DESCEIPTIVE ENUJiERxVTION OE TEEES. 103 



hreaheth the Cedars of Lebanon. David cliarac- 

 terizes tlie Palm Tree and the Cedar together, 

 both very sti^ongly. The righteous shall flourish 

 nice a Falm Tree ; and spread abroad like a Cedar 

 of Lebanon. The flourishing head of the Palm, 

 and the spreading abroad of the Cedar, are 

 equally characteristic. 



But the prophet Ezekiel has given us the fullest 

 description of the Cedar : — 



' Behold the Assyrian was a Cedar in Lebanon, 

 "with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, 

 and of an high stature ; and his top was among the 

 thick boughs. His boughs were multiplied, and 

 his branches became long. The Fir trees were 

 not like his boughs, nor the Chestnut trees like 

 his branches, nor any tree in the garden of God 

 like unto him in beauty.'* 



In this description two of the principal charac- 

 teristics of the Cedar are marked. 



The first is the multiplicity and length of his 

 branches. Few trees divide so many fair branches, 

 from the main stem, or spread over so large a 



* Ezek. xxxi. 



