Topic
Fir; Fir-Tree
20 passages cited, from 1 classic reference work.
These works date from 1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- 2 Samuel 6:5ISBE
And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals.
- 1 Kings 5:8ISBE
And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have considered the things which thou sentest to me for: and I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir.
- 1 Kings 5:10ISBE
So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees according to all his desire.
- 1 Kings 6:15ISBE
And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, both the floor of the house, and the walls of the cieling: and he covered them on the inside with wood, and covered the floor of the house with planks of fir.
- 1 Kings 6:24ISBE
And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits.
- 2 Kings 19:23ISBE
By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I…
- 1 Chronicles 13:8ISBE
And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets.
- 2 Chronicles 3:5ISBE
And the greater house he cieled with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set thereon palm trees and chains.
- Psalms 104:17ISBE
Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.
- Song of Songs 1:17ISBE
The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.
- Isaiah 14:8ISBE
Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.
- Isaiah 41:19ISBE
I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together:
Show 8 more
- Isaiah 55:13 ISBE
- Isaiah 60:13 ISBE
- Ezekiel 27:5 ISBE
- Ezekiel 31:8 ISBE
- Hosea 14:8 ISBE
- Zechariah 11:2 ISBE
- Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:13 ISBE
- Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 50:10 ISBE
In the reference works
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 21 references
fur, (the Revised Version, margin "cypress"; berosh, 2Sa 6:5; 1Ki 5:8,10, etc.; (berothem (plural only), an Aramaic form, So 1:17):
1. Old Testament References:
This tree was one of the chief trees of Lebanon (Isa 60:13); one of usefulness (Isa 41:19;55:13); associated with the cedar (2Ki 19:23; Ps 104:17; Isa 14:8; Zec 11:2); its boughs were wide and great (Eze 31:8); it was evergreen (Ho 14:8); it could supply boards and timber for doors (1Ki 6:15,24); beams for roofing the temple (2Ch 3:5); planks for shipbuilding (Eze 27:5). In 2Sa 6:5 we read: "David and all the house of Israel played before Yahweh with all manner of instruments made of fir-wood," etc. It is practically certain that the reading in the parallel passage in 1Ch 13:8 is more correct: "David and all Israel played before God with all their might, even with songs," etc. This view is supported by the Septuagint translation (en pase dunamei). There is therefore no necessity to suppose that berosh was a wood used for musical instruments.
2. The Identity of "Berosh":
The identity of berosh is uncertain. It was a name applied either to several of the Coniferae in common or to one or more outstanding species. If the latter is the case we can only seek for the most suited to Old Testament requirements. The Aleppo pine, Pinus Halepensis, is a fine tree which flourishes in the Lebanon, but its wood is not of special excellence and durability. A better tree (or couple of trees) is the sherbin of the Syrians; this name includes two distinct varieties in the suborder Cypressineae, the fine tall juniper, Juniperis excelsa and the cypress, Cypressus sempervirens. They both still occur in considerable numbers in the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon; they are magnificent trees and produce excellent wood--resinous, fragrant, durable. If these trees were not classed locally, as now, under one name, then the cypress is of the two more probably the berosh. The coffins of Egyptian mummies were made of cypress; a compact variety of this cypress is cultivated all over the Turkish empire by the Moslems as an ornament in cemeteries. From early times the cypress has been connected with mourning.
In the Apocrypha there are two definite references to the cypress (kuparissos). In /APC Sirach 24:13, Wisdom says:
"I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus,
And as a cypress tree on the mountains of Hermon."
And in Sirach 50:10 the high priest Simon is said to be
"As an olive tree budding forth fruits,
And as a cypress growing high among the clouds."
These passages, especially the former, certainly favor the idea that berosh was the cypress; the name may, however, have included allied trees.
E. W. G. Masterman
Texts: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.