1. The earliest notice of the cedar is in Lev. xiv, 4, 6, where we are told that Moses commanded the leper that was to be cleansed to make an offering of two sparrows, cedar-wood, wool dyed in scarlet, and hys- sop ; and in ver. 49, 51, 52, the houses in which the lep- ers dwell are directed to be purified with the same ma- terials. Again, in Num. xix, 6, Moses and Aaron are commanded to sacrifice a red heifer : " And the priest shall take cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet." Here the proper cedar can hardly be meant, as it does not grow in Egypt, and its wood is scarcely aromatic. The variety called juniper is evidentiy intended, the wood and berries of which were andentiy applied to such purposes. The term cedar is applied by Pliny ^he lesser cedar, oerycec^ncf, a Phoenician Juniper,
which is still common on the Lebanon, and whose wood is aromatic. The wood or trait of this tree was andentiy burnt by way of perfume, especially at fb- nerals(PUny,/r.Ar.xiii,l,5; Ovid,/Vu<. ii,568; Ho- mer, Od, V, 60). The tree is conraion in Egypt and Nnbda, and also in Arabia, in the W&dy Mousa, where the greater cedar is not found. It is obviously liketj that the use of the more common tree should be en- joined while the people were still in the wHdemees, rather than of the uncommon (Shaw, Travds, p. 464; Burckhardt, 8yria^ p. 480; Russell, NMa, p. 4tt). See JuKiPBB.
At a later period we have notices of the various usee to which the wood of the em was applied, as 2 Sam. V, 11; ▼«, 2-7; 1 Kings v, 6, 8, 10; vi, 9, 10, 16, 16, 18,20; vii,2,8,7,ll,12; ix,ll; x,27; IChron.xvii, 6; 2 Chron. ii, 8 ; ix, 27 ; xxv, 18. In these passages we are informed of the negotiations with Hiram, king of Tyre, for the supply of cedar-trees out of Lebanon, and of the uses to which the timber was applied in the construction of the Temple, and of the king's palace : he ^ covered the house with beams and boards of ce- dar; **the walls of the^house witiiin were covered with boards of cedar ;" there were " cedar pUlars," and **beamsofce«2ar, "and the altar was of cedar. But in these passages of Scripture, likewise, the common ce- dar cannot well be signified, as the wood is neither hard nor strong enough for building purposes. Otiier kindred varieties of trees, however, doubtless existed in the same locality with the cedar of Lebanon, which were suitable in Uiese respects, as well as on account of beauty and durability, for architecture. Perhaps nothing more is meant than the pme-tiee, which is known to grow on Mt. Lebanon. This opinion seems to be confirmed by Ezek. xxvii, 5 : ** They have made all thy ship-boards of fir-trees of Senir; they hare taken cedar from Lebanon to make masts for thee ;" for it is not probable that any other tree than the com- mon pine would be taken for masts, when this was procurable. Also in the second Temple, rebuflt under Zerubbabel, the timber employed was cedar from Leb- anon (Ezra iii, 7 ; 1 Esdr. iv, 48 ; v, 55). Cedar is also said by Josephus to have been used by Herod in the roof of his temple ( fTor, v, 5, 2). The roof of the ro- tunda of the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusa- lem is said to have been of cedar, and that of the church of the Virgin at Bethlehem to have been of ce- dar or cypress (Williams, Hoiy City, ii, 202; Qnaresmi- us, Eluc. Terr. Sanct, vi, 12 ; Tobler, BetkUkem, p. UO, 112). See PiHB.
It may here also be remarked that the Syriac and Heb. interpreters generally, at Isa. xli, 19 ; Ix, 18, ren- der the word tedehshur' O^^'^^i literally erectneu\ translated in our version (after the Vulg. and Chaldee) "box-tree," by sAerMa-cedar, a spedee of cedar dis- tinguished by the smallness of its cones and the uj^ ward direction of its branches (see BosenrnOUer, Alter- tkmUk, lY , i, 292). Another form of this word, *)4GK, atkur^f occurring in Ezek. xxvii, 6, has there been mistranslated in our version by "Ashurites," where the clause ** the company of the Athtrites have made thy benches of ivory," is literally, **thy benches they make of ivory, the daughter of the atkur-wood,^* L e. inlaid or bordered with it. For a full account of the various readings of that passage, see RosenmQller's Schol, in Ezek. xxvii, 6. The most satisfactory trans- lation appears to be that of Bochart {Geog. Sac, i, iS, c. 5, 180) and RosenmQller: "Thy benches have they made of ivory, inlaid with box-wood from the isles of Chitthn." Now it is probable that the isles of Chit- tim may refer to any of the islands or maritime dis- tricts of the Mediterranean. Bochart believes Corsica is intended in this passage; the Vulg. has "de insnlis Italie. ' ' Corsica was celebrated for its box-trees (PUn. xvi, 16; Theophrast. ff, P, iii, 15, § 5X and it is well known that the andents understood the art of venee^
CEDAR
171
CEDAR
ing wood, especially box-wood, with ivoryf tortoifle- Bhell, etc. (Virg. Aen. x, 187). However, Celeios (i7fe- nb. i 80) and Sprengd {Hist. Rsi Herb, i, 267) identify the Aeriin with the Pimu cednu (Linn.), the cedar of Lebanon. See Box-^rbs.