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; Song 2:1; Isa 33:9; 35:2; 65:10. It contained a town of the same name, called Saron in Ac 9:35. 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. 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.

2. A town in the tribe of Gad, in the district of Bashan beyond the Jordan, 1Ch 5:16.

1Ch 5:16; Isa 33:9, "the excellency (beauty) of Sharon" (Isa 35:2), Isa 65:10; Song 2:1, "the rose (narcissus) of Sharon," famous for flowers and for pasture; Ac 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.

1. ha-sh

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 Cant. 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; 35:2; 65:10. It is called SARON in Ac 9:35.

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

Sha'ron

(a plain), a district of the holy land occasionally referred to in the Bible.

1Ch 5:16; Isa 33:9

In

Ac 9:35

called SARON. The name has on each occurrence with one exception only,

See Saron

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. [PALESTINE] The Sharon of

See Palestina and Palestine

2Ch 5:14

to which allusion has already been made, is distinguished front 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.

SHARON, 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; 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.