Cedar

When Solomon set out to build the temple, he sent to Hiram, king of Tyre, who answered, “I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar” (1 Kings 5:8). Cedar from Lebanon was tall, strong and sweet-smelling, and Scripture uses it as a picture of strength and of pride. The psalmist says the righteous “shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.” The prophets, though, name the cedars among the lofty things that God brings low, as when Zechariah cries, “the cedar is fallen.” Cedar wood also appears in Leviticus 14, in the cleansing of a person healed of a skin disease and of a house. Start with 1 Kings 5.

21 verses

Leviticus

Leviticus 14:4

Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:

Leviticus 14:6

As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water:

Leviticus 14:49

And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:

Leviticus 14:50

And he shall kill the one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water:

Leviticus 14:51

And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times:

Leviticus 14:52

And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet:

2 Samuel

2 Samuel 5:11

And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons: and they built David an house.

1 Kings

1 Kings 5:6

Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants: and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians.

1 Kings 5:7

And it came to pass, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said, Blessed be the LORD this day, which hath given unto David a wise son over this great people.

1 Kings 5:8

And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have considered the things which thou sentest to me for: and I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir.

1 Kings 5:9

My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea: and I will convey them by sea in floats unto the place that thou shalt appoint me, and will cause them to be discharged there, and thou shalt receive them: and thou shalt accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household.

1 Kings 5:10

So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees according to all his desire.

1 Kings 9:11

( Now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire,) that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 1:15

And the king made silver and gold at Jerusalem as plenteous as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycomore trees that are in the vale for abundance.

Psalms

Psalms 72:16

There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.

Psalms 92:12

The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Isaiah

Isaiah 2:13

And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,

Isaiah 14:8

Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 22:7

And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.

Ezekiel

Ezekiel 31:3

Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.

Zechariah

Zechariah 11:2

Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

(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).

Read the full entry

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. (See BOX-TREE.)

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

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; 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.)