Cedar

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CEDAR (erez).—The finest of the trees of Lebanon, the principal constituent of its ‘glory’ (Isa_35:2; Isa_60:13); it was noted for its strength (Psa_29:5), its height (2Ki_19:23) and its majesty (1Ki_4:33, 2Ki_14:9, Zec_11:1-2). Its wood was full of resin (Psa_104:16), and, largely on that account, was one of the most valuable kinds of timber for building, especially for internal fittings. It was exceedingly durable, being not readily infected with worms, and took a high polish (cf. 1Ki_10:27, Son_1:17, Jer_22:14). It was suitable, too, for carved work (Isa_44:14-15). In all these respects the ‘cedar of Lebanon’ (Cedrus Libani) answers to the requirements. Though but a dwarf in comparison with the Indian cedar, it is the most magnificent tree in Syria; it attains a height of from 80 to 100 feet, and spreads out its branches horizontally so as to give a beautiful shade (Eze_31:3); it is evergreen, and has characteristic egg-shaped cones. The great region of this cedar is now the Cilician Taurus Mountains beyond Mersina, but small groves survive in places in the Lebanon. The most famous of these is that at Kadisha, where there are upwards of 400 trees, some of great age. In a few references erez does not mean the Cedrus Libani, but some other conifer. This is specially the case where ‘cedar-wood’ is used in the ritual of cleansing after defilement by contact with a leper (Lev_14:4) or a dead body (Num_19:6). Probably erez here is a species of juniper, Juniperus Sabina, which grows in the wilderness. The reference in Num_24:6 to ‘cedar trees beside the waters’ can hardly apply to the Lebanon cedar, which flourishes best on bare mountain slopes.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

'Erez, from 'aIraz, "coiled" or "compressed," a deeply rooted tree. According to Scripture, tall (Isa_2:13), spreading (Eze_31:3), fit for beams, boards, and pillars (1Ki_6:10; 1Ki_6:15; 1Ki_7:2), masts (Eze_27:5), and carved work as images (Isa_44:14). The timber for the second temple, as for Solomon's, was cedar (Ezr_3:7). As our modern cedar is hardly fit for masts, and is of a worse quality than inferior deal, probably by the "cedar" of Scripture is meant Scotch fir (Pinus sylvestris). In Eze_27:3 the Septuagint translate "masts of fir," and by "fir" is meant cypress. Moreover the deodara cedar (the tree of God, Psa_104:16, the sacred tree of the Hindus, of which they construct their temples) has the durability wanting in our modern cedar of Lebanon.
The Nineveh inscriptions state that the palaces were in part constructed of cedar; this proves on microscopic examination to be yew; so that by "cedar of Lebanon" the wood of more than one tree is meant, the pine cedar, Scotch fir, yew, deodara. Cedar was also used in purification, probably the oxycedrus abounding in Egypt, Arabia, and the wady Mousa; indeed, the greater cedar not being found there, the tree meant in the laws of purification must have been a distinct one (Lev_14:4; Num_19:6). It was anciently burnt as a perfume at funerals. In a hollow of Lebanon, where no other trees are near, about 400 cedars of Lebanon stand alone, 3,000 feet below the summit and 6,400 above the sea. Only eleven or twelve are very large and old.
This forest is regarded by the neighboring people with superstitious reverence. Sennacherib had desired to "go up to the sides of Lebanon and cut down the tall cedars thereof" (2Ki_19:23), but was baffled by the interposition of Jehovah. Another Assyrian king accomplished it, as an inscription at Nimrud states in recording his conquests in N. Syria. But God in retributive justice "consumed the glory of the Assyrian's forest" figuratively; fulfilling His threat, "the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few that a child may write them" (Isa_10:18-19). Solomon's 80,000 hewers must have inflicted such havoc that the cedar forest never recovered it completely. The cedar of Lebanon is an evergreen, its leaves remaining on for two years, and every spring contributing a fresh supply.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

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, Lev_14:6, for evergreen cone-bearing trees, generally the cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani) is intended. 1Ki_7:2; 1Ki_10:27; Psa_92:12; Son_5:15; Isa_2:13; Eze_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, namely, 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 Encyclopedia).
