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/j2000'>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 answered them, If thou art such a great people, then go up to the forest and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzite and of the giants, if mountain of Ephraim is too narrow for thee.
but that mountain shall be thine, for it is a forest, and thou shalt cut it down, and the borders of it shall be thine; for thou shalt drive out the Canaanite, though he has iron chariots and though he is strong.
And the prophet Gad said unto David, do not abide in this fortress; depart, and go into the land of Judah. Then David departed and came into the forest of Hareth.
And David, seeing that Saul had come out to seek his soul, stayed in the woods in the wilderness of Ziph.
So the people went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim,
For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the land, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.
And he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springs out of the wall. He also spoke of animals and of fowl and of serpents and of fishes.
He also built the house of the forest of Lebanon, which was one hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.
Likewise he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pounds of gold went into each shield; and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
Then he went up from there unto Bethel, and as he was going up by the way, the young men of the city came forth and mocked him, saying, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back and looked on them and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And two bears came forth out of the forest and tore apart forty-two young men of them.
Moreover, he built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers.
and a letter unto Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace of the house and for the wall of the city and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of the LORD upon me.
I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits; I made myself pools of water, to water with them the forest that brings forth trees;
Thy newly budded plants are a paradise of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, , with spikenard,
And the trees that shall remain in his forest shall be in number such that a child may count them.
Behold, the Lord, the LORD of the hosts, shall lop the bough with force, and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled. And he shall cut down the thickness of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by force.
And behold at eveningtide trouble, and before the morning she is not. This is the portion of them that tread on us and the lot of them that spoil us.
Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into Carmel a fruitful field, and shall not Carmel be esteemed as a forest?
until the spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness is turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is counted for a forest.
He shall hew down cedars and take the cypress and the oak, and he shall strengthen himself with the trees of the forest; he shall plant a fir tree, which shall be nourished with the rain.
Therefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the desert shall destroy them and a tiger shall lie in wait over their cities; anyone that goes out from there shall be torn in pieces because their rebellions have been multiplied, and their backslidings are increased.
Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the temple mount as the high places of a forest.
And I will cause her vine and her fig tree to be cut down, of which she has said, These are my wages that my lovers have given me; and I will reduce them to a thicket, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall flourish as the lily and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his glory shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles 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 and treads down and tears in pieces, there are none that can escape.
Howl, fir tree, for the cedar is fallen because the magnificent are cut down; howl, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the strong mountain is brought 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 answered them, If thou art such a great people, then go up to the forest and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzite and of the giants, if mountain of Ephraim is too narrow for thee. And the sons of Joseph said, This mountain is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both those who are in Bethshean and her towns, and those who are in the valley of Jezreel. read more. Then Joshua replied unto the house of Joseph, even to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, Thou art a great people and hast great strength; thou shalt not have only one lot; but that mountain shall be thine, for it is a forest, and thou shalt cut it down, and the borders of it shall be thine; for thou shalt drive out the Canaanite, though he has iron chariots and though he is strong.
Now the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abiah; they were judges in Beersheba.
And the prophet Gad said unto David, do not abide in this fortress; depart, and go into the land of Judah. Then David departed and came into the forest of Hareth.
And David, seeing that Saul had come out to seek his soul, stayed in the woods in the wilderness of Ziph.
And David, seeing that Saul had come out to seek his soul, stayed in the woods in the wilderness of Ziph.
So the people went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim,
But, said he, let me run, be what may. And he said unto him, Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain and overran Cushi.
He also built the house of the forest of Lebanon, which was one hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.
and a letter unto Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace of the house and for the wall of the city and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of the LORD upon me.
and shall consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, from the soul unto the flesh; and they shall come to be as a standard-bearer in defeat.
Yet gleaning shall be left in it as when the olive tree is shaken; two or three berries are left in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel.
In that day the cities of his strength shall be as the gleanings which remain on the shoots and on the branches, which were left of the sons of Israel; and there shall be desolation.
Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into Carmel a fruitful field, and shall not Carmel be esteemed as a forest?
until the spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness is turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is counted for a forest.
And the hail, when it shall come down, shall be in the forest; and the city shall be completely laid low.
By the hand of thy slaves thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots I shall come up to the height of the mountains to the sides of Lebanon, and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof and the choice fir trees thereof; and I will enter into the height of his border and the forest of his Carmel.
Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches and with a shadowing shroud and of a high stature; and his top was highest 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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and he who went into the woods with his neighbour to cut firewood and his hand fetched a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree and the head slipped from the handle and lighted upon his neighbour so that he died, he shall flee unto one of those cities and live,
And David, seeing that Saul had come out to seek his soul, stayed in the woods in the wilderness of Ziph.
Moreover, he built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers.
and said unto the king, Let the king live for ever; why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the house of my fathers' sepulchres, lies waste, and its gates are consumed with fire?
I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits;
Thy newly budded plants are a paradise of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, , with spikenard,
They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, for they cannot be counted because they are more than the locusts; they are innumerable.
Therefore for your sake Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins and the mountain of the house as the high places of the 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; 2000'>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/j2000'>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 gathered themselves together towards the Aquilon and said unto Jephthah, Why didst thou go over to fight against the sons of Ammon and didst not call us to go with thee? We will burn thy house upon thee with fire. And Jephthah replied unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the sons of Ammon, and when I called you, ye did not defend me from their hands. read more. Seeing, therefore, that ye did not defend me, I put my life in my hands and went over against the sons of Ammon, and the LORD delivered them into my hand. Why then have ye come up against me this day to fight with me? Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim; and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim because they had said, Ye are fugitives of Ephraim; ye are Gileadites among Ephraim and Manasseh. And the Gileadites took the passages of the Jordan from Ephraim; and it was such that when any of those of Ephraim who had escaped would say, May I pass? The men of Gilead would ask them, Art thou an Ephrathite? If he said, No; then they would say unto him, Now say Shibboleth. . And he would say Sibboleth; ; for he could not pronounce it the same. Then they would take him and slay him at the passages of the Jordan. And at that time forty-two thousand of those of Ephraim fell.
And the prophet Gad said unto David, do not abide in this fortress; depart, and go into the land of Judah. Then David departed and came into the forest of Hareth.
And David, seeing that Saul had come out to seek his soul, stayed in the woods in the wilderness of Ziph. Then Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God.
And the two made a covenant before the LORD, and David abode in the woods, and Jonathan returned to his house. Then those of Ziph came to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Does not David hide himself with us in strong holds in the woods in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the right hand side of the wilderness?
So the people went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim,
For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the land, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.
And they took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the forest and laid a very great heap of stones upon him; and all Israel fled each one to his tent.
He also built the house of the forest of Lebanon, which was one hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.
Likewise he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pounds of gold went into each 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 likewise all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; there was no silver, for in the days of Solomon it was not esteemed.
By the hand of thy messengers, thou hast reproached the Lord and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I have 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 habitation of his borders and into the forest of his Carmel.
Moreover, he built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers.
and a letter unto Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace of the house and for the wall of the city and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of the LORD upon me.
The burden upon Arabia. In the forest ye shall pass the night in Arabia, O ye walkers of Dedanim.
By the hand of thy slaves thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots I shall come up to the height of the mountains to the sides of Lebanon, and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof and the choice fir trees thereof; and I will enter into the height of his border and the forest of his Carmel.
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.