or LIBANUS, signifying _white_, from its snows,--the most
elevated mountain or mountain chain in Syria, celebrated in all ages for
its cedars; which, as is well known, furnished the wood for Solomon’s
temple. This mountain is the centre, or nucleus, of all the mountain
ridges which, from the north, the south, and the east, converge toward
this point; but it overtops them all. This configuration of the
mountains, and the superiority of Lebanon, are particularly striking to
the traveller approaching both from the Mediterranean on the west, and
the desert on the east. On either side, he first discovers, at a great
distance, a clouded ridge, stretching from north to south, as far as the
eye can see; the central summits of which are capped with clouds, or
tipped with snow. This is Lebanon, which is often referred to in Holy
Writ for its streams, its timber, and its wines; and at the present day
the seat of the only portion of freedom of which Syria can boast.
The altitude of Lebanon is so considerable, that it appears from the
reports of travellers to have snow on its highest eminences all the year
round. Volney says, that it thus remains toward the north-east, where it
is sheltered from the sea winds and the rays of the sun. Maundrell found
that part of the mountain which he crossed, and which in all probability
was by no means the highest, covered with deep snow in the month of May.
Dr. E. D. Clarke, in the month of July, saw some of the eastern summits
of Lebanon, or Anti-Libanus, near Damascus, covered with snow, not lying
in patches, as is common in the summer season with mountains which
border on the line of perpetual congelation, but do not quite reach it,
but with that perfect white, smooth, and velvetlike appearance, which
snow only exhibits when it is very deep,--a striking spectacle in such a
climate, where the beholder, seeking protection from a burning sun,
almost considers the firmament to be on fire. At the time this
observation was made, the thermometer, in an elevated situation near the
sea of Tiberias, stood at 102½° in the shade. Sir Frederic Henniker
passed over snow in July; and Ali Bey describes the same eastern ridge
as covered with snow in September. Of the noble cedars which once
adorned the upper parts of this mountain but few now remain, and those
much decayed. Burckhardt, who crossed Mount Libanus in 1810, counted
about thirty-six large ones, fifty of middle size, and about three
hundred smaller and young ones: but more might exist in other parts of
the mountain. The wine, especially that made about the convent of
Canobin, still preserves its ancient celebrity; and is reported by
travellers, more particularly by Rauwolff, Le Bruyn, and De la Roque, to
be of the most exquisite kind for flavour and fragrance. The rains which
fall in the lower regions of Lebanon, and the melting of the snow in the
upper ones, furnish an abundance of perennial streams, which are alluded
to by Solomon, Cant. iv, 15. On the declivities of the mountain grew the
vines which furnished the rich and fragrant wine which Hosea celebrated,
xiv, 7, and which may still be obtained by proper culture.
The cedar of Lebanon has, in all ages, been reckoned as an object of
unrivalled grandeur and beauty in the vegetable kingdom. It is,
accordingly, one of the natural images which frequently occur in the
poetical style of the Hebrew prophets; and is appropriated to denote
kings, princes, and potentates of the highest rank. Thus, the Prophet
Isaiah, whose writings abound with metaphors and allegories of this
kind, in denouncing the judgments of God upon the proud and arrogant,
declares that the day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon all the cedars
of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of
Bashan,” Isaiah ii, 13. The king of Israel used the same figure in his
reply to the challenge of the king of Judah: 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 trod down the thistle,” 2 Kings xiv, 9. The spiritual prosperity of
the righteous man is compared by the Psalmist to the same noble plant:
The righteous shall flourish as the palm tree; he shall grow as the
cedar in Lebanon.” To break the cedars, and shake the enormous mass on
which they grow, are the figures that David selects to express the awful
majesty and power of Jehovah: The voice of the Lord is powerful; the
voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh the
cedars: yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. He maketh them
also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn,”
Psalm xxix, 4–6. This description of the divine majesty and power
possesses a character of awful sublimity.
The stupendous size, the extensive range, and great elevation of
Libanus; its towering summits capped with perpetual snow, or crowned
with fragrant cedars; its olive plantations; its vineyards, producing
the most delicious wines; its clear fountains, and cold-flowing brooks;
its fertile vales, and odoriferous shrubberies,--combine to form in
Scripture language, the glory of Lebanon.” But that glory, liable to
change, has, by the unanimous consent of modern travellers, suffered a
sensible decline. The extensive forests of cedar, which adorned and
perfumed the summits and declivities of those mountains, have almost
disappeared. Only a small number of these trees of God, planted by his
almighty hand,” which, according to the usual import of the phrase,
signally displayed the divine power, wisdom, and goodness, now remain.
Their countless number in the days of Solomon, and their prodigious
bulk, must be recollected, in order to feel the force of that sublime
declaration of the prophet: Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the
beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering,” Isaiah xl, 16. Though
the trembling sinner were to make choice of Lebanon for the altar; were
to cut down all its forests to form the pile; though the fragrance of
this fuel, with all its odoriferous gums, were the incense; the wine of
Lebanon pressed from all its vineyards, the libation; and all its
beasts, the propitiatory sacrifice; all would prove insufficient to make
atonement for the sins of men; would be regarded as nothing in the eyes
of the supreme Judge for the expiation of even one transgression. The
just and holy law of God requires a nobler altar, a costlier sacrifice,
and a sweeter perfume,--the obedience and death of a divine Person to
atone for our sins, and the incense of his continual intercession to
secure our acceptance with the Father of mercies, and admission into the
mansions of eternal rest. The conversion of the Gentile nations from the
worship of idols and the bondage of corruption, to the service and
enjoyment of the true God, is foretold in these beautiful and striking
terms: The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them: and
the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom
abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon
shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon: they shall
see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God,” Isaiah xxxv,
4.
elevated mountain or mountain chain in Syria, celebrated in all ages for
its cedars; which, as is well known, furnished the wood for Solomon’s
temple. This mountain is the centre, or nucleus, of all the mountain
ridges which, from the north, the south, and the east, converge toward
this point; but it overtops them all. This configuration of the
mountains, and the superiority of Lebanon, are particularly striking to
the traveller approaching both from the Mediterranean on the west, and
the desert on the east. On either side, he first discovers, at a great
distance, a clouded ridge, stretching from north to south, as far as the
eye can see; the central summits of which are capped with clouds, or
tipped with snow. This is Lebanon, which is often referred to in Holy
Writ for its streams, its timber, and its wines; and at the present day
the seat of the only portion of freedom of which Syria can boast.
