אֶ֫רֶז

From the study of Isaiah 41:19

Range of meaning

The cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani). It was a tall, fragrant, long-lasting timber that grew in the high mountains of Lebanon and the Taurus. It was the luxury building wood of temples and palaces and an image of majesty and pride (Isa 2:13; Ezek 31).

Against the English

'Cedar' is accurate. North American 'cedars' (junipers and thujas) are different trees, but the image of a towering, prestigious conifer holds.

Used elsewhere in the period

Solomon's temple (1 Kgs 5–6). Mesopotamian kings boasted of cutting Lebanon's cedars: Gilgamesh's journey to the Cedar Forest, Assyrian royal annals, and Nebuchadnezzar II's inscriptions in Lebanon describing timber cut for Babylon's temples. Isaiah 14:8 mocks the fallen king of Babylon: 'the cypresses and cedars of Lebanon rejoice over you: since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.'

From the study of Isaiah 9:10

Range of meaning

Cedar, especially the Lebanese cedar (Cedrus libani). It was a tall, durable, fragrant timber, imported at great cost and used for palaces and temples. In poetry it symbolises majesty and also lofty pride.

Against the English

“Cedars” is accurate. What modern readers miss is the connotation: in Isaiah, cedars are a stock image of human pride that God will bring low.

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Kings 5–7 (cedar from Hiram of Tyre for the temple and palace); Isaiah 2:12–13 (the day of the LORD is “against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up”); Isaiah 10:33–34; Ezekiel 31; Assyrian royal inscriptions that boast of cutting cedars from Lebanon.

From the study of Ezekiel 31:3

Range of meaning

Cedar, especially Cedrus libani. Also the cedar wood used in palaces and temples, and in purification rites (Lev 14:4). In poetry it stands for majesty, strength and height (Ps 92:12; Amos 2:9).

Against the English

'Cedar' is accurate. What English readers miss is how heavily the image was loaded with meaning about kings.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Epic of Gilgamesh the cedar forest is a divine domain that the heroes invade. Mesopotamian and Assyrian kings boasted of felling Lebanon's cedars for their palaces. Solomon built with them (1 Kgs 5). Ezekiel 17 uses a cedar's top shoot for the Davidic king, and Daniel 4 uses a cosmic tree for Nebuchadnezzar.