Cedar (Hastings' Dictionary)

We cannot enter intelligently on the discussion of the cedar without premising that the Heb. word 'erez was probably used for three or more different trees. In this it resembles its English equivalent. Cedar, in English, is used for the cedar of Lebanon, for the Bermuda cedar, of which lead pencils are made, for Juniperus Virginiana, L., and for Cupressus thyoides, L., and other trees. The cedar wood, which (ace. to P) was used with scarlet and hyssop for purification (Lv 14, Nu 19"), was not, in all probability, the cedar of Lebanon, but a plant obtainable m Sinai, and afterwards in Palestine. Such a tree is Juniperus Phcrnicea, L., which is found on Mt. Hor, and on the brow of the Edomitic limestone dill's overlooking the .\rabah, and probably in the Sinaitic peninsula. If no longer there, there is nothing in the climate to hinder its having grown there formerly. Houghton erroneously calls it oxycedrus, which is a shrub oi small tree of the moiintains of Syria. It is uncertain what tree is meant by 'drazim (Nu 24'). They are said to be trees growing by water. The cedar of Lebanon does not grow in moist places. On the contrary, it seeks the dry sloping mountain-side, where nothing but the moisture in the clefts of the rocks nourishes • JosepbuB, Ant. vi. xii. 2; Conder, Tent Work, p. 153. f lb. fSS ; see also Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, 1. 101, 149 ; Robinson, TraveU, ii. 79, CEDAK it. Unless we suppose, as has been hinted in the article on Aloes, that the location of the 'drnzim is poetic licence, we must suppose some water-loving tree to be intended in this passage, certainly not the Cedrus Libnni, Barr., nor Juni- perus oxycedrus. Lam., nor indeed any of the conifer.-E of the Holy Land. Avicenna defines 'arz, in Arab., as the well- known juniper berry. This is the product of Juniperus communis, L. In most of the passages of Scripture not already cited, probably in all, there can be no doubt that the cedar of Lebanon is intended. Let us analyse them in detail. (1) It was abundant (1 K 6''"' 10"). There is every reason to believe that the cedar was exceedingly abundant in Solomon's day. The remains of the old forests exist above el- Me'asir, Barflk, 'Ain-Zehalta, el-Hadeth, Besherri, Sir, and the Dunniyeh. They probably covered all the sub-alpine peaks of Lebanon. It is also extremely probable that the cedar flourished in those days on Hernion and Antilebanon, both of which belong to the Lebanon system, and are suited climatically to the growth of these trees. Large forests of them exist in Anianus, and thence k CED.\R FROM TriK liKSIIKnKI onOVR. (It Is not one ot the larj^est, but exhibits the charaotcrislic sbape and horizontal ramification.) they extend northward and westward to Akher- dagh, and for a long distance into the Taurus. The cedar exi.sted also in Cyi)rus ; an.l large forests of it are found in the Atlas and the Himalayas. (2) It was a tall tree (Is 2'^ Am 'I'). Several of the trees in the Besherri grove are 60 or 70 ft. high. In Amanus it often reaches 100 ft. It is quite likely that it reached or exceeded this height in Lebanon. (3) It was not only a tree 'of a high stature,' but one 'with fair (beautiful) branches, and with a shadowing shroud' (dense shade) (Rzk 31"). No qu.ality of the cedar tree is more beautiful than its horizontal spray, with an upper surface flat, and presenting an even carpet of dark green, CEILING CENSER 365 ornamented with its yellow staminate and purple pistillate cones. (4) It was suitable for the masts of ships (Ezk 27"). It lias been objected that the cedar has a thick, gnarled trunk, too short for a mast. This is true of the old weather-beaten veterans in the open groves of Lebanon at the present day. But in Aiuanus, where the growth IS close and forest-like, there are multitudes of tall straight trunks, every way suitable for masta. Indeed, many of the younger trees of the Besherri grove would make excellent masts for ships of the size of those in Ezekiel's time. It has been proposed to consider the Pinus Halepensis, Mill., as the 'erez here intended. It is curious that this pine is still known in some parts of Lebanon by the name 'arz, and also in the neighbourhood of AJeiipo. But it is not so well adapted to masting as tiie true cedar, and, although abundant through- out Lebanon, is also e<iually abundant in Pal., east and west of the Jordan. It is unlikely that Ezekiel would have spoken of the tree distinctively as the 'cedar from Lebanon,' if he had intended the Aleppo pine, which the TyrianB could have cut from the hill-country close to their city. (5) It was suitable for beams, pillars, and boards (1 K 6' 7'). The cedars of Amanus, where the normal erowth obtains, could furnish a board 60 to 80 ft. long, and 6 to 8 ft. wide at the bottom, and 2 or more at top. They could furnish pillars and beams of any required thickness. The timber is inde- structible by dry rot or borers. It is close-grained, sound to the heart, fraCTant, and of a pleasing colour. We have abundant testimony as to its durability. Pliny says that the cedar roof of the temple of Diana at Ephesus lasted 400 years. That of the temple of Apollo at Utica lasted 1170 years. (6) It was suitable for carved work, as images (Is 44'-"). Cedar wood is better fitted for this purpose than almost any other wood in the land. It is hard, close-grained, and takes a high polish. (7) It must be full of sap (Ps 92"). The balsamic jojce of the cedar exudes from every pore. Lar^e beads and nodules of the fragrant resin form on the uninjured branches. An incision into the bark is followed by a copious distillation of the same. Where two Branches meet and rub together, they each pour out the life-giving sap, which cements them, so that they grow fast to one another. Numerous examples of this can be seen in the CTOve at Besherri. (8) It was the king of trees. It is placed at the head of the vegetable kingdom by Solomon (1 K 4"). Abimelech con- cedes its superiority (Jg 9"). It is perlians alluded to as ' the glory of Lebanon' (Is 35' 60''). The cedars are ' the trees of the Lord ' (Ps 104"). The Arabs still know them by the name 'arz er-nibb, 'the cedars of the Lord.' When the cedar falls, the fir, itself a noble tree, howls, as a vassal for his lord (Zee 11'-'). When Jehoash wished to express his contempt for Amaziah, he compared himself to a cedar and Amaziah to a tliistle, and said, ' there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle' (2 K 14»). The highest boast of Senna<'lierib was that he would ' cut down the tall cedars' (Is .37'). (9) Of this tree much of the temple was built, also the palaces of David and Solomon, and many other grand buildings of Jerusalem. It was probably at that epoch that the denudation of Lebanon began. The cedar is known by the natives of restricted localities in Lebanon by two other names. Thus the people in the neightxjurhood of 'Ain-Zehalta, BdrOk, and p!-Me'ftsir call their cedars ihhul. The people in the neighbourhood of Sir call it tniih. U. E. Post. CEILING See Cielinq.