Shajarat-Allah - Cedars of God

"The Cedars know the history of the Earth better than history itself." Alphonse de Lamartine

The Cedars' divine shady forests were fought over by demi-Gods and humans. It's said that the Cedars were protected by the Mesopotamian Gods, which gave rise to the appellation “Cedars of God”.

Legend has it that, they were the glorious realm of the Gods of Mesopotamian mythology, and were guarded by the demi-God "Humbaba" (the fearsome Demon) as were once entered by the hero Gilgamesh who dared to cut down trees from their virgin stands during his quest for fame.

Cedar wood is light, soft, resinous, and durable, even when in contact with soil or moisture the wood is known to be naturally resistant to rot and mold. It is an important structural timber in native regions but infrequently used elsewhere. Distillation of the wood releases an aromatic oil, the smoke of burning Cedar is said to attract the good spirits and eliminate negative energies.

The Bible goes-on stating, Cedar wood was also used to prepare the water of separation and purify leprosy "cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop be brought for the person to be cleansed" (Leviticus 14:4-7, Leviticus 14:49-52); it is illustrative of powerful nations "Behold, I will liken you to a Cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches and forest shade"(Ezekiel 31:3, Amos 2:9); the flourishing of Saints "The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like the Cedar in Lebanon" (Psalm 92:12); "I will put in the wilderness the Cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive" (Isaiah 41:19); and the majesty, strength and glory "I plant it; and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all birds of every wing" (Ezekiel 17:22-23).

Historically, "the Cedar of Lebanon was one of the most important building materials in the Near East" (Bikai, 1991). The first construction using Cedar mentioned in the Bible was for Royal Palaces. The most famous of which, though not the largest, was the Temple built by Solomon. In addition, he built a magnificent home for himself entirely out of Cedar (I Kings 7); it took 13 years to complete, six more years than for the Temple. Earlier, David (Solomon’s father) had built a house out of Cedar (II Samuel 7:2).

A lesser-known use of Cedar was in oblations for purification, for example, in ritual cleansing for leprosy (Leviticus 14; Numbers 19:6). Details are not given, but it seems likely that small pieces of Cedar were used for their fragrance.

In the Quran, the Cedar is the tree that grows under the throne of Allah. It connects the Earth to the Seventh Heaven (Surah 56:27-33). This majestic tree is commonly called in Arabic as "Arz al-Rab" (Arz of the God) or "Shajarat-Allah" (Tree of the Lord).

Today, the meaning behind the Cedars nickname “Tree of Life” extends well past the Cedar's ability to cure ‘Scurvy’. It also represents the tree's tendency to resist rot and live a very, very long life.

Serving as the national emblem of Lebanon, the Cedar tree has always been the representative and main symbol of the country as the mountains of Lebanon were once shaded by thick Cedar forests.

Over the centuries, Cedar wood was exploited by the Assyrians, Hittites, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Romans, Israelites, Ottomans, up till World War One, when British soldiers significantly cut down the tree population by exploiting it for railroads, which has resulted in its depletion in most of the mountains of Lebanon leaving only 17 square-kilometers, 0.4 percent of the estimated ancient cover nowadays, hanging on in a few scattered redoubts.

Despite their low density, the Cedars of Lebanon are of importance in genetic diversity of the species, and constitute the southernmost population. Thanks to legends and tradition, the Cedar forests were not completely depleted.

That said, between 1999-2004, one of the largest of the remaining twelve Cedar stands in Lebanon, the 'Cedar Forest of Tannourine', was severely infested by a new insect species, the web-spinning sawfly that was identified as "Cephalcia tannourinensis". Back then, the pest spread and posed a serious threat to the surrounding forests, including the "Forest of the Cedars of God" (Horsh Arz el-Rab) in Northern Lebanon, recently registered in the World Heritage Convention.

Neighboring countries, including Cyprus and Syria, expressed concern that there could be trans-boundary spread of the new insect pest.

In 1998 and 1999, respectively, the percentage attack recorded was 70 and 80 percent, as was determined by a random sample of branches from 60 trees.

In response to the emergency nature of the outbreak, the “Rural Development and Natural Resources Directorate” (RDNRD) of the Lebanese “Ministry of Agriculture” (MoA) initiated a joint venture with the American University of Beirut and experts from the “Institut national de la Recherche Agronomique” (INRA), France, and the “Food and Agriculture Organization” (FAO) was requested to provide assistance to cover resource and information gaps, and provide capacity building for personnel in MoA.

In 2001, the FAO launched its ‘Technical Cooperation Program’ project, "Protection of the Forests with Particular Emphasis on the New Pest Cephalcia Tannouresis Infesting Lebanon Cedars".

The project enabled the MoA and, in particular, RDNRD to manage and contain a potentially serious pest problem affecting the Cedars. The activities of the project, coupled with those undertaken by the Government with support from INRA, ensured that pest populations dropped significantly and that any further spread of the insect both within and outside Lebanon was prevented.

The major impact of this project was the sustainability of new technologies introduced for the first time to Lebanon by the FAO; such as the study of lifecycle for a new pest aiming for a proper control and the new methodology and techniques needed to conduct a forest and trees assessment and inventory…

Food for thought!

Read my prequels "Cedars of God" and "Hardine" at:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/cedars-god-lord-edwin-e-hitti/

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/hardine-lord-edwin-e-hitti/