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

ארן . The cedar is a large and noble evergreen tree. Its lofty height, and its far extended branches, afford spacious shelter and shade, Eze_31:3; Eze_31:6; Eze_31:8. The wood is very valuable; is of a reddish colour, of an aromatic smell, and reputed incorruptible. This is owing to its bitter taste, which the worms cannot endure, and to its resin, which preserves it from the injuries of the weather. The ark of the covenant, and much of the temple of Solomon, and that of Diana at Ephesus, were built of cedar. The tree is much celebrated in Scripture. It is called, “the glory of Lebanon,”
Isa_60:13. On that mountain it must in former times have flourished in great abundance. There are some cedars still growing there which are prodigiously large. But the travellers who have visited the place within these two or three centuries, and who describe trees of vast size, inform us that their number is diminished greatly; so that, as Isaiah says, “a child may number them,” Isa_10:19. Maundrell measured one of the largest size, and found it to be twelve yards and six inches in girt, and yet sound; and thirty-seven yards in the spread of its boughs. Gabriel Sionita, a very learned Syrian Maronite, who assisted in editing the Paris Polyglott, a man worthy of all credit, thus describes the cedars of mount Lebanon, which he had examined on the spot: “The cedar grows on the most elevated part of the mountain, is taller than the pine, and so thick, that five men together could scarcely encompass one. It shoots out its branches at ten or twelve feet from the ground: they are large and distant from each other, and are perpetually green. The wood is of a brown colour, very solid and incorruptible, if preserved from wet. The tree bears a small cone like that of the pine.”
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

sē?dar, sē?dẽr (ארז, 'erez, from Hebrew root meaning ?to be firm?; κέδρος, kédros): The 'erez was in almost all the Old Testament references the true cedar, Cedrus libani, but the name may have been applied in a loose way to allied trees, such as junipers and pines. In Num_24:6 - ?as cedar-trees beside the waters? - the reference must, as is most probable, be purely poetical (see ALOES) or the 'ărāzı̄m must signify some other kind of tree which flourishes beside water.
1. Cedar for Ritual Cleansing
Cedar is twice mentioned as a substance for ritual cleansing. In Lev_14:4 the cleansed leper was sprinkled with the blood of a ?clean bird? into which had been put ?cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop.? In Num_19:6 ?cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet? were to be cast into the holocaust of the red heifer. (For the symbolical meaning see CLEAN.) Here it is very generally considered that the cedar could not have been the wood of Cedrus libani, which so far as we know never grew in the wilderness, but that of some species of juniper - according to Post, Juniperis phoenicea, which may still be found in the wilderness of Edom.
2. Cedar Trees in the Old Testament
Cedar trees are everywhere mentioned with admiration in the Old Testament. Solomon made the cedar the first of trees (1Ki_4:33). They are the ?glory of Lebanon? (Isa_35:2; Isa_60:13). The most boastful threat of Sennacherib was that he would cut down the tall cedars of Lebanon (Isa_37:24). They were strong, as is implied in -
?The voice of Yahweh is powerful;...
The voice of Yahweh breaketh the cedars;
Yea, Yahweh breaketh in pieces the cedars of Lebanon? (Psa_29:4, Psa_29:5).
The cedars are tall - ?whose height was like the height of the cedars? - (Amo_2:9; 2Ki_19:23); majestic (2Ki_14:9), and excellent (Son_5:15). The Assyrian power is compared to - ?a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a forest-like shade, an high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs ... its stature was exalted above all the trees of the field; and its boughs were multiplied, and its branches became long? (Eze_31:3-5). They are in particular God's trees -
?The trees of Yahweh are filled with moisture,
The cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted? (Psa_104:16).
Doubtless as a reminiscence of this the Syrians today call the cedar ‛ars er rubb, ?the cedar of the Lord.? The growth of the cedar is typical of that of the righteous man (Psa_92:12).
That cedars were once very abundant in the Lebanon is evident (1Ki_6:9-18; 1Ki_10:27). What they contributed to the glory and beauty of that district may be seen in Zec_11:1-2 :
?Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.
Wail, O fir-tree, for the cedar is fallen, because the glorious (Revised Version margin) ones are destroyed:
Wail, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest is come down.?
