(2000+ year old cedar Beirut Museum)

Cedar wood was used in the construction of  David’s palace 2 Sam 7:2; Solomon’s Temple ca 966 BC  2 Chron 2:16 with the temple described as a cedar house 2 Sam 7:7 the house of Lebanon supported with rows of cedar pillars 1 Kings 7:2 and again during the rebuilding of the temple after the exile in 520-516 BC  Ezra 3:7. The wood travelled by sea and came into Israel for the construction work at Joppa.  But these temples were by no means the only public buildings that had cedar used within them. The wood appears to have been used primarily for ceilings, with beams 1 Kings 7:12 used for supporting the roof structures 1 Kings 6:9 including (alternates being pine or fir) rafters Song 1:17; 1 Kings 6:16; 7:7  and internal paneling 1 Kings 6:15,18. The cedar was then probably coloured or lacquered cf Jer 22:14.

Cedar was used in the temples in throughout the ancient world. Nebuchadnezzar, Hadrian, several Assyrian kings and Pharaohs from Egypt all left their mark in Wadi Khalib a few miles to the north of Beirut, and wadi Barissa to the north of the Beqa to let others know both of their occupation and their ownership of Lebanese cedars.

Solomon made cedar trees as common as the sycamore in the Shephelah, indicating the scarceness and the value of the commodity.

Used in panelling in the time of Haggai

Other timber used within the temple is referred to as almug trees in 1 Kings 10:11,12. The word almug containing the idea of incorruption, and hence a symbol of immortality.

Picture of the grandest tree, and the establishment of a secure domain. Used of the Assyrian and the Babylonian empires.