region

Lebanon

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History

Lebanon is the mountain range that runs some 160 km along the coast north of Israel, from the Litani to the Eleutherus (Nahr el-Kebir), rising to 3,088 m at Qurnat as-Sawda; the name, from a Semitic root meaning "white", refers to its snows. Behind it lies the Bekaa, "the valley of Lebanon" of Joshua, and beyond that the Anti-Lebanon with Mount Hermon, which "the Sidonians call Sirion; and the Amorites call it Shenir". In the Bible Lebanon marks the northern limit of the land promised to Israel, "From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river", though the Israelites never held it; the Sidonians and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon were among the peoples left to prove Israel.

Lebanon was the timber land of the ancient Near East. Egypt was importing cedar through Byblos by the Old Kingdom, and the Palermo Stone records forty ships of cedar under Sneferu; the tale of Wenamun, about 1075 BC, tells of an Egyptian sent to Byblos for timber for the barque of Amun. Assyrian and Babylonian kings cut cedar for their palaces and left inscriptions at the Nahr el-Kalb and at Wadi Brisa, and Hadrian had the imperial forest marked by boundary inscriptions that still stand on the mountain.

Solomon asked Hiram of Tyre to "hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon", since "there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians", and sent a levy of thirty thousand men to the mountain in courses; the timber went down to the sea in floats. The temple and "the house of the forest of Lebanon" were built of it, and after the exile cedar came again from Lebanon to Joppa by the grant of Cyrus. The prophets and poets return to Lebanon constantly: the voice of the LORD "breaketh the cedars of Lebanon", the righteous "shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon", Assyria "was a cedar in Lebanon", the glory of Lebanon shall come to Zion, and the bride is called "from Lebanon".

The cedars were cut for millennia, and only groves remain, the most famous at Bsharri in the Qadisha valley, inscribed by UNESCO in 1998. The Republic of Lebanon, independent since 1943, bears a cedar on its flag; its capital is Beirut, and Byblos, Sidon and Tyre still stand on its coast.

Scripture: Deut 1:7; Deut 3:9; Deut 3:25; Deut 11:24; Josh 1:4; Josh 11:17; Josh 13:5–6; Judg 3:3; 1 Kgs 5:6–9; 1 Kgs 5:13–14; 1 Kgs 7:2; 2 Kgs 14:9; 2 Kgs 19:23; 2 Chr 2:8; Ezra 3:7; Ps 29:5–6; Ps 92:12; Ps 104:16; Song 4:8; Song 4:15; Isa 2:13; Isa 14:8; Isa 35:2; Isa 40:16; Isa 60:13; Jer 22:23; Ezek 27:5; Ezek 31:3; Hos 14:5–7; Hab 2:17; Zech 11:1

Checked against its sources; not yet read by a historian.

Verses (57)

Deut 1:7

Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.

Deut 3:25

I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.

Deut 11:24

Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.

Josh 1:4

From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.

Josh 9:1

And it came to pass, when all the kings which were on this side Jordan, in the hills, and in the valleys, and in all the coasts of the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof;

Josh 13:5

And the land of the Giblites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrising, from Baal-gad under mount Hermon unto the entering into Hamath.

Josh 13:6

All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon unto Misrephoth-maim, and all the Sidonians, them will I drive out from before the children of Israel: only divide thou it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee.

Judg 9:15

And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.

1 Kgs 4:33

And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.

1 Kgs 5:6

Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants: and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians.

1 Kgs 5:9

My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea: and I will convey them by sea in floats unto the place that thou shalt appoint me, and will cause them to be discharged there, and thou shalt receive them: and thou shalt accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household.

1 Kgs 5:14

And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses: a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home: and Adoniram was over the levy.

1 Kgs 9:19

And all the cities of store that Solomon had, and cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

2 Kgs 14:9

And Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle.

2 Kgs 19:23

By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.

2 Chr 2:8

Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of Lebanon: for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon; and, behold, my servants shall be with thy servants,

2 Chr 2:16

And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need: and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa; and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem.

2 Chr 8:6

And Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities, and the cities of the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and throughout all the land of his dominion.

2 Chr 25:18

And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle.

Ezra 3:7

They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and meat, and drink, and oil, unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.

Ps 29:5

The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.

Ps 29:6

He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.

Ps 37:35

I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.

Ps 72:16

There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.

Ps 92:12

The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Ps 104:16

The trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted;

Song 3:9

King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.

Song 4:8

Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards.

Song 4:11

Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

Song 4:15

A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.

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King James Version