3. Cedar Timber
The wood of the cedar has always been highly prized - much more so than the sycamore (1Ki_10:27; Isa_9:10). David had a house of cedar built for him by Hiram, king of Tyre (2Sa_5:11), and he prepared ?cedar-trees without number? for the temple which his son was to build (1Ch_22:4). Cedar timber was very much used in the construction of Solomon's temple and palace, the trees being cut in the Lebanon by Sidonians by orders of the king of Tyre - ?Hiram gave Solomon timber of cedar and timber of fir according to all his desire? (1Ki_5:6-10). One of Solomon's most important buildings was known as ?the house of the forest of Lebanon? (1Ki_7:2; 1Ki_10:17; 2Ch_9:16), on account of the source of its materials. While cedar was well adapted for beams ( 1Ki_6:9; Son_1:17), boards (Son_8:9), pillars (1Ki_7:2) and ceilings (Jer_22:14), it was suited as well for carved work, such as idols (Isa_44:14, Isa_44:15). It was also used for ships' masts (Eze_27:5).
4. Cedars in Modern Syria
The Cedrus libani still survives in the mountains of Syria and flourishes in much greater numbers in the Taurus mountains. ?There are groves of cedars above el-Ma‛āṣir, Barûk, ‛Ain Zehaltah, Hadith, Besherri, and Sı̂r? (Post, Flora, 751). Of these the grove at Besherri is of world-wide renown. It consists of a group of about 400 trees, among them some magnificent old patriarchs, which lies on the bare slopes of the Lebanon some 6,000 ft. above the sea. Doubtless they are survivors of a forest which here once covered the mountain slopes for miles. The half a dozen highest specimens reach a height of between 70 and 80 ft., and have trunks of a circumference of 40 ft. or more. It is impossible to estimate with any certainty their age, but they may be as much as 800, or even 1,000, years old. Though magnificent, these are by no means the largest of their kind. Some of the cedars of Amanus are quite 100 ft. high and the Himalayan cedar, Cedrus deodara, a variety of Cedrus libani, reaches a height of 150 ft. The impressiveness of the cedar lies, however, not so much in its height and massive trunk, as in the wonderful lateral spread of its branches, which often exceeds its height. The branches grow out horizontally in successive tiers, each horizontal plane presenting, when looked at from above, the appearance of a green sward. The leaves are about an inch long, arranged in clusters; at first they are bright green, but they change with age to a deeper tint with a glaucous hue; the foliage is evergreen, the successive annual growths of leaves each lasting two years. The cones, 4 to 6 inches long, are oval or oblong-ovate, with a depression at times at the apex; they require two years to reach maturity and then, unlike other conifers, they remain attached to the tree, dropping out their scales bearing the seeds.
The wood of the cedar, specially grown under the conditions of its natural habitat, is hard, close grained, and takes a high polish. It is full of resin (Psa_92:14) which preserves it from rot and from worms. Cedar oil, a kind of turpentine extracted from the wood, was used in ancient times as a preservative for parchments and garments.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.


Fig. 120?Cedar of Lebanon
There is a difference of opinion among authors whether the original term thus translated in the numerous passages of Scripture where it occurs is always used in the same signification; that is, whether it is always intended to specify only one particular kind of the pine tribe, or whether it is not sometimes used generically. In this latter opinion we are disposed to concur, for if we proceed to compare the several passages of Scripture in which the word occurs, we shall equally find that one plant is not strictly applicable to them all. The earliest notice of the cedar is in Lev_14:4; Lev_14:6, where we are told that Moses commanded the leper that was to be cleansed to make an offering of two sparrows, cedar-wood, wool dyed in scarlet, and hyssop; and in Lev_14:49; Lev_14:51-52, the houses in which the lepers dwell are directed to be purified with the same materials. Again, in Num_19:6, Moses and Aaron are commanded to sacrifice a red heifer: 'And the priest shall take cedar-wood and hyssop and scarlet.' As remarked by Lady Callcott (Script. Herbal, p. 92), 'The cedar was not a native of Egypt, nor could it have been procured in the desert without great difficulty; but the juniper is most plentiful there, and takes deep root in the crevices of the rocks of Mount Sinai.' That some, at least, of the cedars of the ancients were a species of juniper is evident from the passages we have quoted; the wood of most of them is more or less aromatic. The ancients, it may be remarked, threw the berries of the juniper on funeral piles, to protect the departing spirit from evil influences, and offered its wood in sacrifice to the infernal gods, because they believed its presence was acceptable to them. They also burned it in their dwelling-houses to keep away demons. It is curious that, in the remote parts of the Himalayan Mountains, another species of this genus is similarly employed.
