ארז. The cedar is a large and noble evergreen tree. Its lofty
height, and its far extended branches, afford spacious shelter and
shade, Ezek. xxxi, 3, 6, 8. The wood is very valuable; is of a reddish
colour, of an aromatic smell, and reputed incorruptible. This is owing
to its bitter taste, which the worms cannot endure, and to its resin,
which preserves it from the injuries of the weather. The ark of the
covenant, and much of the temple of Solomon, and that of Diana at
Ephesus, were built of cedar. The tree is much celebrated in Scripture.
It is called, “the glory of Lebanon,” Isa. lx, 13. On that mountain it
must in former times have flourished in great abundance. There are some
cedars still growing there which are prodigiously large. But the
travellers who have visited the place within these two or three
centuries, and who describe trees of vast size, inform us that their
number is diminished greatly; so that, as Isaiah says, “a child may
number them,” Isa. x, 19. Maundrell measured one of the largest size,
and found it to be twelve yards and six inches in girt, and yet sound;
and thirty-seven yards in the spread of its boughs. Gabriel Sionita, a
very learned Syrian Maronite, who assisted in editing the Paris
Polyglott, a man worthy of all credit, thus describes the cedars of
mount Lebanon, which he had examined on the spot: “The cedar grows on
the most elevated part of the mountain, is taller than the pine, and so
thick, that five men together could scarcely encompass one. It shoots
out its branches at ten or twelve feet from the ground: they are large
and distant from each other, and are perpetually green. The wood is of a
brown colour, very solid and incorruptible, if preserved from wet. The
tree bears a small cone like that of the pine.”
height, and its far extended branches, afford spacious shelter and
shade, Ezek. xxxi, 3, 6, 8. The wood is very valuable; is of a reddish
colour, of an aromatic smell, and reputed incorruptible. This is owing
to its bitter taste, which the worms cannot endure, and to its resin,
which preserves it from the injuries of the weather. The ark of the
covenant, and much of the temple of Solomon, and that of Diana at
Ephesus, were built of cedar. The tree is much celebrated in Scripture.
It is called, “the glory of Lebanon,” Isa. lx, 13. On that mountain it
must in former times have flourished in great abundance. There are some
cedars still growing there which are prodigiously large. But the
travellers who have visited the place within these two or three
centuries, and who describe trees of vast size, inform us that their
number is diminished greatly; so that, as Isaiah says, “a child may
number them,” Isa. x, 19. Maundrell measured one of the largest size,
and found it to be twelve yards and six inches in girt, and yet sound;
and thirty-seven yards in the spread of its boughs. Gabriel Sionita, a
very learned Syrian Maronite, who assisted in editing the Paris
Polyglott, a man worthy of all credit, thus describes the cedars of
mount Lebanon, which he had examined on the spot: “The cedar grows on
the most elevated part of the mountain, is taller than the pine, and so
thick, that five men together could scarcely encompass one. It shoots
out its branches at ten or twelve feet from the ground: they are large
and distant from each other, and are perpetually green. The wood is of a
brown colour, very solid and incorruptible, if preserved from wet. The
tree bears a small cone like that of the pine.”