1 Kings 5:6 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Cedar trees out of Lebanon. — The central range of Lebanon is bare; but in the lower ranges there is still — probably in old times there was to a far greater extent — a rich abundance of timber, specially precious to the comparatively treeless country of Palestine. The forest of Lebanon was proverbial for its beauty and fragrance (Song of Solomon 4:11; Hosea 14:6-7), watered by the streams from the snowy heights (Jeremiah 18:14), when all Palestine was parched up. The cedars which now remain — a mere group, at a height of about six thousand feet — are but a remnant of the once magnificent forest which “the Lord had planted” (Psalms 104:16). Solomon’s request — couched almost in the language of command — is simply for cedar wood, or rather, for skilled labour in felling and working it, for which the Tyrians were proverbially famed in all ancient records. For this labour he offers to pay; while he seems to take for granted a right for his own servants to come and bring away the timber itself. Hiram’s answer (1 Kings 5:8) mentions “timber of fir” also, which agrees exactly with the fuller account of Solomon’s request given in 2 Chronicles 2:8. The pine still grows abundantly in the sandstone regions of Lebanon; but it is almost certain that “the fir” here named is the cypress.