136 THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIS'. 
The quantity of this valuable timber used in the construc- 
fion of the temple and palaces must have been enormous, for 
we read (I. Kings. 10 ch., 27; 2 Chron. 9 ch., 27), that “Solo-. 
mon made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees made he 
as sycamore trees (Sycamore fig-trees) that are in the low plains, 
in abundance.” : 
In describing the transient glory of Assyria, Ezekiel com- 
pares it to the cedar “with fair branches, and a shadowing 
shroud, and an high stature’ (Ezek. 31 ch., 3). In Psa. 80, v., 
10, we have a comparison of Israel to “the boughs of the goodly 
cedars” and in Song. Sol. 5 ch., 15, the church is likened to an 
“excellent cedar.” For a_ proper understanding of this and 
other following references to the Song of Solomon, or as it is 
sometimes called, “The Cantieles,” it is necessary to remember 
that this book is really a prophecy, an allegorical parable des- 
criptive of the future Church of Christ, the “Bride of the Lamb” 
of Rey. 21 ch., 9, “Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the 
Lamb’s wife, . . . . and he showed me that great city, the holy 
Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.” A knowledge 
of this fact renders clear and incisive the various references in 
the beautiful imagery of the Song, which is cast in the anthro- 
pomorphie¢, language customary at that period and which was. 
borrowed from the Egyptians. In this book and also in the 
Psalms and in the didactic and prophetic books, Job, Proverbs, 
Eeelesiastics. ete., the influence of Egyptian symbolism can be 
clearly traced. Thus for example in Psa. 104, v., 24:— 
“O Lord, how manifold are thy works! 
In wisdom hast thou made them all:” 
In the “Hymn to Aton,” written probably 2,000 years B.C., 
we have:— 
“How manifold are thy works! 
They are hidden from us.” 
Again in the “Dialogue of a Misanthrope,” written some 
1,500 years before the Book of Job, we have the description of 
an exact counterpart of Job, “a man once prosperous brought 
to ruin, deserted by friends and relatives, and stricken with 
disease,” debating in his mind whether it would be better to die 
than to live.* 
*Dr. Mace, in Annals of Archaelogy and Anthropology. 
Vol. ix., 1922. 
