Sharon in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

1 Chronicles 5:16; Isaiah 33:9, "the excellency (beauty) of Sharon" (Isaiah 35:2), Isaiah 65:10; Song of Solomon 2:1, "the rose (narcissus) of Sharon," famous for flowers and for pasture; Acts 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 1 Chronicles 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 (Joshua 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.