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Topic:
Thoughts
And Things Of The Bible -- Cedar
From Easton's Bible Dictionary…
With reference to the word "cedar…"
(Heb. e'rez, Gr. kedros, Lat. cedrus), a tree very frequently
mentioned in Scripture. It was stately (Ezek. 31:3-5), long-branched
(Ps. 80:10; 92:12; Ezek. 31:6-9), odoriferous (Cant. 4:11; Hos. 14:6),
durable, and therefore much used for boards, pillars, and ceilings (1
Kings 6:9, 10; 7:2; Jer. 22:14), for masts (Ezek. 27:5), and for carved
images (Isa. 44:14). It grew very abundantly in Palestine, and
particularly on Lebanon, of which it was "the glory" (Isa.
35:2; 60:13). Hiram supplied Solomon with cedar trees from Lebanon for
various purposes connected with the construction of the temple and the
king's palace (2 Sam. 5:11; 7:2, 7; 1 Kings 5:6, 8,10; 6:9, 10, 15, 16,
18, 20; 7:2, 3, 7, 11, 12; 9:11, etc.). Cedars were used also in the
building of the second temple under Zerubbabel (Ezra 3:7). Of the
ancient cedars of Lebanon there remain now only some seven or eight.
They are not standing together. But beside them there are found between
three hundred and four hundred of younger growth. They stand in an
amphitheatre fronting the west, about 6,400 feet above the level of the
sea. The cedar is often figuratively alluded to in the sacred
Scriptures. "The mighty conquerors of olden days, the despots of
Assyria and the Pharaohs of Egypt, the proud and idolatrous monarchs of
Judah, the Hebrew commonwealth itself, the war-like Ammonites of
patriarchal times, and the moral majesty of the Messianic age, are all
compared to the towering cedar, in its royal loftiness and supremacy (Isa.
2:13; Ezek. 17:3, 22, 23, 31:3-9; Amos 2:9; Zech. 11:1, 2; Job 40:17;
Ps. 29:5; 80:10; 92:12, etc).", Groser's Scrip. Nat. Hist.
From Smith's Bible Dictionary…
With reference to the word "cedar…"
The Hebrew word erez, invariably rendered "cedar" by the
Authorized Version, stands for that tree in most of the passages where
the word occurs. While the word is sometimes used in a wider sense,
(Leviticus 14:6) for evergreen cone-bearing trees, generally the cedar
of Lebanon (Cedrus libani) is intended. (1 Kings 7:2; 10:27; Psalms
92:12; Song of Solomon 5:15; Isaiah 2:13; Ezekiel 31:3-6) The wood is of
a reddish color, of bitter taste and aromatic odor, offensive to
insects, and very durable. The cedar is a type of the Christian, being
evergreen, beautiful, aromatic, wide spreading, slow growing, long
lived, and having many uses. As far as is at present known, the cedar of
Lebanon is confined in Syria to one valley of the Lebanon range, viz.,
that of the Kedisha river, which flows from near the highest point of
the range westward to the Mediterranean, and enters the sea at the port
of Tripoli. The grove is at the very upper part of the valley, about 15
miles from the sea, 6500 feet above that level, and its position is
moreover above that of all other arboreous vegetation. ("Of the
celebrated cedars on Mount Lebanon, eleven groves still remain. The
famous B'Sherreh grove is three-quarters of a mile in circumference, and
contains about 400 trees, young and old. Perhaps a dozen of these are
very old; the largest, 63 feet in girth and 70 feet high, is thought by
some to have attained the age of 2000 years."--Johnson's Encycl.)
Derived from Easton's and Smith's Bible Dictionaries
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