CEDAR

A noble evergreen-tree greatly celebrated in the Scriptures, Ps 92:12 Eze 31:3-6. These trees are remarkably thick and tall; some among them are from thirty-five to forty feet in girth, and ninety feet in height. The cedar-tree shoots out branches at ten of twelve feet from the ground, large and almost horizontal; its leaves are an inch long, slender and straight, growing in tufts. The tree bears a small cone, like that of the pine. This celebrated tree is not peculiar to mount Lebanon, but grows also upon mounts Amanus and Taurus in Asia Minor, and in other parts of the Levant, but does not elsewhere reach the size and height of those on Lebanon. It has also been cultivated in the gardens of Europe; two venerable individuals of this species exist at Chiswick in England; and there is a very beautiful one in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. The beauty of the cedar consists in the proportion and symmetry of its wide-spreading branches and cone-like top. The gum, which exudes both from the trunk and the cones or fruits, is soft like balsam of Mecca. Every thing about this tree has a strong balsamic odor; and hence the whole grove is so pleasant and fragrant, that it is delightful to walk in it, So 4:11 Ho 14:6. The wood is peculiarly adapted to building, because it is not subject to decay, nor to be eaten of worms; hence it was much used for rafters, and for boards with which to cover houses and form the floors and ceilings of rooms. It was of a red color, beautiful, solid, and free from knots. The palace of Persepolis, the temple at Jerusalem, and Solomon’s palace, were all in this way built with cedar; and "the house of the forest of Lebanon," was perhaps so called from the quantity of this wood used in its construction, 1Ki 7:2 10:17. Of the forests of cedars which once covered Lebanon, comparatively few are now left, Isa 2:13 10:19; though there are still many scattered trees in various parts, resembling the genuine cedar. The largest and most ancient trees, generally thought to be the only ones, are found in a grove, lying a little off from the road which crosses mount Lebanon from Baalbek to Tripole, at some distance below the summit of the mountain on the western side, at the foot indeed of the highest summit or ridge of Lebanon. This grove consists of a few very old trees, perhaps as old as the time of Christ, intermingled with 400 or 500 younger ones. See LEBANON. Besides the true cedar of Lebanon, the word cedar in the Bible appears to mean sometimes the juniper and sometimes the pine.

---

Cedar. 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. (See BOX-TREE.)

---

CEDAR. → Valuable for building purposes Isa 9:10 → David's ample provision of, in Jerusalem, for the temple 2Ch 1:15; 2:3,4 → Furnished by Hiram, king of Tyre, for Solomon's temple 1Ki 5:6-10; 9:11; 2Ch 2:16 → Used
* In rebuilding the temple Ezr 3:7
* In David's palace 2Sa 5:11; 1Ch 17:1
* In Solomon's palace 1Ki 7:2
* For masts of ships Eze 27:5
* In purifications Le 14:4,6,49-52; Nu 19:6

→ FIGURATIVE Ps 72:16; 92:12; Isa 2:13; 14:8; Jer 22:7; Eze 31:3; Zec 11:2

---

lumber 2Sa 7:2; 1Ki 6:18; 7:2; 1Ch 22:4; Jer 22:14; Eze 27:24

---

cedar. Cedar, n. a genus of trees, evergreens, and very durable timber

---

Ce″dar (sē″dẽr), n. [[AS. ceder, fr. L. cedrus, Gr. κέδροσ.]] (Bot.) The name of several evergreen trees. The wood is remarkable for its durability and fragrant odor. ☞ The cedar of Lebanon is the Cedrus Libani; the white cedar (Cupressus thyoides) is now called Chamœcyparis sphæroidea; American red cedar is the Juniperus Virginiana; Spanish cedar, the West Indian Cedrela odorata. Many other trees with odoriferous wood are locally called cedar. Cedar bird (Zoöl.), a species of chatterer (Ampelis cedrorum), so named from its frequenting cedar trees; — called also cherry bird, Canada robin, and American waxwing.