FOREST is used in the A. V. as the equivalent of three Hebrew words. In this article it is pro posed to define the true meaning of these several terms, and to identify and describe the more im portant localities to which the name forest is ap plied in Scripture: C)-th. This word appears to be derived from a Chaldee root, to be entangled,' and would therefore signify a thicket ' of trees or bushes, such as might afford a safe hiding place (cf. Sam. xxiii. 15), and such as is now often seen in Pales tine on the sites of ruined cities (cf. Is. xvii. 9). Others think it comes from &In, to cut into.' The term occurs seven times in Scripture, but is only once rendered forest—' In the forests (Sept. rois opugar) he built castles and towers ' (2 Chron. xxvii. 4). The locality here referred to appears to be the south of Judah, where the mountains were forrneily, and are in places still, clothed with dwarf oaks and tangled shrubberies.
vre is found only three times in the Bible, and is once translated fares/. In Neh. ii. 8 Asaph is called the keeper of the king's forest ' (Sept. ro0 vapacio-ou). Dint, like the Arabic Lyty..)}, and the Greek rapciSetcros, means an enclosea' garden or plantation attached to a palace, intended either for ornament or for containing animals of the chase (Eccles. ii. 5 ; Cant. iv. 13 ; Xcnaph. C'yrop. 3. 12).
ny, and nnr. This term occurs very often, and is usually rendered forest, though occasionally wood (Deut. xix. 5). It signifies redundancy or luxuriance, such as is seen in the growth of forest trees. It is the name given to all the great primx val forests of Syria, where the stately trees grew (Eccl. ii. 6 ; Is. xliv. 14), and where the wild beasts had their homes (Jer. v. 6 ; Micah v. 8). Hosea appeals to use it as equivalent to the Ara bic...ray a rugged ana' desolate place (ii. 12), 'I will destroy her vines and her fig-trees . . . . and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.' The following are the most noted forests men tioned in the O.
The forest of Hareth ' (r Sam. xxii. 5). The Sept. gives this passage EP Tfl rbXec 'AptciO, having doubtless mistaken 1.3.1, for -11.1. The precise loca lity of Hared] is not mentioned. It was some where in the south of Judah ; and a comparison with Sam. xxiii. 15 would seem to indicate that it was near Ziph, a few miles south-east of He bron.
2. The forest (wood) of Ephraim ' (2 Sam. xviii. 6 ; Sept. Spup4). It was here the army of Absalom was defeated, and he himself slain. It lay near, probably a little to the west of, the town of Mahanaim, where David had his head-quarters, and where he received the first tidings of the fate of his son (xvii. 26 ; xviii. 24). Why a forest east of the Jordan should bear the natne .Ephraim can not now be determined ; but one thing is certain, in the noble oaks which still clothe the hills of Gilead north of the Jabbok, we see the remnants of the Wood of Ephraim,' and the representa tives of that great oak ' in or.e of whose branches
Absalom was strangely imprisoned (xviii. 9 ; See Handbook for „Syria and ,Palestine, pp• 31 3 I4i• 3. The .firest of Carmel.' This phrase is used in 2 Kings xix. 23, and Is. xxxvii. 24, in reference to the same event, the mvages committed by the army of Sennacherib on the land of Israel—` I am come up to the height of thc mountains, to the sides of Lebanon ; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir-trees thereof ; and I will enter into thc height of his border, the forest of kis Cannel.' The real meaning of the last clause, .6n-1: np, seems to be its garden forest ; that is, the garden-like cedar forests of Lebanon, to which reference is made (See Keil on Kings, and Alexander on Isaiah, ill loc.) 4. In the forest in Arabia ' occurs in Is. xxi. 13. The phrase is remarkable, because Arabia is a country singularly destitute of trees. In no part of it are there any traces of forests. The Sept. translates the passage et, Tcp Spuzu.P go-irOas ; and Lowth and others adopt it ; but the Masore tic reading is preferable. The meaning of the word -13,2' in this place is probably the same as that of the Arabic a rug,ea' re,ion whether wooded or not.
5. 'The house of the forest of Lebanon ' is several times mentioned. It appears to have been a part of the royal palace built by Solomon at Jerusalem, and used as an armoury (t Kings Vii. 2, sq.; x. 17-21 ; 2 Chron. ix. 16-2o). The house had four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars, and it was covered with cedar above upon the beams.' Hence, in all probabi lity, its name (See Keil, in loc.) 6. In Zech. xi. 2 there is a singular expression : Howl, 0 ye oaks of Basilan, for the fmest the vintage is come down.' Thc IIebrew -13/, -M3i1 rather signifies the fortified forest ' (Vul gate, saltus munitus), and it is probable that Jeru salem is thus figuratively alluded to, the houses of which are close together as the trees of a forest (cf. Micah iii. 12. Henderson on the Minor Pro phets, z'n /ac.) Thc word forest is frequently used symbolically to denote a city, kingdom, or govern ment, as in Is. x. 8 ; xxxii. 19 ; Jer. xxi. 14, etc.
There are still some remnants of ancient oak fcrests on the mountains of Basilan, Gilead, Her mon, and Galilee. One solitary grove of cedars exists on Lebanon ; but fir trecs arc there abund ant. The other forests of Palestine (2 Kings ii. 23 ; I Sam. xiv. 25 ; vii. 2, etc.) have almost dis appeared. Yet here and there one meets with a solitary oak or terebinth of huge dimensions, as at Hebron, valley of Elah, Shiloh, and Dan. These are the last trees of the forests, and serve to indicate what the forests of Palestine once were. See Stan ley, S. and P., pp. 121, 314, 354, ist ed.; Handbook pr S. and P., pp. 7o, 311, 322, 444, 5t2, etc.; Burckhardt's Travels ill Syria ; Lord Lindsay's Travels.—J. L. P.