At a later period we have notices of the various uses to which the wood of the cedar was applied, as 2Sa_5:11; 2Sa_7:2-7; 1Ki_5:6; 1Ki_5:8; 1Ki_5:10; 1Ki_6:9-10; 1Ki_6:15-16; 1Ki_6:18; 1Ki_6:20; 1Ki_7:2-3; 1Ki_7:7; 1Ki_7:11-12; 1Ki_9:11; 1Ki_10:27; 1Ch_17:6; 2Ch_2:8; 2Ch_9:27; 2Ch_25:18. In these passages we are informed of the negotiations with Hiram, King of Tyre, for the supply of cedar-trees out of Lebanon, and of the uses to which the timber was applied in the construction of the Temple, and of the king's palace: he 'covered the house with beams and boards of cedar;' 'the walls of the house within were covered with boards of cedar;' there were 'cedar pillars,' and 'beams of cedar;' and the altar was of cedar. In all these passages there is nothing distinctive stated respecting the character of the wood, from which we might draw any certain conclusion, further than that, from the selection made and the constant mention of the material used, it may be fairly inferred that it must have been considered as well fitted, or rather of a superior quality, for the purpose of building the Temple and palace. From this, however, proceeds the difficulty in admitting that what we call the cedar of Lebanon was the only tree intended. For modern experience has ascertained that its wood is not of a superior quality. To determine this point, we must not refer to the statements of those who take their descriptions from writers who, indeed, describe cedar-wood, but do not prove that it was derived from the cedar of Lebanon. The term 'cedar' seems to have been as indefinite in ancient as in modern times, when we find it applied to the wood of the red or pencil cedar, to that of the Bermuda cedar, and to many other woods, as to white cedar, and Indian cedar.
Mr. Loudon, in his Arboretum (p. 2417), describes it thus: 'The wood of the cedar is of a reddish white, light and spongy, easily worked, but very apt to shrink and warp, and by no means durable.' But when the tree is grown on mountains, the annual layers of wood are much narrower and the fiber much finer than when it is grown on plains; so much so that a piece of cedar-wood brought from Mount Lebanon by Dr. Parisel, in 1829, and which he had made into a small piece of furniture, presented a surface compact, agreeably veined, and variously shaded, and which, on the whole, may be considered handsome. But Dr. Pococke, who brought away a piece of one of the large cedars which had been blown down by the wind, says that the wood does not differ in appearance from white deal, and that it does not appear to be harder. Mr. London says that a table which Sir J. Banks had made out of the Hillingdon cedar was soft, without scent (except that of common deal), and possessed little variety of veining. Though we have seen both temples and palaces built entirely with one kind of cedar, we think it more probable that, as the timber had to be brought from a distance, where all the kinds of cedar grew, the common pine-tree and the cedar of Lebanon would both furnish some of the timber required for the building of the Temple, together with juniper cedar. Celsius was of opinion that the cedar indicated the Pinus sylvestris or Scotch pine, which yields the red and yellow deals of Norway, and which is likewise found on Mount Lebanon. This opinion seems to be confirmed by Eze_27:5, 'They have made all thy ship boards of fir-trees of Senir, they have taken cedar from Lebanon to make masts for thee.' For it is not probable that any other tree than the common pine would be taken for masts.
