SHARON

(Sharʹon) [plain, level country].

1. The maritime plain between the plain of Dor (S of Carmel) and the plain of Philistia. From its northern border formed by the Crocodile River (Nahr Zerqa), Sharon extends southward for about forty miles (64 kilometers) to the area of Joppa and varies in width from about ten to twelve miles (16 to 19 kilometers). Extensive sand dunes are found along the coast. Crossed by highways, the area anciently was of considerable military and commercial importance.

Sharon was noted for its fertility (compare Isaiah 35:2), being a well-watered region through which several streams flow. Flocks and herds grazed there. (1 Chron. 27:29; compare Isaiah 65:10.) Great oak forests once occupied the northern part of Sharon, whereas the southern part, as today, was likely cultivated more extensively. It appears that much of the region was desolated during the Assyrian invasion in the eighth century B.C.E.—Isa. 33:9.

In The Song of Solomon the Shulammite is depicted as describing herself as “a mere saffron of the coastal plain,” evidently meaning just a common flower among the many growing in Sharon.—Song of Sol. 2:1.

2. According to 1 Chronicles 5:16, the tribe of Gad dwelt in “Gilead, in Bashan and in its dependent towns and in all the pasture grounds of Sharon.” Some scholars think that this means that Gadites grazed their flocks in the coastal plains of Sharon (No. 1). However, Gad received territory E of the Jordan, and both Gilead and Bashan are on that side. Thus many authorities conclude that there was also a region in Gad’s territory called Sharon. Since sha·rohnʹ (plain, level country) and the Hebrew term mi·shohrʹ (tableland, level land [Deut. 3:10; 1 Ki. 20:25]) are from the same root, perhaps this Sharon was part of the tableland E of the Dead Sea.