Israel Tour 12 Tyre Sidon

In modern-day Lebanon, Tyre and Sidon were coastal cities along the Mediterranean Sea. Both had a vibrant business exporting and importing goods from their seaports. Tyre, in particular, boasted of enormous wealth and protection from its enemies. Only Alexander the Great was able to conquer Tyre. When Solomon exported lumber from the cedars of Lebanon, the materials were put out to sea from these ports. This was Phoenician territory, and home to Jezebel before she married the Israelite king Ahab (1 Kings 16:31). Elijah took refuge in Zarephath in the region of Sidon before returning to confront Ahab. Jesus visited the region and used the people of Tyre and Sidon in some of his sermon illustrations. In fact, Jesus used the widow of Zarephath as an illustration in his sermon at Nazareth. Combined with an illustration of faith from an Assyrian military commander named Naaman, the sermon proved too much for the people of Nazareth. They kicked Jesus out of his hometown, and as far as we know, he never returned.