The Biblical Sidon
Shrine commemorating the last meeting place between St. Paul and St. Peter inside the Old City of Sidon.
The Bible describes Sidon in several passages:
It received its name from the "first-born" of Canaan, the grandson of Noah (Genesis 10:15, 19).
The Tribe of Zebulun has a frontier on Sidon. (Gen. 49:13)
It was the first home of the Phoenicians on the coast of Canaan, and from its extensive commercial relations became a "great" city. (Joshua 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 (Judges 1:31).
The Sidonians long oppressed Israel (Judges 10:12).
From the time of David its glory began to wane, and Tyre, its "virgin daughter" (Isaiah 23:12), rose to its place of pre-eminence.
Solomon entered into a matrimonial alliance with the Sidonians, and thus their form of idolatrous worship found a place in the land of Israel (1 Kings 11:1, 33).
Jezebel was a Sidonian princess (1 Kings 16:31).
It was famous for its manufactures and arts, as well as for its commerce (1 Kings 5:6; 1 Chronicles 22:4; Ezekiel 27:8).
It is frequently referred to by the prophets (Isaiah 23:2, 4, 12; Jeremiah 25:22; 27:3; 47:4; Ezekiel 27:8; 28:21, 22; 32:30; Joel 3:4).
Elijah sojourned in Sidon, performing miracles (1 Kings 17:9–24; Luke 4:26).
Jesus visited the "coasts" of Tyre and Sidon (Matthew 15:21; Mark 7:24) and from this region many came forth to hear him preaching (Mark 3:8; Luke 6:17), leading to the stark contrast in Matthew 11:21–23 to Korazin and Bethsaida.
From Sidon, at which the ship put in after leaving Caesarea, Paul finally sailed for Rome (Acts 27:3, 4).