SHARON (shar'on), (Heb. shaw-rone', a plain).
1. A level tract along the Mediterranean, be tween Mount Carmel and Caesarea, celebrated for its rich fields and pastures (Josh. xii :18 Cant. ii Is. xxxiii :9; xxxv :2; lxv :10 ; I Chron. xxvii :29). Called also Saron (Acts ix :35). It is twenty-five or thirty miles in length, and from eight to fifteen miles in width.
(1) Scripture History. Sharon is first no ticed in the Bible as Lasharon, the Hebrew arti cle being taken as part of the word (Josh. xii: 18). It was renowned for its fertility. The flocks of David fed there, and Isaiah praised its excel lency and uses it both in promise and in threaten ing (1 Citron. xxvii :29 ; Is. xxxv :2 ; lxv :to; xxxiii :9).
(2) Present Condition. The luxuriance and fertility of the plain of Sharon are noted to this day, although the frequent raids of the Bedouins make its cultivation difficult. The plain has on the north a range of inland cliffs. A portion of the plain is composed of marl and alluvial soil, another portion of red sandstone and Shelly brec cias of blown sand in large patches. The hills are
of softest chalk, gently sloping, partly covered by woods of oak, the trees standing at intervals like a park, the ground being sandy in some places and of a loam or limestone character in others.
Sharon is mentioned in connection with Gilead in Bashan in 1 Chron. v:16. Stanley, noting the difficulty of supposing that the pasture lands of Gad could have been so far from the home of the tribe east of the Jordan as Sharon would have been, thinks that "Sharon"—which has in the He brew exactly the same meaning as Illishor—may signify the Mishor, or "upland downs," of Gilead and Bashan (Schaff, Bib. Diet.) Figurative. The rose of Sharon was a simile of all that a lover would express (Cant. ii:1). It is made an emblem of a fruitful country (Is. xxxiii :9) and of the church of God (Is. xxxv :2, and lxv :to).
2. A district on the east of Jordan near Gilead and Bashan (1 Chron. v:t6). Site unknown.