Though Celsius appears to us to be quite right in concluding that the cedar, in some of the passages of Scripture, refers to the pine-tree, yet it seems equally clear that there are other passages to which this tree will not answer, and if we consider some of the remaining passages of Scripture, we cannot fail to perceive that they forcibly apply to the cedar of Lebanon and to the cedar of Lebanon only. Thus, in Psa_92:12, it is said, 'The righteous shall flourish like a palm-tree, and spread abroad like a cedar of Lebanon.' It has been well remarked, 'that the flourishing head of the palm and the spreading abroad of the cedar are equally characteristic.' But the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 31) is justly adduced as giving the most magnificent, and at the same time the most graphic, description of this celebrated tree: (Eze_31:3) 'Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowy shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs:' (Eze_31:5) 'Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters:' (Eze_31:6) 'All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young.' In this description, Mr. Gilpin has well observed, 'the principal characteristics of the cedar are marked: first, the multiplicity and length of its branches. Few trees divide so many fair branches from the main stem, or spread over so large a compass of ground. 'His boughs are multiplied,' as Ezekiel says, 'and his branches become long,' which David calls spreading abroad. His very boughs are equal to the stem of a fir or a chestnut. The second characteristic is what Ezekiel, with great beauty and aptness, calls his shadowy shroud. No tree in the forest is more remarkable than the cedar for its close-woven leafy canopy. Ezekiel's cedar is marked as a tree of full and perfect growth, from the circumstance of its top being among the thick boughs. The other principal passages in which the cedar is mentioned are 1Ki_4:33; 2Ki_19:23; Job_40:17; Psa_29:5; Psa_80:10; Psa_92:12; Psa_104:16; Psa_148:9; Son_1:17; Son_5:15; Son_8:9; Isa_2:13; Isa_9:10; Isa_14:8; Isa_37:24; Isa_41:19; Isa_44:14; Jer_22:7; Jer_22:14; Jer_22:23; Eze_17:3; Eze_17:22-23; Amo_2:9; Zep_2:14; Zec_11:1-2; and in the Apocrypha, 1Es_4:48; 1Es_5:55; Sir_24:13; Sir_50:12; but it would occupy too much space to adduce further illustrations from them of what indeed is the usually admitted opinion.
It is, however, necessary before concluding to give some account of this celebrated tree, as noticed by travelers in the East, all of whom make a pilgrimage to its native sites. The cedar of Lebanon is well known to be a widely-spreading tree, generally from 50 to 80 feet high, and when standing singly, often covering a space with its branches, the diameter of which is much greater than its height. The horizontal branches, when the tree is exposed on all sides, are very large in proportion to the trunk, being disposed in distinct layers or stages, and the distance to which they extend diminishes as they approach the top, where they form a pyramidal head, broad in proportion to its height. The branchlets are disposed in a flat fan-like manner on the branches. The leaves, produced in tufts, are straight, about one inch long, slender, nearly cylindrical, tapering to a point, and are on short footstalks. The cones, when they approach maturity, become from 2? inches to 5 inches long. Every part or the cone abounds with resin, which sometimes exudes from between the scales. Speaking of the cedars of Lebanon, M. Lamartine, in 1832, says, 'These trees diminish in' every succeeding age. Travelers formerly counted 30 or 40 more recently, 17; more recently still, only 12. There are now but 7. These, however, from their size and general appearance, may be fairly presumed to have existed in biblical times. Around these ancient witnesses of ages long since past, there still remains a little grove of yellow cedars, appearing to me to form a group of from 400 to 500 trees or shrubs. Every year, in the month of June, the inhabitants of Beschierai, of Eden, of Kandbin, and the other neighboring valleys and villages, climb up to these cedars, and celebrate mass at their feet. How many prayers have resounded under these branches, and what more beautiful canopy for worship can exist?'
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.

Psa_29:5 (b) This is a type of proud, prominent persons who take a stand against GOD, His Word and His work.

Psa_92:12 (a) Here is a picture of the believer who in the midst of drought, death, dearth and desolation fixes his faith and trust down deep in the living promises of GOD and flourishes for Him, in company with other believers. Cedars grow in forests and help each other to stand the storms. Cedars represent collective Christian testimony. The palm tree in this verse represents the individual testimony.

Zec_11:2 (b) This is a type of the great nation of Israel which had grown to be a world power and then because of disobedience to GOD was cut down and destroyed as a nation. This passage was read at Spurgeon's funeral to teach that the lesser preachers mourned over the death of this great preacher (the cedar).
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.

