Reference: Forest
Easton
Heb ya'ar, meaning a dense wood, from its luxuriance. Thus all the great primeval forests of Syria (Ec 2:6; Isa 44:14; Jer 5:6; Mic 5:8). The most extensive was the trans-Jordanic forest of Ephraim (8/6/type/acv'>2Sa 18:6,8; Jos 17:15,18), which is probably the same as the wood of Ephratah (Ps 132:6), some part of the great forest of Gilead. It was in this forest that Absalom was slain by Joab. David withdrew to the forest of Hareth in the mountains of Judah to avoid the fury of Saul (1Sa 22:5). We read also of the forest of Bethel (2Ki 2:23-24), and of that which the Israelites passed in their pursuit of the Philistines (1Sa 14:25), and of the forest of the cedars of Lebanon (1Ki 4:33; 2Ki 19:23; Ho 14:5-6).
The house of the forest of Lebanon (1Ki 7:2; 10:17; 2Ch 9:16) was probably Solomon's armoury, and was so called because the wood of its many pillars came from Lebanon, and they had the appearance of a forest. (See Baalbec.)
Heb horesh, denoting a thicket of trees, underwood, jungle, bushes, or trees entangled, and therefore affording a safe hiding-place. place. This word is rendered "forest" only in 2Ch 27:4. It is also rendered "wood", the "wood" in the "wilderness of Ziph," in which david concealed himself (1Sa 23:15), which lay south-east of Hebron. In Isa 17:14 this word is in Authorized Version rendered incorrectly "bough."
Heb pardes, meaning an enclosed garden or plantation. Asaph is (Ne 2:8) called the "keeper of the king's forest." The same Hebrew word is used Ec 2:5, where it is rendered in the plural "orchards" (R.V., "parks"), and Song 4:13, rendered "orchard" (R.V. marg., "a paradise").
The forest of the vintage (Zec 11:2, "inaccessible forest," or R.V. "strong forest") is probably a figurative allusion to Jerusalem, or the verse may simply point to the devastation of the region referred to.
The forest is an image of unfruitfulness as contrasted with a cultivated field (Isa 29:17; 32:15; Jer 26:18; Ho 2:12). Isaiah (Isa 10:19,33-34) likens the Assyrian host under Sennacherib (q.v.) to the trees of some huge forest, to be suddenly cut down by an unseen stroke.
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And Joshua said to them, If thou be a great people, get thee up to the forest, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the Rephaim, since the hill-country of Ephraim is too narrow for thee.
but the hill-country shall be thine, for though it is a forest, thou shall cut it down, and the goings out of it shall be thine. For thou shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong
And the prophet Gad said to David, Abide not in the stronghold. Depart, and get thee into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth.
And David saw that Saul came out to seek his life, and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the forest.
So the people went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim.
For the battle was there spread over the face of all the country, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.
And he spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of creeping things, and of fishes.
For he built the house of the forest of Lebanon. The length of it was a hundred cubits, and the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.
And [he made] three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pounds of gold went to one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
And he went up from there to Bethel. And as he was going up by the way, there came forth young lads out of the city, and mocked him, and said to him, Go up, thou baldhead; go up, thou baldhead. And he looked behind him and saw them, and cursed them in the name of LORD. And there came forth two she-bears out of the wood, and tore forty-two lads of them.
Moreover he built cities in the hill-country of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers.
and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the castle which appertains to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And
I made for me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit. I made for me pools of water, to water from there the forest where trees were reared.
And the remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child may write them.
Behold, the Lord, LORD of hosts, will lop off the boughs with terror. And the high of stature shall be hewn down, and the lofty shall be brought low. And he will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.
At eventide, behold, terror, [and] before the morning they are not. This is the portion of those who despoil us, and the lot of those who rob us.
Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest.
He hews down cedars for him, and takes the holm tree and the oak, and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir tree, and the rain nourishes it.
Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them; a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them; a leopard shall watch against their cities. Everyone who goes out from there shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are m
Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus says LORD of hosts: Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of
And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, These are my hire that my lovers have given me. And I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
I will be as the dew to Israel. He shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and t
Wail, O fir tree, for the cedar is fallen, because the fine ones are destroyed. Wail, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest has come down.
