Sharon

There were several places called by this name in Palestine. Indeed there might be more elsewhere, for the name itself signifies a plain, or a place of fruitfulness. Hence the prophet celebrates it so much. (lsa. xxxv. 2. lxv. 10.)

PLAIN OF, a beautiful and spacious plain, extending from Caesarea to Joppa on the sea coast, and eastward to the mountains of Judea; and is celebrated for its wines, its flowers, and its pastures. It still preserves some portions of its natural beauty, and is adorned in the spring with the white and red rose, the narcissus, the white and orange lily, the carnation and other flowers; but for the rest of the year it appears little better than a desert, with here and there a ruined village, and some clumps of olive trees and sycamores. This name was almost become a proverb, to express a place of extraordinary beauty and fruitfulness, Isa 33:9; Isa 35:2. But there are three cantons of Palestine known by the name of Sharon. The first, according to Eusebius and St. Jerom, is a canton between Mount Tabor and the sea of Tiberias. The second, a canton between the city of Caesarea of Palestine and Joppa. And the third a canton beyond Jordan, in the country of Basan, and in the division of the tribe of Gad. Modern travellers give this name also to the plain that lies between Ecdippe and Ptolemais.

Sha´ron, a level tract along the Mediterranean, between Mount Carmel and Cesarea, celebrated for its rich fields and pastures (Jos 12:18; Son 2:1; Isa 33:9; Isa 35:2; Isa 65:10; 1Ch 27:9). See the head ’Mountains of Palestine,’ in the article Palestine.

1. A plain adjoining the seacoast of Palestine between Carmel and Joppa, about sixty miles in length and of variable width, expanding inland as it stretches from the promontory of Carmel towards the south. It contains some sandy tracts, but the soil is in general highly productive, and the plain was of old famous for its beauty and fertility, 1Ch 27:29 Son 2:1 Isa 33:9 35:2 65:10. It contained a town of the same name, called Saron in Mal 9:35 .\par The whole plain was once thickly populated, but is now comparatively uninhabited. The heat of summer is excessive, and the climate somewhat unhealthy. All travellers describe the view of the plain from the tower of Ramleh as one of surpassing richness and beauty.\par The frowning hills of Judah on the east confront the glittering waters of the Mediterranean on the west. Towards the north and south far as the eye can reach spreads the beautiful plain, covered in many parts with fields of green or golden grain. Near by are the immense olive-groves of Ramleh and Lydda and amid them the picturesque towers, minarets, and domes of these villages; while the hillsides towards the northeast are thickly studded with native hamlets. The uncultivated parts of the plain are covered in spring and the early summer with a rich profusion of flowers.\par 2. A town in the tribe of Gad, in the district of Bashan beyond the Jordan, 1Ch 5:16 .\par

Sha’ron. (a plain). A district of the Holy Land occasionally referred to in the Bible. 1Ch 5:16; Isa 33:9. In Act 9:35, called Saron. The name has, on each occurrence with one exception only, 1Ch 5:16, the definite article; it would therefore appear that "the Sharon" was some well-defined region familiar to the Israelites. It is that broad, rich tract of land which lies between the mountains of the central part of the Holy Land and the Mediterranean -- the northern continuation of the Shefelah. See Palestina; Palestine.

The Sharon of 2Ch 5:16 to which allusion has already been made, is distinguished from the western plain, by not having the article attached to its name, as the other invariably has. It is also apparent from the passage itself that it was some district on the east of the Jordan, in the neighborhood of Gilead and Bashan. The name has not been met with in that direction. see Saron.

1Ch 5:16; Isa 33:9, "the excellency (beauty) of Sharon" (Isa 35:2), Isa 65:10; Son 2:1, "the rose (narcissus) of Sharon," famous for flowers and for pasture; Act 9:35. The broad rich tract between the central mountains and the Mediterranean, stretching from Joppa or Jaffa northwards to Carmel. Half the width is of marl and alluvial soil, the other half of old red semi-consolidated sand and shelly breccias. (See PALESTINE.) The coast is marked by white sandhills; fine grain, well trimmed plantations, and long gentle swells of rich red and black earth, characterize Sharon. A second Sharon beyond Jordan is not meant in 1Ch 5:16, as some have imagined. It is not said that the Gadites possessed cities in Sharon but only pastures of Sharon; these the Gadites sought for their herds as far as the Mediterranean coast.