Cedar
(אֶרֶז, e´rez, from its deep root or compressed form; Gr. κέδρος) occurs in numerous places of Scripture, but authors are not agreed on the exact meaning of the term. Celsius (Hierobot. 1:106, sq.), for instance, conceives that it is a general name for the pine tribe, to the exclusion of the cedar of Lebanon, which he considers to be indicated by the word berosh, or "FIR." The majority of authors, however, are of opinion that the cedar of Lebanon (Pinus cedrus, or Cedrus Libani of botanists) is alone intended. This opinion is confirmed by the Septuagint and Vulgate, which uniformly (as in the English version) render the word by κέδρο ς, cedrus; and also by the fact that the Arabic name for the cedar of Lebanon is arz, evidently cognate with erez. The following statements are intended to be discriminaitive on the subject. SEE BOTANY.
1. The earliest notice of the cedar is in Lev_14:4; Lev_14:6, where we are told that Moses commanded the leper that was to be cleansed to make an offering of two sparrows, cedar-wood, wool dyed in scarlet, and hyssop; and in Lev_14:49; Lev_14:51-52, the houses in which the lepers dwell are directed to be purified with the same materials. Again, in Num_19:6, Moses and Aaron are commanded to sacrifice a red heifer: "And the priest shall take cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet." Here the proper cedar can hardly be meant, as it does not grow in Egypt, and its wood is scarcely aromatic. The variety called juniper is evidently intended, the wood and berries of which were anciently applied to such purposes. The term cedar is applied by Pliny to the lesser cedar, oxycedrus, a Phoenician juniper, which is still common on the Lebanon, and whose wood is aromatic. The wood or fruit of this tree was anciently burnt by way of perfume, especially at funerals (Pliny, H. N. 13:1, 5; Ovid, Fast. 2:558; Homer, Od. 5:60). The tree is common in Egypt and Nubia, and also in Arabia, in the Wâdy Mousa, where the greater cedar is not found. It is obviously likely that the use of the more common tree should be enjoined while the people were still in the wilderness, rather than of the uncommon (Shaw, Travels, p. 464; Burckhardt, Syria, p. 430; Russell, Nubia, p. 425). SEE JUNIPER.
At a later period we have notices of the various uses to which the wood of the erez was applied, as 2Sa_5:11; 2Sa_7:2-7; 1Ki_5:6; 1Ki_5:8; 1Ki_5:10; 1Ki_6:9-10; 1Ki_6:15-16; 1Ki_6:18; 1Ki_6:20; 1Ki_7:2-3; 1Ki_7:7; 1Ki_7:11-12; 1Ki_9:11; 1Ki_10:27; 1Ch_17:6; 2Ch_2:8; 2Ch_9:27; 2Ch_25:18. In these passages we are informed of the negotiations with Hiram, king of Tyre, for the supply of cedar-trees out of Lebanon, and of the uses to which the timber was applied in the construction of the Temple, and of the king's palace: he "covered the house with beams and boards of cedar; "the walls of the house within were covered with boards of cedar:" there were " cedar pillars," and "beams of cedar," and the altar was of cedar. But in these passages of Scripture, likewise, the common cedar cannot well be signified, as the wood is neither hard nor strong enough for building purposes. Other kindred varieties of trees, however, doubtless existed in the same locality with the cedar of Lebanon, which were suitable in these respects, as well as on account of beauty and durability, for architecture. Perhaps nothing more is meant than the pine-tree, which is known to grow on Matthew Lebanon. This opinion seems to be confirmed by Eze_27:5 : "They have made all thy ship- boards of fir-trees of Senir; they have taken cedar from Lebanon to make masts for thee;" for it is not probable that any other tree than the common pine would be taken for masts, when this was procurable. Also in the second Temple, rebuilt under Zerubbabel, the timber employed was cedar from Lebanon (Ezr_3:7; 1Es_4:48; 1Es_5:55). Cedar is also said by Josephus to have been used by Herod in the roof of his temple (War, 5:5, 2). The roof of the rotunda of the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem is said to have been of cedar, and that of the church of the Virgin at Bethlehem to have been of cedar or cypress (Williams, Holy City, 2:202; Quaresmius, Eluc. Terr. Sanct. 6:12; Tobler, Bethlehem, p. 110, 112). SEE PINE.