Fausets
Palestine was more wooded very anciently than afterward; the celebrated oaks and terebinths here and there were perhaps relics of a primeval forest on the highlands. But in the Bible the woods appear in the valleys and defiles leading from the highlands to the lowlands, so they were not extensive. "The wood of Ephraim" clothed the sides of the hills which descend to the plain of Jezreel and the plain itself near Bethshah (Jos 17:15-18), and extended once to Tabor which still has many forest trees. That "of Bethel" lay in the ravine going down to the plain of Jericho. That "of Hareth" on the border of the Philistine plain in the S. of Judah (1Sa 22:5). That "of Kirjath Jearim" (1Sa 8:2; Ps 132:6), meaning" town of the woods", on the confines of Judah and Benjamin; "the fields of the wood" from which David brought up the ark to Zion mean this forest town.
That "of Ziph-wilderness," where David hid, S.E. of Hebron (1Sa 23:15, etc.). Ephraim wood, a portion of the region E. of Jordan near Mahanaim, where the battle with Absalom took place (2Sa 18:6,23), on the high lands, a little way from the valley of the Jordan. (See EPHRAIM WOOD.) "The house of the forest of Lebanon" (1Ki 7:2) was so-called as being fitted up with cedar, and probably with forest-like rows of cedar pillars. "Forest" often symbolizes pride doomed to destruction; (Isa 10:18; 32:19) the Assyrian host dense and lifted up as the trees of the forest; (Isa 37:24) "the forest of his Carmel," i.e., its most luxuriant forest, image for their proud army.
Forest also symbolizes unfruitfulness as opposed to cultivated lands (Isa 29:17; 32:15). Besides ya'ar, implying "abundance of trees", there is another Hebrew term, choresh from a root "to cut down," implying a wood diminished by cutting (1Sa 23:15; 2Ch 27:4). In Isa 17:9 for "bough" translated "his strong cities shall be as the leavings of woods," what the axeman leaves when he cuts down the grove (Isa 17:6). In Eze 31:3, "with a shadowing shroud," explain with an overshadowing thicket. A third term is pardeec, related to "paradise" (Ne 2:8), "forest") a park, a plantation under a "keeper." The Persian kings preserved the forests throughout the empire with care, having wardens of the several forests, without whose sanction no tree could be felled.
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And Joshua said to them, If thou be a great people, get thee up to the forest, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the Rephaim, since the hill-country of Ephraim is too narrow for thee. And the sons of Joseph said, The hill-country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both those who are in Beth-shean and its towns, and those who are in the valley o read more. And Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, even to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, Thou are a great people, and have great power. Thou shall not have only one lot, but the hill-country shall be thine, for though it is a forest, thou shall cut it down, and the goings out of it shall be thine. For thou shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong
Now the name of his first-born was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba.
And the prophet Gad said to David, Abide not in the stronghold. Depart, and get thee into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth.
And David saw that Saul came out to seek his life, and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the forest.
And David saw that Saul came out to seek his life, and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the forest.
So the people went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim.
But come what may, [he said], I will run. And he said to him, Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain, and outran the Cushite.
For he built the house of the forest of Lebanon. The length of it was a hundred cubits, and the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.
and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the castle which appertains to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And
And he will consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body. And it shall be as when a standard-bearer faints.
Yet there shall be gleanings left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree--two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost branches of a fruitful tree, says LORD, the God of Israel.
In that day their strong cities shall be as the forsaken places in the woodland and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before the sons of Israel, and it shall be a desolation.
Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest.
But it shall hail in the downfall of the forest, and the city shall be utterly laid low.
By thy servants thou have defied LORD, and have said, With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. And I will cut down the tall cedars of it, and the choice fir
Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a forest-like shade, and of high stature, and its top was among the thick boughs.
Hastings
1. ya'ar (root meaning a 'rugged' place), De 19:5; 2Ki 2:24; Jer 46:23; Mic 3:12 etc. 2. horesh, 2Ch 27:4 etc.; tr 'wood,' 1Sa 23:15 (perhaps a proper name). 3. pard
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as when a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetches a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the helve, and lands upon his neighbor, so that he dies, he shall flee to on
And David saw that Saul came out to seek his life, and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the forest.
