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In the time of Gideon the Israelites took refuge from the Midianites in dens and caves, such as abounded in the mountain regions of Manasseh (Judges 6:2).
Caves were frequently used as dwelling-places (Numbers 24:21; Cant. 2:14; Jeremiah 49:16; Obad. 1:3). “The excavations at Deir Dubban, on the south side of the wady leading to Santa Hanneh, are probably the dwellings of the Horites,” the ancient inhabitants of Idumea Proper. The pits or cavities in rocks were also sometimes used as prisons (Isaiah 24:22; 51:14; Zechariah 9:11). Those which had niches in their sides were occupied as burying-places (Ezekiel 32:23; John 11:38).
•CEDAR (Hebrews e’rez, Gr. kedros, Lat. cedrus), a tree very frequently mentioned in Scripture. It was stately (Ezekiel 31:3-5), long-branched (Psalm 80:10; 92:12; Ezekiel 31:6-9), odoriferous (Cant. 4:11; Hos. 14:6), durable, and therefore much used for boards, pillars, and ceilings (1 Kings 6:9, 10; 7:2; Jeremiah 22:14), for masts (Ezekiel 27:5), and for carved images (Isaiah 44:14).
It grew very abundantly in Palestine, and particularly on Lebanon, of which it was “the glory” (Isaiah 35:2; 60:13). Hiram supplied Solomon with cedar trees from Lebanon for various purposes connected with the construction of the temple and the king’s palace (2 Samuel 5:11; 7:2, 7; 1
Kings 5:6, 8,10; 6:9, 10, 15, 16, 18, 20; 7:2, 3, 7, 11, 12; 9:11, etc.). Cedars
were used also in the building of the second temple under Zerubbabel (Ezra 3:7).
Of the ancient cedars of Lebanon there remain now only some seven or eight. They are not standing together. But beside them there are found between three hundred and four hundred of younger growth. They stand in an amphitheatre fronting the west, about 6,400 feet above the level of the sea.
The cedar is often figuratively alluded to in the sacred Scriptures. “The mighty conquerors of olden days, the despots of Assyria and the Pharaohs of Egypt, the proud and idolatrous monarchs of Judah, the Hebrew