Cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus lebani)

There are different types of cedar; we planted a Lebanon Cedar (Cedrus libani), the cedar that grows in the area of the Holy Land.

The wood sold today as cedar wood is usually the wood of other trees such as cypress.

In biblical times cedar wood was very valuable, and a main export from Lebanon. It is resistant to decay and was used as timber for shipbuilding, for houses, and carpentry, furniture and for decorative purposes. Occasionally, it was used for incense. As cedar wood is fragrant and a natural moth repellent. It is used to make chests for storing wool and garments. During the Second World War, the British used it as railway sleepers between for the Tripoli-Haifa line. The cedar is called the “Monarch of the Trees”.

The cedar is mentioned 71 times in the Bible, more than any other tree.

Biblical

If someone or something was considered “unclean” the Jews had clear rites of purification:

“The priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live clean birds and cedar wood and scarlet yarn and hyssop” (Leviticus 14.4, 14.6, 14.49, 14.51, 14.52 and Numbers 19.6).

When the storyteller Balaam saw the encampments of the Jews, he praised their beauty, saying they looked “like gardens beside a river, like aloes that the Lord has planted, like cedar trees beside the waters” (Numbers 24.6).

Abimelech was a brutal tyrant who had hired worthless and reckless mercenaries, and he killed all but one of his brothers. Making him king is like the plants making the bramble king over the trees: “And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade, but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon’” (Judges 9.15).

When David, King of Israel built a house he used the best materials he could get hold of cedar wood which he got from Lebanon: “And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, also carpenters and masons who built David a house” (2. Samuel 5.11 and 1. Chronicles 14.1).

The arc of God, however, remained in a tent: “the king [David] said to Nathan the prophet, ‘See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the arc of God dwells in a tent’” (2. Samuel 7.2 and 1. Chronicles 17.1).

The Lord had never requested that the people of Israel should built him a house of cedar: “In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’”(2. Samuel 7.7 and 1. Chronicles 17.6).

David made plans to build a temple and obtained materials, including “cedar timbers without number, for the Sidonians and Tyrians brought great quantities of cedar to David” (1. Chronicles 22.4).

Known for his wisdom, Solomon not only wrote proverbs and songs, but he also spoke “of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to hyssop that grows out of the wall; he also spoke of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles and of fish” (1. Kings 4.33).

Solomon decided to build a temple. So, he asked Hiram the king of Tyre who was Solomon’s friend that “cedars of Lebanon be cut for me” (1. Kings 5.6). And Solomon sent word to Hiram the king of Tyre: “as you dealt with David my father and sent him cedar to build himself a house to dwell in, so deal with me” (2. Chronicles 2.3). And Hiram was happy to oblige, saying: “I have heard the message which you have sent to me; I am ready to do all you desire in the matter of cedar and cypress” (1.Kings 5.8).”So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the timber of cedar and cypress that he desired” (1.Kings 5.10) and “as much as he desired” (1.Kings 9.11). Solomon’s request for cedar and cypress from Lebanon is also mentioned in 2. Chronicles 2.8.

The specifications for the temple are detailed: “So he built the house, and finished it; and he made the ceiling of the house of beams and planks of cedar” (1. Kings 6.9).” He built the structure against the whole house, each story five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar” (1. Kings 6.10). “He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar” (1. Kings 6.15). “He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with board of cedar from the floor to the walls, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the Most Holy Place” (1. Kings 6.16). “The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar, no stone was seen” (1. Kings 6.18). “The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid an altar of cedar” (1. Kings 6.20). “He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams” (1. Kings 6.36). “He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was hundred cubits and its breadth fifty cubits and its height thirty cubits, and it was built on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars” (1. Kings 7.2). “And it was covered with cedar above the chambers that were on the forty-five pillars, fifteen in each row” (1. Kings 7.3). “And he made the Hall of the Throne where he was to pronounce judgement, even the Hall of Judgement. It was finished with cedar from the floor to the rafters” (1. Kings 7.7). “And above were costly stones, cut according to measurement, and cedar” (1. Kings 7.11).

“The great court had […] a course of cedar beams” (1. Kings 7.12).

All this resulted in an economic boost for Jerusalem: “And the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamore of the Shephelah” (1. Kings 10.27 and 2. Chronicles 1.15 and 9.27).

Amaziah, King of Judah, wanted his son to marry the daughter of Jehoash, a proposal which was rejected be Jehoash using a parable: “A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife’, and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle” (2. Kings 14.9 and 2. Chronicles 25.18).

When the Jews were harassed by the Assyrians the Jewish king Hezekiah prayed to the Lord for help. Through the prophet Isaiah, he listed the sins of the Assyrians, among others that they prided themselves that they had gone up the heights of the mountains of Lebanon and “felled its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses” (2. Kings 19.23 and Isaiah 37.24). And the angel of the Lord killed hundreds of thousands of Assyrians.

On their return from exile, the sons of Israel built an altar to make offerings to the Lord. The foundation of the temple had not yet been laid which they organised: “So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food and drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon” (Ezra 3.7).