Moreover he built cities in the hill-country of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers.
And I said to the king, Let the king live forever. Why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchers, lays waste, and the gates of it are consumed with fire?
I made for me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit.
They shall cut down her forest, says LORD, though it cannot be searched because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable.
Therefore for your sake Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.
Morish
1. choresh, 'thick intricate wood,' 2Ch 27:4; also translated 'wood' in 1Sa 23:15-16,18-19.
2. yaar, a 'forest.' This is the word commonly used for both 'wood' and 'forest;' to be distinguished from a third word, pardes, Ne 2:8, which signifies 'a park,' with cultivated trees, whereas the other is wild.
Several forests are specified under the word yaar.
1. The forest in ARABIA, Isa 21:13; its situation is unknown.
2. The 'forest of his CARMEL.' 2Ki 19:23; Isa 37:24.This reads in the margin, and in the R.V., 'forest of his fruitful field,' and does not refer to any forest connected with Carmel.
3. The forest of HARETH, 1Sa 22:5: situated in Judah, but not known.
4. The forest of LEBANON. 1Ki 7:2; 10:17,21; 2Ch 9:16,20.
The context shows that these passages do not refer to the forest at Lebanon; but that Solomon had a house at Jerusalem built of the trees from Lebanon, and called it 'the house of the forest of Lebanon.' The actual forest at Lebanon is often referred to for its noble trees.
5. The wood of EPHRAIM in which Absalom was slain, on the east of the Jordan. 8/6/type/acv'>2Sa 18:6,8,17. This has not been identified. It has been suggested that the pride and defeat of Ephraim mentioned in Jg 12:1-6 caused some forest to be called after the name of that tribe. This place, by its swamps, morasses and pits, 'devoured' the Israelites by preventing their escape.
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And the men of Ephraim were gathered together, and passed northward. And they said to Jephthah, Why did thou pass over to fight against the sons of Ammon, and did not call us to go with thee? We will burn thy house upon thee with f And Jephthah said to them, I and my people were at great strife with the sons of Ammon, and when I called you, ye did not save me out of their hand. read more. And when I saw that ye did not save me, I put my life in my hand, and passed opposite the sons of Ammon, and LORD delivered them into my hand. Why then have ye come up to me this day, to fight against me? Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye are fugitives of Ephraim, ye Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim, [and] in the midst of Mana And the Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And it was so, that, when [any of] the fugitives of Ephraim said, Let me go over, the men of Gilead said to him, Are thou an Ephraimite? If he said, No, then they said to him, Say now Shibboleth, and he said Sibboleth, for he could not frame to pronounce it right, then they laid hold on him, and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. And there fell at that time of Ephraim forty-two
And the prophet Gad said to David, Abide not in the stronghold. Depart, and get thee into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth.
And David saw that Saul came out to seek his life, and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the forest. And Jonathan, Saul's son, arose, and went to David into the forest, and strengthened his hand in God.
And those two made a covenant before LORD. And David abode in the forest, and Jonathan went to his house. Then the Ziphites came up to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Does not David hide himself with us in the strongholds in the forest, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of the desert?
So the people went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim.
For the battle was there spread over the face of all the country, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.
And they took Absalom, and cast him into the great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones. And all Israel fled every man to his tent.
For he built the house of the forest of Lebanon. The length of it was a hundred cubits, and the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.
And [he made] three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pounds of gold went to one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver; it was accounted of nothing in the days of Solomon.
By thy messengers thou have defied LORD, and have said, With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. And I will cut down the tall cedars of it, and the choice f
Moreover he built cities in the hill-country of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers.
and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the castle which appertains to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And
The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia ye shall lodge, O ye caravans of Dedanites.
By thy servants thou have defied LORD, and have said, With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. And I will cut down the tall cedars of it, and the choice fir
Smith
Forest.
Although Palestine has never been in historical times a woodland country, yet there can be no doubt that there was much more wood formerly than there is a t present, and that the destruction of the forests was one of the chief causes of the present desolation.