As intercourse was maintained between the cis-Jordanic Manassites and the trans-Jordanic Manassites, the Gadites with the latter might very well repair with their herds to the Sharon pastures, as the domain of cis-Jordanic Manasseh stretched into the plain of Sharon. Translated "and in all the pasture grounds of Sharon unto their outgoings" to the sea (Jos 17:9). David had his herds feeding in Sharon with Shitrai the Sharonite over them. Gesenius derives Sharon from jashar "straight," "a plain country." One of the earliest recorded travelers in this district was an Egyptian, whose papyrus has been lately transliterated; then as now agricultural pursuits prevailed here, and illustrations are still found of the Egyptian and Eastern plows.

Sharon (shâr’on), the plain. 1. A district in Palestine lying upon the seacoast. It extended from Joppa to Cæsarea (whence it is frequently in Scripture coupled with Carmel), and from the central hills to the Mediterranean. It was a region well adapted for pasture, 1Ch 27:29; Isa 65:10, very fertile, Isa 33:9; Isa 35:2, and celebrated for its roses. Son 2:1. Its locality is further indicated as being in the neighborhood of Lydda, Act 9:35, where it is called Saron, A. V., but Sharon in R. V.

[Sha’ron]

1. A very fertile plain, near the Mediterranean, extending from near Joppa northward to Mount Carmel. Its excellency is spoken of, and the bride in Son 2:1 calls herself a ’rose of Sharon.’ It formed part of the lots of Ephraim and of Manasseh. 1Ch 27:29; Isa 33:9; Isa 35:2; Isa 65:10. It is called SARON in Act 9:35.

2. Plain or city on the east of the Jordan. 1Ch 5:16. Not identified.

By: Joseph Jacobs, Immanuel Benzinger, Schulim Ochser

Large plain of Palestine, with an average elevation of between 280 and 300 feet above sea-level; bounded by Mount Carmel on the north, Jaffa on the south, the mountains of Gilboa on the east, and the Mediterranean Sea on the west. Its principal rivers are the Nahr al-Zarḳa (Crocodile River) and the Nahr Mafjir (the "Dead River" of the Crusaders). The soil is fertile; and the plain is still called "the garden of Palestine," chiefly on account of its red and white lilies and its anemones.

The plain of Sharon was famous in Biblical times as a pastoral region (Isa. lxv. 10); and some of David's herds fed there (I Chron. xxvii. 29). Utter desolation of the country was implied by saying that Sharon was turned into a wilderness (Isa. xxxiii. 9), although in the Messianic time it is to be a fold for flocks (ib. lxv. 10). The poet dwells on the beauty of the flowers which blossom there abundantly (ib. xxxv. 2); and the Shulamite in Cant. ii. 1 compares herself to the rose of Sharon (comp. Rose). The comparison with Carmel (Isa. xxxv. 2)seems to show that at one time there were groves in the plain. Josephus, indeed, speaks of a grove near Antipatris, while, like the Septuagint, he translates the word "Sharon" by "oak-coppice" ("Ant." xiv. 13, § 3; "B. J." i. 13, § 2).

Another Sharon is mentioned by Eusebius ("Onomasticon") as lying between Mount Tabor and Tiberias. To this Sharon the passage Cant. ii. 1 is sometimes referred; but the phrase "rose of Sharon" was a proverbial one, and from Isa. xxxv. 1 et seq. it is evident that the rose there mentioned blossomed in the larger plain. The Talmud speaks of the wine produced in this latter Sharon (Men. viii. 2; Shab. 70a), while the prayer of the high priest on the Day of Atonement, "May God watch over the inhabitants of Sharon, lest they be buried in the ruins of their homes" (Yer. Yoma v. 3), can refer only to those who resided in the eastern Sharon, since no earthquakes occurred in the western plain. The statement of Eusebius regarding a Sharon situated in Galilee is confirmed by the existence of the modern Sarona.