When Job argued with the Lord, the Lord drew his attention to nature, especially to animals to show His greatness. He mentioned the Behemoth (a giant beast, most likely a Hippopotamus) “his strength in his loins, and his power in the muscles of his belly. He makes his tail stiff like a cedar” (Job 40.16 and 17).

David praises the glory and power of the Lord: “The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon” (Psalm 29.5).

A wicked man may look great, but the Lord can destroy him easily: “I have seen a wicked man overbearing and towering like a cedar of Lebanon. Again, I passed by, and lo, he was no more though I sought him, he could not be found” (Psalm 37.35 and 36 in RSV, in ESV “green laurel tree”, see also 18. Laurel).

The Lord is so mighty that His vine will grow taller than the cedar tree: “The mountains were covered with [… the vine’s] shade, the mighty cedars with its branches” (Psalm 80.10).

We give thanks to God for all the goodness he bestows on us: “The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon” (Psalm 92.12).

The Lord takes care of His creation: “The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon which he planted” (Psalm 104.16).

We should praise the Lord, and so should His creation praise the Lord, all “mountains and all hills and all cedars” (Psalm148.9).

Solomon describes the beauty of the house in which he lives with his love: “Our couch is green; the beams of our house are cedar; our rafters are pine” (Song of Solomon 1.17).

Solomon’s bride describes her love by comparing him to the most precious things: “His legs are alabaster columns, set upon bases of gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars” (Song of Solomon 5.15).

Solomon wants to protect his younger sister: “If she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver; but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar” (Song of Solomon 8.9).

Wisdom is praised and compared to beautiful trees: “I [the wisdom] grew tall like a cedar in Lebanon, and like a cypress on the heights of Hermon” (Sirach 24.13 in RSV).

Simon, the High Priest was a charismatic person: “as he stood by the hearth of the altar with garland of brethren around him, he was like a young cedar on Lebanon” (Sirach 50.12 in RSV).

The prophet Isaiah reminds Israel of the transience of all people and things and tells us to be humble: “For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up […], against all the cedars of Lebanon lofty and lifted up […] and it shall be brought low” (Isaiah 2.12 & 13).

Isaiah warns Israel not to be too proud and arrogant; they have said: “The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place.” (Isaiah 9.10). The Lord punished this arrogance by sending enemies that vandalised their land.

When the Jews returned from exile, everyone and everything rejoiced: “The cypress rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying ‘since you [the king of Babylon] were laid low, no wood cutter comes up against you” (Isaiah 14.8).

The Lord promised to help the Jews by providing them with precious trees: “I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the arcadia, the myrtle, and the olive. I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together” (Isaiah 41.19).

Isaiah describes craftsmen and their work: “He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it” (Isaiah 44.14, “holm tree” in RSV).

The Lord will punish Israel for its sinful and unfaithful life by destroying precious goods: “I [the Lord] will prepare destroyers against you, each with his weapons, and they shall cut down your choicest cedar, and cast them into the fire” (Jeremiah 22.7).

According to the prophet Jeremiah God criticised the arrogance of Shallum, the king of Judah: “thus says the Lord concerning Shallum […] woe him […] who says […] ’I will build myself a great house with spacious upper rooms’, who cuts out windows for it, panelling it with cedar and painting it with vermilion. Do you think you are king because you compete in cedar?” (Jeremiah 22.11- 15); but he was not fair to other people and did not pay his workers’ wage, so the Lord punished him.

Because he treated everyone badly, even his friends, the prophet prophesied: “O inhabitant of Lebanon, nested among cedars, how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you, pain as a woman in labour!” (Jeremiah 22.23).

The Lord is almighty, and the prophet explains this by means of a parable: An eagle takes a cedar twig and plants it in soil and it will take root and succeed if the Lord wishes so (Ezekiel 17.3, 22 and 23).

Ezekiel laments the fall of the rich city of Tyre. He describes how wonderful it once was, comparing it with a perfectly built ship with a mast made of “a cedar of Lebanon” (Ezekiel 27.5).

The prophet describes the greatness of the Pharaoh of Egypt as being greater than the mightiest trees and unparalleled on earth: “Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches and forest shade, and towering height, its top among the clouds” (Ezekiel 31.3). “The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it, nor the fir trees equal its boughs; neither were the plane trees like its branches; no tree in the garden of God was its equal in beauty.” (Ezekiel 31.8).

The Lord warns sinful Israel to repent as he reminds them how He has dealt with the mighty Amorite: “It was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars” (Amos 2.9).

The fate of once beautiful cities reminds us of the transience of worldly things: The Lord destroyed Assyria and Nineveh, and they became a desert: “Herds shall lie down in her midst, all the beasts; even the owl and the hedgehog shall lodge in her capitals; a voice shall hoot in the windows, devastation will be on the threshold; for her cedar work will be laid bare” (Zephaniah 2.14).

Zechariah describes the destruction of Lebanon, the home of the enemy of the Jews; trees that were the wealth of Lebanon, important goods to be sold and exported, were destroyed. “Open your doors O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars! Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, for the glorious trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the thick forest has been felled” (Zechariah 11.1 and 2).

The cedar is not mentioned in the New Testament.