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Plants of the Bible
Cedar of Lebanon
Hebrew erez · Cedrus libani · the tallest tree Israel knew
The cedar of Lebanon was the tallest and most massive tree the Israelites knew, reaching about 35 meters, with a trunk up to 2.5 meters across. Its fragrant wood resists rot and insects, so kings all over the ancient Near East wanted it for palaces and temples; Egyptian records from about 2600 BC already tell of ships bringing cedar from the Lebanon coast.
Israel had no cedar forests of its own. Hiram, king of Tyre, sent cedar logs and builders for David’s palace, and for Solomon the logs were hauled to the sea and floated down the coast as rafts (1 Kings 5:9). The temple was roofed with cedar beams, and one of Solomon’s halls, held up by rows of cedar pillars, was called the House of the Forest of Lebanon (1 Kings 7:2). After the exile cedar again came by sea to Joppa (Ezra 3:7). Centuries of logging left only scattered groves on the mountains of Lebanon, and the cedar is now on the country’s flag.
Key verses
Now Hiram king of Tyre sent envoys to David, along with cedar logs, carpenters, and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David.Now therefore, order that cedars of Lebanon be cut down for me. My servants will be with your servants, and I will pay your servants whatever wages you set, for you know that there are none among us as skilled in logging as the Sidonians.”My servants will haul the logs from Lebanon to the Sea, and I will float them as rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate the logs, and you can take them away. And in exchange, you can meet my needs by providing my household with food.”So Solomon built the temple and finished it, roofing it with beams and planks of cedar.They gave money to the masons and carpenters, and food and drink and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to Joppa by sea, as authorized by Cyrus king of Persia.The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.Sources
Adapted and shortened from the Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0
Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers · CC BY-SA 4.0 — Plants: Cedar (Cedrus libani); Cedar
Adapted from Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary: articles chosen, shortened and retold in our own words (history, nature and daily life only) and, in languages other than English, machine-translated. The original work by Tyndale House Publishers is available for free at tyndaleopenresources.com.