In Josh. xii. 18 the King of Sharon is enumerated among the thirty-one kings vanquished by the Israelites. The "Sharon" mentioned in I Chron. v. 16 appears to be the name of a city in the territory of Gad.

Bibliography:

Schwarz, Das Heilige Land, pp. 46-47, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1852;

Neubauer, G. T. pp. 48 et seq.;

Ritter, Palestine, iv. 265;

Sepp, Jerusalem und das Heilige Land, i. 23, 44; ii. 585 et seq.

SHARON.—1. ha-shârôn, lit. ‘the plain,’ 1Ch 27:29, Son 2:1, Isa 33:9; Isa 35:2; Isa 65:10; Gr. ho Sarôn, whence AV [Note: Authorized Version.] Saron, Act 9:35. This is the great Maritime Plain extending from Jaffa, or a little south of it, to Mount Carmel in the north. Though called a plain, it is of an undulating character, and was in parts, particularly towards the N., a forest of oaks (Isa 35:2). Although hut poorly cultivated, it has a great depth of rich soil and is capable of much development; left now largely to weeds, it yields annually a magnificent crop of beautiful wild flowers. It has always been a pasturage of flocks (1Ch 27:29, Isa 65:10). Around Ramleh and Ludd are forests of olives, and the orange gardens of Jaffa are too well known to need more than a passing reference; wherever the hand of man has been diligent, there the soil has bounteously responded. Over a great part of the plain, especially near the sea, water may be tapped at no great depth. Its rivers are the marshy Nahr Zerka or Crocodile River, just below Carmel, Nahr el-Mufjir, Nahr Iskanderuneh, and Nahr el-Aujeh, the last mentioned close to Jaffa. The chief town of Sharon was in ancient days Dor (Jos 11:2; Jos 12:23, 1Ki 4:11), in NT times Cæsarea, and in later Crusading times (1218–1291) the fortified port of Athlît. In Jos 12:13 Lassharon is mentioned as one of the royal cities of Canaan; as ‘the king of’ is omitted in the original, the passage may read ‘king of Aphek in the Sharon.’ For ‘rose of Sharon’ See Rose.

2. A second Sharon (Saronas) is mentioned by Eusebius and Jerome as between Mt. Tahor and Tiberias, and this is to-day represented by the village of Sârôna in the Ard el-Hamma N.E. of Tabor. This may he the place mentioned in Jos 12:13 (see above).

3. The suburbs (RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘pasture lands’) of Sharon (1Ch 5:16) are mentioned as among the possessions of Gad along with Gilead and Bashan.

E. W. G. Masterman.

shâr´un (השּׁרון, ha-shārōn, with the definite article possibly meaning “the plain”; τὸ πεδίον, tó pedı́on, ὁ δρυμός, ho drumós, ὁ Σαρών, ho Sarṓn):

(1) This name is attached to the strip of fairly level land which runs between the mountains and the shore of the Mediterranean, stretching from Nahr Rubı̄n in the South to Mt. Carmel in the North. There are considerable rolling hills; but, compared with the mountains to the East, it is quite properly described as a plain. The soil is a deep rich loam, which is favorable to the growth of cereals. The orange, the vine and the olive grow to great perfection. When the many-colored flowers are in bloom it is a scene of rare beauty.

Of the streams in the plain four carry the bulk of the water from the western slopes of the mountains to the sea. They are also perennial, being fed by fountains. Nahr el-‛Aujeh enters the sea to the North of Jaffa; Nahr Iskanderūneh 7 miles, and Nahr el-Mefjir fully 2 miles South of Caesarea; and Nahr ez-Zerḳā, the “Crocodile River,” 2 1/2 miles North of Caesarea. Nahr el-Fālik runs its short course about 12 miles North of Nahr el-‛Aujeh. Water is plentiful, and at almost any point it may be obtained by digging. Deep, finely built wells near some of the villages are among the most precious legacies left by the Crusaders. The breadth of the plain varies from 8 to 12 miles, being broadest in the Sharon. There are traces of a great forest in the northern part, which accounts for the use of the term drumos. Josephus (Ant., XIV, xiii, 3) speaks of “the woods” (hoi drumoı́) and Strabo (xvi) of “a great wood.” There is still a considerable oak wood in this district. The “excellency” of Carmel and Sharon (Isa 35:2) is probably an allusion to the luxuriant oak forests. As in ancient times, great breadths are given up to the pasturing of cattle. Over David’s herds that fed in Sharon was Shitrai the Sharonite (1Ch 27:29). In the day of Israel’s restoration “Sharon shall be a fold of flocks” (Isa 65:10). Jerome speaks of the fine cattle fed in the pastures of Sharon, and also sings the praises of its wine (Comm. on Isa 33 and 65). Toward the Sharon no doubt there was more cultivation then than there is at the present day. The German colony to the North of Jaffa, preserving in its name, Sārona, the old Greek name of the plain, and several Jewish colonies are proving the wonderful productiveness of the soil. The orange groves of Jaffa are far-famed.

