the Syro-Phenician woman
Mat 15:21-28; Mar 7:24-31
– Visited by Paul
Act 27:3
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Sidon
Sidon. Gen 10:15, A.V. See Zidon.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Sidon
Si’don. The Greek form of the Phoenician name, Zidon. See Zidon.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Sidon
or ZIDON, a celebrated city and port of Phenicia, and one of the most ancient cities in the world; as it is supposed to have been founded by Sidon, the eldest son of Canaan, which will carry it up to above two thousand years before Christ. But if it was founded by Sidon, his descendants were driven out by a body of Phenician colonists, or Cushim from the east; who are supposed either to have given it its name, or to have retained the old one in compliment to their god Siton, or Dagon. Its inhabitants appear to have early acquired a preeminence in arts, manufactures, and commerce; and from their superior skill in hewing timber, by which must be understood their cutting it out and preparing it for building, as well as the mere act of felling it, Sidonian workmen were hired by Solomon to prepare the wood for the building of his temple. The Sidonians are said to have been the first manufacturers of glass; and Homer often speaks of them as excelling in many useful and ingenious arts, giving them the title of . Add to this, they were, if not the first shipwrights and navigators, the first who ventured beyond their own coasts, and in those early ages engrossed the greatest part of the then commerce of the world. The natural result of these exclusive advantages to the inhabitants of Sidon was, a high degree of wealth and prosperity; and content with the riches which their trade and manufactures brought them, they lived in ease and luxury, trusting the defence of their city and property, like the Tyrians after them, to hired troops; so that to live in ease and security, is said in Scripture to be after the manner of the Sidonians. In all these respects, however, Sidon was totally eclipsed by her neighbour and rival, Tyre; whose more enterprising inhabitants pushed their commercial dealings to the extremities of the known world, raised their city to a rank in power and opulence unknown before, and converted it into a luxurious metropolis, and the emporium of the produce of all nations. After the subversion of the Grecian empire by the Romans, Sidon fell into the hands of the latter; who, to put an end to the frequent revolt of the inhabitants, deprived it of its freedom. It then fell successively under the power of the Saracens, the Seljukian Turks, and the sultans of Egypt; who, in 1289, that they might never more afford shelter to the Christians, destroyed both it and Tyre. But it again somewhat revived, and has ever since been in the possession of the Ottoman Turks.