Dict: easton - Zidon

easton:

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 kjv@Genesis:10:15 kjv@Genesis: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 kjv@Joshua:11:8 kjv@Joshua:19:28). It was the mother city of Tyre. It lay within the lot of the tribe of Asher, but was never subdued kjv@Judges:1:31). The Zidonians long oppressed Israel kjv@Judges:10:12). From the time of David its glory began to wane, and Tyre, its "virgin daughter" kjv@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 (kjvKings:11:1-33). This city was famous for its manufactures and arts, as well as for its commerce (kjvKings:5:6; kjv@1Chronicles:22:4; kjv@Ezekiel:27:8). It is frequently referred to by the prophets kjv@Isaiah:23:2-4, 12; kjv@Jeremiah:25:22 kjv@Jeremiah:27:3 kjv@Jeremiah:47:4 ; kjv@Ezekiel:27:8 kjv@Ezekiel:28:21-22 kjv@Ezekiel:32:30 ; kjv@Joel:3:4). Our Lord visited the "coasts" of Tyre and Zidon = Sidon (q.v.), kjv@Matthew:15:21; kjv@Mark:7:24; kjv@Luke:4:26; and from this region many came forth to hear him preaching kjv@Mark:3:8; kjv@Luke:6:17). From Sidon, at which the ship put in after leaving Caesarea, Paul finally sailed for Rome kjv@Acts:27:3-4). 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.