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Lasharon

cityOld TestamentCoastal Plain1 verse
Today Sharon PlainCountry IsraelCoordinates 32.400, 34.883

Lasharon is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Coastal Plain in modern-day Israel. Known today as Sharon Plain. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.

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Archaeological Data
Occupation Phases
Chalcolithic4500 BCE – 3800 BCE
Middle Bronze Age II2000 BCE – 1550 BCE
Late Bronze Age1550 BCE – 1150 BCE
Iron Age I1150 BCE – 980 BCE
Iron Age I-II1150 BCE – 539 BCE
Iron Age IIa980 BCE – 830 BCE
Iron Age IIb830 BCE – 720 BCE
Iron Age IIc720 BCE – 720 BCE
Iron Age III (Persian)539 BCE – 333 BCE
Hellenistic333 BCE – 63 BCE
Roman63 BCE – 324 CE
Byzantine324 CE – 638 CE
UnitoAssyrianGovernance, Villages to Empires Dataset (CC BY 4.0), doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732Uppsala University, ANE Site Placemarks (CC BY 4.0), doi:10.5281/zenodo.6384044

Biblical History

Lasharon appears in Joshua 12:18, listed among the thirty-one kings defeated by Joshua and the Israelites during the conquest of Canaan. The text reads 'the king of Aphek, one; the king of Lasharon, one,' cataloguing the defeated rulers as evidence of God's faithfulness in delivering the Promised Land to Israel. Some scholars read 'Lasharon' not as a separate city but as a descriptor meaning 'of Sharon,' indicating that the king of Aphek ruled over the Sharon Plain. If taken as an independent city, Lasharon was located in or near the fertile Sharon coastal plain, one of the most productive agricultural regions in ancient Canaan. The conquest list in Joshua 12 serves as a theological summary demonstrating that God fulfilled His promise to give the land to Israel, overcoming every Canaanite stronghold. Whether an independent city or a regional designation, Lasharon's inclusion testifies to the comprehensive nature of the conquest, extending God's victory across the breadth of the land from the coastal plain to the hill country and beyond.

Archaeological & Historical Notes

The identification of Lasharon remains uncertain. If it is a separate city from Aphek, proposed locations include sites within the Sharon Plain of modern Israel, a fertile coastal lowland stretching between Jaffa and Mount Carmel. Some scholars identify it with Tell esh-Sharia or other tells in the region, while others argue that 'Lasharon' is simply a geographical qualifier for the king of Aphek, meaning 'belonging to Sharon.' The Sharon Plain itself is well attested archaeologically, with numerous tells reflecting continuous habitation from the Bronze Age onward. The region's rich alluvial soils made it a prosperous agricultural zone. Without a firm site identification, no specific excavation results can be attributed to Lasharon.

Verse Appearances (1)

References

  1. Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
  2. OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
  3. Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
  4. Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
  5. Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
  6. Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]

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