Lebanon: Figurative
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In biblical literature, Lebanon is often used figuratively to convey various spiritual and symbolic meanings. The region of Lebanon, known for its majestic cedar trees, lush landscapes, and mountainous terrain, serves as a rich metaphorical backdrop in Scripture.

1. Symbol of Beauty and Majesty: Lebanon is frequently associated with beauty and grandeur. The cedars of Lebanon, in particular, are emblematic of strength and splendor. In the Song of Solomon, the beloved is compared to Lebanon, highlighting her beauty and majesty: "Your stature is like a palm tree; your breasts are clusters of fruit. I said, 'I will climb the palm tree; I will take hold of its fruit.' May your breasts be like clusters of the vine, the fragrance of your breath like apples, and your mouth like the best wine. May it flow smoothly to my beloved, gliding gently over lips and teeth. I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me. Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside; let us spend the night among the wildflowers. Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vines have budded, if their blossoms have opened, and if the pomegranates are in bloom—there I will give you my love. The mandrakes send forth their fragrance, and at our door is every delicacy, new and old, that I have stored up for you, my beloved" (Song of Solomon 7:7-13).

2. Symbol of Fertility and Abundance: Lebanon's fertile land and abundant resources are used to symbolize prosperity and divine blessing. In Hosea, the restoration of Israel is likened to the flourishing of Lebanon: "I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like the cedars of Lebanon. His shoots will sprout, and his splendor will be like the olive tree, his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon" (Hosea 14:5-6). This imagery underscores the idea of spiritual renewal and growth.

3. Symbol of Pride and Human Achievement: The cedars of Lebanon also serve as a metaphor for human pride and achievement. In Isaiah, the downfall of the proud is depicted through the imagery of Lebanon's cedars being cut down: "The LORD of Hosts has planned it, to defile all the glorious beauty, to disgrace all the honored of the earth. Till your land is laid waste as if by locusts, they will swarm over it like an army. The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness" (Isaiah 33:9-10). This serves as a reminder of the transience of human glory in contrast to God's eternal majesty.

4. Symbol of God's Power and Judgment: Lebanon is also used to illustrate God's power and judgment. In the Psalms, the voice of the Lord is described as powerful enough to shatter the cedars of Lebanon: "The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD shatters the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox" (Psalm 29:5-6). This imagery emphasizes the might and authority of God over creation.

5. Symbol of Spiritual Aspiration: The height and grandeur of Lebanon's mountains are sometimes used to symbolize spiritual aspiration and the pursuit of holiness. In Ezekiel, the lament over the fall of Tyre includes a reference to Lebanon's cedars, symbolizing the loss of spiritual and moral stature: "They made all your timbers of cypress from Senir. They took a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you" (Ezekiel 27:5). This serves as a cautionary tale about the consequences of spiritual decline.

Throughout Scripture, Lebanon serves as a multifaceted symbol, representing beauty, abundance, human pride, divine power, and spiritual aspiration. Its rich imagery provides a profound backdrop for understanding various spiritual truths and divine principles.
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Isaiah 29:17
Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
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Jeremiah 22:6
For thus said the LORD to the king's house of Judah; You are Gilead to me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make you a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.
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Library

The Figurative Language of Scripture.
... to a word or sentence turned from its literal signification to a figurative sense. ...
The second is that of Jehoash: "The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the ...
/.../barrows/companion to the bible/chapter xxxv the figurative language.htm

In the Case of Figurative Signs, Again, if Ignorance of any of ...
... places, what Jerusalem signifies, or Sion, or Sinai, or Lebanon, or Jordan ... when these
names have been investigated and explained, many figurative expressions in ...
/.../augustine/on christian doctrine in four books/chapter 23 in the case.htm

The Knowledge Both of Language and Things is Helpful for the ...
... places, what Jerusalem signifies, or Sion, or Sinai, or Lebanon, or Jordan ... when these
names have been investigated and explained, many figurative expressions in ...
/.../on christian doctrine in four books /chapter 16 the knowledge both of.htm

Interpretation of Prophecy.
... monarch's progress through the land of Judea, ending with a figurative account of ...
shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall ...
/.../barrows/companion to the bible/chapter xxxviii interpretation of prophecy.htm

The Hebrew Sages and their Proverbs
... Poetical in structure, terse, often figurative or epigrammatic, the proverb was
well calculated ... varieties of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to ...
/.../the origin and permanent value of the old testament/x the hebrew sages and.htm

John the Baptist's Person and Preaching.
... Lebanon, who was put to death by Mark Antony, bc36, or sixty-odd years before this,
and another who was tetrarch of ... Isaiah's language is highly figurative. ...
/.../mcgarvey/the four-fold gospel/xvii john the baptists person.htm

On the Baptism of Christ.
... him with the clean and fair apparel; teaching us by the figurative illustration
that ... And "the glory of Lebanon [2153] ," from the similitude of its lofty trees ...
/.../gregory/gregory of nyssa dogmatic treatises etc/on the baptism of christ.htm

The Transfiguration.
... as it does a great part of Syria from the sea to Damascus, from the Lebanon and
the ... It also occurs in a figurative sense in 2 Corinthians 1:8; v. 4; 1 Timothy 5 ...
/.../the life and times of jesus the messiah/chapter i the transfiguration.htm

The Great Confession - the Great Commission - the Great ...
... snow-clad heads (the Hermons'), [3625] and, in the dim far background, majestic
Lebanon. ... leaven' in a literal, which He had meant in a figurative sense, that ...
/.../the life and times of jesus the messiah/chapter xxxvii the great confession.htm

