Jesus, hoAvever, says that it Avas unlawful. The statement is in accord Avith the JeAvish laAv of His day, Avliich can be traced back to a provision of the Priests' Code from post-exilic times (Lv 24^), Avhich says that the sheAvbread Avas for the priests, and must be eaten by them in the Holy Place. Such an act as David's Avas illegal in the time of Christ ; it Avas not illegal in the time of David. The real issue betAveen Jesus and the Pharisees in Mt 12 Avas the extent to Avhich such laAvs as that of the Sabbath Avere binding. The Jcavs held that the law Avas eternal, unchangeable, supreme. Jesus held that it Avas ' for man,' and the Son of Man Avas lord of it. More recently the argument of Jesus has been vastly strengthened by the recognition of the gradual development of the OT legislation. According to the JeAvs, their great king had violated the LaAV, and the only justifica- tion Avas the stress of his hunger ; but to use this argument to justify David Avas in effect to acknoAV- ledge the very principle upon Avhich Jesus acted in alloAving His disciples to pluck the grain.
Literature. — Stade, Bihl. Theol. des AT, -p. 168; art. 'Shew- bread ' in Hastings' DB and in the JE. Q. H. GATES.
SHILLING.— See Money.
SHIP.— See Boat.
SHOE.— See Sandal.
SHORE.— See Beach.
SICK, SICKNESS.— See Disease.
SICKLE (dpeiravov). — The crops in Palestine are, to this day, reaped almost entirely Avith the sickle (Mk 42*'). The scythe is seldom seen save in the hands of a foreigner, and the Avhirr of the reaping machine is still unknoAvn. Spiiravov is the LXX equivalent of tAvo Heb. Avords trcin and "jjp Avhich seem to have been two names for the same thing. The Palestinian sickle is a little longer than our common shearing - hook ; the blade describes a someAvhat Avider curve, and the point, instead of terminating sharply, is slightly turned backAvard. Sometimes the edge is toothed like a saAv, but oftener it is plain and sharp like our OAvn hook. The total length of handle and blade is from 18 to 24 inches. W. Eaving.
SIDON (for much of common reference, see Tyre).
SIDON
SIFTI^'U
623
— A narrow, rocky district as well as a once famous city in Phoenicia, the city being 30 miles S. of Beirat and 26 miles slightly N. by E. of Tyre, and 60 miles N. of Capernaum. Like nearly all settle- ments on the east coast of the Mediterranean, iSidon owed its location to certain prominent rocks in the sea, which at first served as a breakwater, and then, through gradual coimexion with the land, produced a nortliern and a southern harbour, the latter now filled with sand.
Sidon is so ancient that all certainty as to the origin of its name has vanished. Some have deemed it ' fishing '-town, others the seat of the worship of a deity Sid. Sidon and the Sidonians are heard of eariier and more inllueutially than Tyre, which finally distanced its northern rival. All the Phoe- nician cities seem to have known little but rivalry down to the appearance of such world-powers as Assyi-ia, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, and Rome, which made them all, sooner or later, subject and abject. Each had its ' king,' its ' god,' its colonies, its coinage. Each sent its trading vessels seaward to the Mediterranean world ; landward, each was in touch with the markets of Damascus and the East by means of those caravans of ' ships of the desert ' ; each sat as queen over a semicircular domain with a radius of some 15 to 20 miles. Through faction in the 8th cent. B.C. Sidon lost many of her merchants, chiefly to Tyre. At length her limited territory, her merely commercial aim, her being sapped by colonization and dissension, her final surrender of leadersliip to Tyre, combined with her conquests by the world-powers, left her under the Romans in the days of Christ a merely provincial capital, richer in the vices of ancient paganism than in its virtues. Some from Sidon were in the multitude that thronged Jesus at the Sea of Galilee (Mk 3**), and Sidon was pronounced more excusable in the day of judgment than the more favoured cities of Jesus' own country and race (Mt IP"-). The present Saida has about 10,000 inhabit- ants, and is surrounded by delightful orange groves, beneath which lie archaeological treasures. Beirftt, with its Damascus railway and imjiroved harbour, has robbed Sidon of its last vestiges of commerce.
In a sense Sidon was, and in another sense was not, within the limits of the Holy Land. In the ideal distribution of Canaan recorded in Joshua the lot of Asher would seem to have included about all of Phcenicia, extending ' even unto great Sidon ' (Jos 19-^). The coast cities and their daughter villages, however, remained utterly unconscious of their assignment, while Asher became so assimi- lated thereto as to retain in Israelitish history little more than a name.
The RV declares that Jesus ' came through Sidon,' a distinct and exact statement unknown to the AV ; and thereon depends our conception whether or not Jesus Himself, from choice, ever went into the way of the Gentiles. Many points as to the primariness, structure, and transmission of the Gospels are illustrated by this case. Mt 152iff- AV Mk TMff. AV