Great Zidon - If this were the same with the Sidon of the ancients, it was illustrious long before the Trojan war; and both it and its inhabitants are frequently mentioned by Homer as excelling in works of skill and utility, and abounding in wealth: -
Ενθ ' εσαν οἱ πεπλοι παμποικιλοι, εογα γυναικων<-144 Σιδονιων .
Iliad, lib. vi., ver. 289.
"There lay the ventures of no vulgar art,
Sidonian maids embroidered every part."
Pope.
Αργυρεον κρητηρα τετυγμενον· ἑξ δ ' αρα μετραπ
Χανδανεν, αυταρ καλλει ενικα πασαν επ ' αιανπ
Πολλον, επι Σιδονες πολυδαιδαλοι ευ ησκησαν.
Iliad, lib. xxiii., ver. 741.
"A silver urn that full six measures held,
By none in weight or workmanship excell'd;
Sidonian artists taught the frame to shine,
Elaborate with artifice divine."
Pope.
Εκ μεν Σιδωνος πολυχαλκου ευχομαι ειναι.
Odyss. xv. 424.
"I am of Sidon, famous for her wealth."
The art of making glass is attributed by Pliny to this city: Sidon artifex vitri, Hist. Nat. l. v., c. 19.
Misrephoth-maim - Or, Misrephoth of the waters. What this place was is unknown, but Calmet conjectures it to be the same with Sarepta, a city of Phoenicia, contiguous to Sidon. The word signifies the burning of the waters, or inflammation; probably it was a place noted for its hot springs: this idea seems to have struck Luther, as he translates it, die warme wasser, the hot waters.
One portion of the defeated host fled north-westward toward Zidon; the other northeastward up the Ard el Huleh.
Zidon, as the metropolis of various subject towns and territories, appears Joshua 19:28 to have been afterward assigned to Asher, but was not, in fact, conquered by that tribe Judges 1:31. It is mentioned in Egyptian papyri of great antiquity, and by Homer, and was in the most ancient times the capital of Phoenicia. In later times it was eclipsed by Tyre (compare 2 Samuel 5:11). The prophets frequently couple Tyre and Sidon together, as does also the New Testament (Isaiah 23:2, Isaiah 23:4, Isaiah 23:12; Jeremiah 27:3; Jeremiah 47:4; Matthew 11:22; Matthew 15:21, etc.).
Both the site and signification of Misre-photh-maim are uncertain. Some have thought it identical with “Zarephath which belongeth to Zidon” 1 Kings 17:9, the Sarepta of the New Test. The name is explained by some (see the margin) as meaning hot springs; by others as salt pits; i. e. pits where the sea water was evaporated for the sake of its salt; and again by others as “smelting factories near the waters.” Some, tracing the word to quite another root, render it “heights of waters,” or copious springs.