“So Hiram, King of Tyre, gave King Solomon timber of cedar and timber of cypress according to all his desire.”-Book of Kings vs. 24

A recent article by Ahmed Khatib in the Lebanese Daily Star emphasized the dangers of climate change and global warming to Lebanon‘s remaining cedar groves, which have been a historic national symbol in the country since its founding. According to the article, about 2,000 hectares of cedar trees remain there, with the largest grove located in the Al-Chouf Cedar Nature Reserve, located in the Chouf Mountain area southeast of Beirut.

Besides being the country’s national symbol and prominently situated on Lebanon’s national flag, the cedar trees of the country formerly known as the ancient Kingdom of Tyre, have been famous for their strong and durable wood which was prized by the Ancients for the construction of boats, stately buildings, and (in the case of the ancient Egyptians) for the preservation of the dead. Perhaps the most renowned use of these majestic trees was in the construction of the Israelite Temple in Jerusalem over 2,700 years ago.

The construction of the Temple, said to have been one of the grandest edifices of ancient times, included inner chambers made entirely of cedar and other woods that King Solomon received from King Hiram of Tyre who had the cedar logs “made into rafts to go by sea unto the place that thou shall appoint me, and will cause them to be broken up there.”  What must have been a grand feat of engineering and construction for those times, involved bringing these large tree trunks overland to Jerusalem, cutting them into beams, and then constructing them “with neither hammer nor axe nor tool of iron heard in the House.”