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Patriarchs and Prophets
“How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob,
And thy tabernacles, O Israel!
As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the
river’s side,
As the trees of lignaloes which the Lord hath planted,
and as cedar
trees beside the waters.
He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his
seed shall be in
many waters,
And his King shall be higher than Agag, and his king-
dom shall be
exalted....
He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion:
who shall
stir him up?
Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that
curseth thee.”
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The prosperity of God’s people is here represented by some of the
most beautiful figures to be found in nature. The prophet likens Israel
to fertile valleys covered with abundant harvests; to flourishing gardens
watered by never-failing springs; to the fragrant sandal tree and the
stately cedar. The figure last mentioned is one of the most strikingly
beautiful and appropriate to be found in the inspired word. The cedar
of Lebanon was honored by all the people of the East. The class of
trees to which it belongs is found wherever man has gone throughout
the earth. From the arctic regions to the tropic zone they flourish,
rejoicing in the heat, yet braving the cold; springing in rich luxuriance
by the riverside, yet towering aloft upon the parched and thirsty waste.
They plant their roots deep among the rocks of the mountains and
boldly stand in defiance of the tempest. Their leaves are fresh and
green when all else has perished at the breath of winter. Above all other
trees the cedar of Lebanon is distinguished for its strength, its firmness,
its undecaying vigor; and this is used as a symbol of those whose life
is “hid with Christ in God.”
Colossians 3:3
. Says the Scripture, “The
righteous ... shall grow like a cedar.”
Psalm 92:12
. The divine hand has
exalted the cedar as king over the forest. “The fir trees were not like