“The rose of Sharon” (Son 2:1) is a mistranslation: ḥăbhacceleth is not a “rose,” but the white narcissus, which in season abounds in the plain.

Sharon is mentioned in the New Testament only in Act 9:35.

(2) A district East of the Jordan, occupied by the tribe of Gad (1Ch 5:16; here the name is without the article). Kittel (“Ch,” SBOT) suggests that this is a corruption from “Sirion,” which again is synonymous with Hermon. He would therefore identify Sharon with the pasture lands of Hermon. Others think that the mı̄shōr or table-land of Gilead is intended.

(3) In Jos 12:18 we should perhaps read “the king of Aphek in Sharon.” See LASSHARON. The order seems to point to some place Northeast of Tabor. Perhaps this is to be identified with the Sarona of Eusebius, Onomasticon, in the district between Tabor and Tiberias. If so, the name may be preserved in that of Sārona on the plateau to the Southwest of Tiberias.

(ὁ ÓÜñùí, äùָׁøåֹï, ‘the level’)

Sharon was the ancient name of the undulating Maritime Plain which extended from Mt. Carmel to some distance beyond Jaffa-perhaps to the Nahr Rûbîn and the low hills to the S. of Ramleh-where it merged in the Philistian Plain. It was admired by prophets and poets for the richness of its vegetation and the beauty of its wild flowers-‘the excellency of Sharon’ (Isa_35:2), ‘the rose of Sharon’ (Son_2:1). From the groves of oak which at one time covered a great part of its surface, especially in the north, it was also called ὁ äñõìüò (Septuagint , Isa_33:9; Isa_35:2; Isa_65:10; Jos. Bellum Judaicum (Josephus) I. xiii. 2) or ïἱ äñõìïß (Ant. XIV. xiii. 3). Strabo (XVI. ii. 27) says that in his time there was next to Carmel ‘a large forest’ (äñõìὸò ìÝãáò ôéò). The only part of Sharon which is alluded to in the NT is the southern end, lying around Lydda (now Lydd), where the fields and orchards were exceedingly well-watered and fertile and the population was dense. Here the presence of St. Peter in the early Apostolic Age-though his visit was only brief, as he was urgently summoned away to Joppa-is said to have given rise to a widespread spiritual movement: ‘all that dwelt at Lydda and in Sharon turned to the Lord’ (Act_9:35). The Authorized Version renders ‘at Lydda and Sharon,’ apparently mistaking ‘Sharon’ for a town or village in the neighbourhood of Lydda. The use of the article with the Greek and the Hebrew noun proves that a whole district-‘the level country’ (from éָùָׁø)-is meant. The only known village of Sârôna is in the N.E. of Mt. Tabor, probably represented by the Saronas which Eusebius (Onom. 296. 6) says was the name given to the district between Tabor and Tiberias.

Literature.-G. A. Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land (G. A. Smith) , 1900, p. 147 ff.; D. F. Buhl, GAP [Note: AP Geographie des alten Palästina (Buhl).] , 1896, p. 103 f.

James Strahan.

The thinly populated Plain of Sharon was part of Palestine’s coastal plain south of Mt Carmel. Parts of it were marshland, though other parts contained good pastures and forests (1Ch 5:16; 1Ch 27:29; Isa 35:2; see PALESTINE). Its wildflowers were typical of the Palestinian plains (Song of Son 2:1).