It may here also be remarked that the Syriac and Hebrews interpreters generally, at Isa_41:19; Isa_60:13, render the word teäshshur´ (תְּאִשּׁוּר, literally erectness), translated in our version (after the Vulg. and Chaldee) "box-tree," by sherbin-cedar, a species of cedar distinguished by the smallness of its cones and the upward direction of its branches (see Rosenmüller, Aterthumsk. IV, 1:292). Another form of this word, אָשׁוּרashur´, occurring in Eze_27:6, has there been mistranslated in our version by "Ashurites," where the clause "the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory," is literally, "thy benches they make of ivory, the daughter of the ashur-wood," i.e. inlaid or bordered with it. For a full account of the various readings of that passage, see Rosenmüller's Schol. in Eze_27:6. The most satisfactory translation appears to be that of Bochart (Geog. Sac. 1, 3, 100:5, 180) and Rosenmüller: "Thy benches have they made of ivory, inlaid with box-wood from the isles of Chittim." Now it is probable that the isles of Chittim may refer to any of the islands or maritime districts of the Mediterranean. Bochart believes Corsica is intended in this passage; the Vulg. has "de insulis Italiae." Corsica was celebrated for its box-trees (Plin. 16:16; Theophrast. H. P. 3:15, § 5), and it is well known that the ancients understood the art of veneering wood, especially box-wood, with ivory, tortoiseshell, etc. (Virg. Aen. 10:137). However, Celsius (Hierob. 1:80) and Sprengel (Hist. Rei Herb. 1:267) identify the sherbin with the Pinus cedrus (Linn.), the cedar of Lebanon. SEE BOX-TREE. If, on the other hand, we consider some of the remaining passages of Scripture, we cannot fail to perceive that they forcibly apply to the cedar of Lebanon, and to the cedar of Lebanon only. Thus, in Psa_92:12, it is said, "The righteous shall flourish like a palmtree, and spread abroad like a cedar of Lebanon." But Ezekiel (chap. 31) is justly adduced as giving the most magnificent, and, at the same time, the most graphic description of this celebrated tree (comp. Homer, Il. 13:359; Virgil, AEn. 2:626; 5:447; Horace, Od. 4:6). The other principal passages in which the cedar is mentioned are 1Ki_4:33; 2Ki_19:23; Job 40, 17; Psa_29:5; Psa_80:10; Psa_104:16; Psa_148:9; Son_1:17; Son_5:15; Son_8:9; Isa_2:13; Isa_9:10; Isa_14:8; Isa_37:24; Isa_41:19; Isa_44:14; Jer_22:7; Jer_22:14; Jer_22:23; Eze_17:3; Eze_17:22-23; Amo_2:9; Zep_2:14; Zec_11:1-2; and in the Apocrypha, Sir_24:13; Sirach 1, 12. SEE TREE.
The conditions to be fulfilled in order to answer all the descriptions in the Bible of a cedar-tree are that it should be tall (Isa_2:13), spreading (Eze_31:3), abundant (1Ki_5:6; 1Ki_5:10), fit for beams, pillars, and boards (1Ki_6:10; 1Ki_6:15; 1Ki_7:2), masts of ships (Eze_27:5), and for carved work, as images (Isa_44:14). To these may be added qualities ascribed to cedar-wood by profane writers. Pliny speaks of the cedar of Crete, Africa, and Syria as being most esteemed and imperishable. In Egypt and Syria ships were built of cedar, and in Cyprus a tree was cut down 120 feet long and proportionately thick. The durability of cedar was proved, he says, by the duration of the cedar roof of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, which had lasted 400 years. At Utica the beams, made of Numidian cedar, of a temple of Apollo had lasted 1178 years! (Pliny, Hist. Nat. 13:5; 16:40). Vitruvius (2:9) speaks of the antiseptic properties of the oil of cedar (comp. Josephus, Ant. 8:5,2; Sandys, Travels, p. 163, 167). The corresponding Arabic word, arz, is used to express not only the cedar of Lebanon, but also at Aleppo the Pinus sylvestris, which is abundant both near that city and on Lebanon. A similar statement will apply also to the Thuja articulata of Mount Atlas, which is called by the Arabs el-arz, a name that led to the mistake as to the material of the Cordova roof from its similarity to the Spanish alerce (Niebuhr, Descr. de l'Arabie, p. 131, etc., and Questions, 90:169, etc.; Pliny, H. N., 13:11, 15; Hay, West Barb. 100, 4:49; Gesenius, Thes. p. 148). Besides the trees which belong to the one grove, known by the name of "the Cedars," groves and green woods of cedar are found in other parts of the range (Buckingham, Travels among the Arabs, p. 468; Eng. Cyclopaedia, s.v. Syria ; Robinson, new ed. of Res. 3:593; Burckhardt, Syria, p. 19; Loudon, Arboretum, 4:2406, 2407; Celsius, Hicrobotan. 1:89; Belon, Obs. de arboribus conferis, 2:162, 165, 166). The remains of wood used in the Nineveh palaces were supposed by Layard to be cedar, a supposition confirmed by the inscriptions, which show that the Assyrian kings imported cedar from Lebanon. This wood is now proved by microscopic examination to be yew (Layard, Nin. and Bab. p. 356, 357; Loudon, ut sup. p. 2431). SEE FIR.