The altitude of Lebanon is so considerable, that it appears from the
reports of travellers to have snow on its highest eminences all the year
round. Volney says, that it thus remains toward the north-east, where it
is sheltered from the sea winds and the rays of the sun. Maundrell found
that part of the mountain which he crossed, and which in all probability
was by no means the highest, covered with deep snow in the month of May.
Dr. E. D. Clarke, in the month of July, saw some of the eastern summits
of Lebanon, or Anti-Libanus, near Damascus, covered with snow, not lying
in patches, as is common in the summer season with mountains which
border on the line of perpetual congelation, but do not quite reach it,
but with that perfect white, smooth, and velvetlike appearance, which
snow only exhibits when it is very deep,--a striking spectacle in such a
climate, where the beholder, seeking protection from a burning sun,
almost considers the firmament to be on fire. At the time this
observation was made, the thermometer, in an elevated situation near the
sea of Tiberias, stood at 102½° in the shade. Sir Frederic Henniker
passed over snow in July; and Ali Bey describes the same eastern ridge
as covered with snow in September. Of the noble cedars which once
adorned the upper parts of this mountain but few now remain, and those
much decayed. Burckhardt, who crossed Mount Libanus in 1810, counted
about thirty-six large ones, fifty of middle size, and about three
hundred smaller and young ones: but more might exist in other parts of
the mountain. The wine, especially that made about the convent of
Canobin, still preserves its ancient celebrity; and is reported by
travellers, more particularly by Rauwolff, Le Bruyn, and De la Roque, to
be of the most exquisite kind for flavour and fragrance. The rains which
fall in the lower regions of Lebanon, and the melting of the snow in the
upper ones, furnish an abundance of perennial streams, which are alluded
to by Solomon, Cant. iv, 15. On the declivities of the mountain grew the
vines which furnished the rich and fragrant wine which Hosea celebrated,
xiv, 7, and which may still be obtained by proper culture.
The cedar of Lebanon has, in all ages, been reckoned as an object of
unrivalled grandeur and beauty in the vegetable kingdom. It is,
accordingly, one of the natural images which frequently occur in the
poetical style of the Hebrew prophets; and is appropriated to denote
kings, princes, and potentates of the highest rank. Thus, the Prophet
Isaiah, whose writings abound with metaphors and allegories of this
kind, in denouncing the judgments of God upon the proud and arrogant,
declares that the day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon all the cedars
of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of
Bashan,” Isaiah ii, 13. The king of Israel used the same figure in his
reply to the challenge of the king of Judah: 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 trod down the thistle,” 2 Kings xiv, 9. The spiritual prosperity of
the righteous man is compared by the Psalmist to the same noble plant:
The righteous shall flourish as the palm tree; he shall grow as the
cedar in Lebanon.” To break the cedars, and shake the enormous mass on
which they grow, are the figures that David selects to express the awful
majesty and power of Jehovah: The voice of the Lord is powerful; the
voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh the
cedars: yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. He maketh them
also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn,”
Psalm xxix, 4–6. This description of the divine majesty and power
possesses a character of awful sublimity.
The stupendous size, the extensive range, and great elevation of
Libanus; its towering summits capped with perpetual snow, or crowned
with fragrant cedars; its olive plantations; its vineyards, producing
the most delicious wines; its clear fountains, and cold-flowing brooks;
its fertile vales, and odoriferous shrubberies,--combine to form in
Scripture language, the glory of Lebanon.” But that glory, liable to
change, has, by the unanimous consent of modern travellers, suffered a
sensible decline. The extensive forests of cedar, which adorned and
perfumed the summits and declivities of those mountains, have almost
disappeared. Only a small number of these trees of God, planted by his
almighty hand,” which, according to the usual import of the phrase,
signally displayed the divine power, wisdom, and goodness, now remain.
Their countless number in the days of Solomon, and their prodigious
bulk, must be recollected, in order to feel the force of that sublime
declaration of the prophet: Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the
beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering,” Isaiah xl, 16. Though
the trembling sinner were to make choice of Lebanon for the altar; were
to cut down all its forests to form the pile; though the fragrance of
this fuel, with all its odoriferous gums, were the incense; the wine of
Lebanon pressed from all its vineyards, the libation; and all its
beasts, the propitiatory sacrifice; all would prove insufficient to make
atonement for the sins of men; would be regarded as nothing in the eyes
of the supreme Judge for the expiation of even one transgression. The
just and holy law of God requires a nobler altar, a costlier sacrifice,
and a sweeter perfume,--the obedience and death of a divine Person to
atone for our sins, and the incense of his continual intercession to
secure our acceptance with the Father of mercies, and admission into the
mansions of eternal rest. The conversion of the Gentile nations from the
worship of idols and the bondage of corruption, to the service and
enjoyment of the true God, is foretold in these beautiful and striking
terms: The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them: and
the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom
abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon
shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon: they shall
see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God,” Isaiah xxxv,
4.