The cave in which Obadiah hid the prophets (1 Kings 18:4) was probably
in the north, but it cannot be identified.
The cave of Elijah (1 Kings 19:9), and the “cleft” of Moses on Horeb
(Exodus 33:22), cannot be determined.
In the time of Gideon the Israelites took refuge from the Midianites in dens
and caves, such as abounded in the mountain regions of Manasseh (Judges
6:2).
Caves were frequently used as dwelling-places (Numbers 24:21; Cant.
2:14; Jeremiah 49:16; Obad. 1:3). “The excavations at Deir Dubban, on the
south side of the wady leading to Santa Hanneh, are probably the
dwellings of the Horites,” the ancient inhabitants of Idumea Proper. The
pits or cavities in rocks were also sometimes used as prisons (Isaiah 24:22;
51:14; Zechariah 9:11). Those which had niches in their sides were
occupied as burying-places (Ezekiel 32:23; John 11:38).
- CEDAR (Hebrews e’rez, Gr. kedros, Lat. cedrus), a tree very frequently
mentioned in Scripture. It was stately (Ezekiel 31:3-5), long-branched
(Psalm 80:10; 92:12; Ezekiel 31:6-9), odoriferous (Cant. 4:11; Hos. 14:6),
durable, and therefore much used for boards, pillars, and ceilings (1 Kings
6:9, 10; 7:2; Jeremiah 22:14), for masts (Ezekiel 27:5), and for carved
images (Isaiah 44:14).
It grew very abundantly in Palestine, and particularly on Lebanon, of
which it was “the glory” (Isaiah 35:2; 60:13). Hiram supplied Solomon
with cedar trees from Lebanon for various purposes connected with the
construction of the temple and the king’s palace (2 Samuel 5:11; 7:2, 7; 1
Kings 5:6, 8,10; 6:9, 10, 15, 16, 18, 20; 7:2, 3, 7, 11, 12; 9:11, etc.). Cedars
were used also in the building of the second temple under Zerubbabel (Ezra
3:7).
Of the ancient cedars of Lebanon there remain now only some seven or
eight. They are not standing together. But beside them there are found
between three hundred and four hundred of younger growth. They stand in
an amphitheatre fronting the west, about 6,400 feet above the level of the
sea.
The cedar is often figuratively alluded to in the sacred Scriptures. “The
mighty conquerors of olden days, the despots of Assyria and the Pharaohs
of Egypt, the proud and idolatrous monarchs of Judah, the Hebrew