Solomon's Temple Spiritualized
... 2:1). Also, she, his beloved, saith of him, 'His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent
as ... Indeed, the whole, in a manner, was a typical and a figurative thing. ...
/.../bunyan/the works of john bunyan volumes 1-3/solomons temple spiritualized.htm

Resources
What are the cedars of Lebanon the Bible mentions? | GotQuestions.org

Do the news reports of rivers turning blood red have anything to do with the end times? | GotQuestions.org

Shia and Sunni Islam - what are the differences? | GotQuestions.org

Lebanon: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

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Subtopics

Lebanon

Lebanon of Great and Powerful Monarchs

Lebanon of the Gentile World

Lebanon of the Jewish Nation

Lebanon of the Temple

Lebanon: (Fragrance of) of the Graces of the Church

Lebanon: (Glory of) of the Glory of the Church

Lebanon: (Mourning of) of Deep Affliction

Lebanon: (Shaking of Its Forests) Prodigious Growth of The

Lebanon: "House of the Forest of"

Lebanon: Beasts of

Lebanon: Bounded the Land of Canaan on the North

Lebanon: Called: Mount Lebanon

Lebanon: Called: That Goodly Mountain

Lebanon: Called: The Mountains

Lebanon: Cedars of

Lebanon: Celebrated For: Cedars

Lebanon: Celebrated For: Flowers

Lebanon: Celebrated For: Fragrance

Lebanon: Celebrated For: Fragrance of Its Wines

Lebanon: Celebrated For: Glorious Appearance

Lebanon: Difficulties of Passing, Surmounted by Assyrian Army

Lebanon: Early Inhabitants of

Lebanon: Fertility and Productiveness of

Lebanon: Figurative

Lebanon: Flower of

Lebanon: Forests of, Infested With Wild Beasts

Lebanon: Formerly Inhabited by the Hivites

Lebanon: Furnished: Stones for Solomon's Temple

Lebanon: Furnished: Wood for Second Temple

Lebanon: Furnished: Wood for Solomon's Temple

Lebanon: Given to Israel

Lebanon: Great Part of, not Conquered by the Israelites

Lebanon: Lofty Tops of, Covered With Snow

Lebanon: Many Streams Came From

Lebanon: Moses Anxious to Behold

Lebanon: Northern Boundary of the Land of Canaan

Lebanon: Other Trees of

Lebanon: Part of, Barren

Lebanon: Snow of

Lebanon: Solomon Built: Storehouses In

Lebanon: Solomon Built: The House of the Forest of

Lebanon: Solomon had Storage Cities In

Lebanon: Streams of

Lebanon: Tower of

Lebanon: Valley of

Related Terms

Lebanon's (1 Occurrence)

Geology

Treadeth (25 Occurrences)

Cedars (37 Occurrences)

Coelesyria

Coele-syria

Senir (4 Occurrences)

Underfoot (14 Occurrences)

Woodland (13 Occurrences)

Fir-trees (11 Occurrences)

Firs (9 Occurrences)

Thistle (3 Occurrences)

Trode (8 Occurrences)

Thorn-tree (7 Occurrences)

Trampled (41 Occurrences)

Thorn-bush (5 Occurrences)

Trod (14 Occurrences)

Fir (22 Occurrences)

Phoenicians

Phoenicia (6 Occurrences)

Woods (37 Occurrences)

Fir-tree (5 Occurrences)

Baal-gad (3 Occurrences)

Baalgad (3 Occurrences)

Amazi'ah (37 Occurrences)

Pine (28 Occurrences)

Blossom (23 Occurrences)

Logs (12 Occurrences)

Firtree

Cedar-trees (11 Occurrences)

Cypress (17 Occurrences)

Cypress-trees (6 Occurrences)

Amana (1 Occurrence)

Algum (3 Occurrences)

Scent (6 Occurrences)

Sidonians (16 Occurrences)

Spouse (7 Occurrences)

Hermon (16 Occurrences)

Tall (41 Occurrences)

Crushing (93 Occurrences)

Timber (32 Occurrences)

Bush (14 Occurrences)

Zidonians (11 Occurrences)

Zobah (15 Occurrences)

Jeho'ash (16 Occurrences)

Levy (19 Occurrences)

Foliage (14 Occurrences)

Forests (12 Occurrences)

Euphra'tes (33 Occurrences)

Pines (7 Occurrences)

Bloom (9 Occurrences)

Baalhermon (2 Occurrences)

Box-tree (2 Occurrences)

Ba'al-gad (3 Occurrences)

Baal-hermon (2 Occurrences)

Cypresses (6 Occurrences)

Sido'nians (11 Occurrences)

Summit (7 Occurrences)

Cedar (61 Occurrences)

Bride (31 Occurrences)

Forest (67 Occurrences)

Coast (70 Occurrences)

Sharon (9 Occurrences)

Flourish (26 Occurrences)

Choicest (32 Occurrences)

Skilled (44 Occurrences)

Joppa (14 Occurrences)

Baal (94 Occurrences)

Hivite (25 Occurrences)

Carmel (33 Occurrences)

Snow (25 Occurrences)

Amaziah (41 Occurrences)

Thorn (30 Occurrences)

Syria (73 Occurrences)

Jo'ash (44 Occurrences)

Fruitful (57 Occurrences)

Descend (34 Occurrences)

Lebo-hamath (6 Occurrences)

Lowlands (25 Occurrences)

Lebanon: Fertility and Productiveness of
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