2. The modern CEDAR OF LEBANON is well known to be a widelyspreading tree, generally from 50 to 80 feet high, and, when standing singly, often covering a space with its branches the diameter of which is nauch greater than its height. The horizontal branches, when the tree is exposed on all sides, are very large in proportion to the trunk, being disposed in distinct layers or stages, and the distance to which they extend diminishes as they approach the top, where they form a pyramidal head, broad in proportion to its height. The branchlets are disposed in a flat, fan- like manner on the branches (see Shelby, Forest Trees, p. 522). The leaves, produced in tufts, are straight, about one inch long, slender, nearly cylindrical, tapering to a point, and are on short footstalks. The male catkins are single, solitary, of a reddish hue, about two inches long, terminal, and turning upwards. The female catkins are short, erect, roundish, and rather oval; they change after fecundation into oval oblong cones, which, when they approach maturity, Jecome from 21 inches to 5 inches long. Every part of the cone abounds with resin, which sometimes exudes from between the scales. As its leaves remain two years on the branches, and as every spring contributes a fresh supply, the tree is an evergreen, in this resembling other members of the fir family, which, the larches excepted, retain the same suit for a year or upwards, and drop the old foliage so gradually as to render the "fall of the leaf" in their case imperceptible. 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, 6000 feet above that level, and their position is moreover above that of all other arboreous vegetation. Belon, who traveled in Syria about 1550, found the cedars about 28 in number, in a valley on the sides of the mountains. Rauwolf, who visited the cedars in 1574, "could tell no more but 24, that stood round about in a circle; and two others, the branches whereof are quite decayed from age." De la Roque, in 1688, found but 20. Maundrell, in 1696, found them reduced to 16; and Dr. Pococke, who visited Syria in 1744 and 1745, discovered only 15. "The wood," he says, "does not differ from white deal in appearance, nor does it seem to be harder. It has a fine smell, but is not so fragrant as the juniper of America, which is commonly called cedar, and it also falls short of it in beauty." M. Lamartine, in 1832, says, "These trees diminish in every succeeding age. There are now but 7. These, however, from their size and general appearance, may fairly be presumed to have existed in biblical times. Around these ancient witnesses of ages long since past there still remains a little grove of yellow cedars, appearing to me to form a group of from 400 to 500 trees or shrubs. Every year, in the month of June, the inhabitants of Beshierai, of Eden, of Kandbin, and the other neighboring valleys and villages, climb up to these cedars and celebrate mass at their feet." Dr. Graham gives the following measurements of the twelve largest cedars: the circumferences of the trunk at the base respectively 40 feet, 38, 47, 18?, 30, 22½, 28, 25¼, 33½, 29½, 22, 29¾; the largest having thus a diameter of nearly 16 feet (Jordan and the Rhine, p. 26). Within a few years past a chapel has been erected there (Robinson, Later Res. p. 590, 591; Stanley, Sinai and Pal. p. 140). See Trew's treatises, Cedror. Libani Hist. and Apologia de cedro Lib. (Norimb. 1757 and 1767); Penny Cyclop. s.v. Abies; Thomson, Land and Book, 1:292 sq.; especially Dr. Hooker, in tha Nat. History Review, Jan. 1862, p. 11-18; and Mr. Jessup, in the Hours at Home, March and April, 1867.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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