He heweth him down cedars. — The manufacture is traced further back, possibly by way of protest against the belief current in all nations that some archaic image had fallen from heaven (Acts 19:35). The “cypress” is probably the Quercus ilex, and the “ash” a fig tree; but the identification of trees in the language of a remote time and language is always somewhat uncertain.
Which he strengtheneth for himself. — Better, fixeth his choice among. The eye travels, it will be noted, backward from the workshop.