Tuesday, July 25, 2006 at 1:01am
Cedars of Lebanon
Column: Our Place in the Universe
I have always loved Lebanon. Consider the cedars of Lebanon: "The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon" (Psalms 92:12). And then there was Eddie (call me Fuad) Kaady, the first true brother of my heart. Haven't heard from Eddie in about 30 years. And the cedars of Lebanon? Well, seems they are disappearing as well. It all started with a King who sought immortality.
Remember Gilgamesh? The Epic of Gilgamesh is, perhaps, the oldest written story on Earth. It comes from Ancient Samaria, east of present day Lebanon, and takes place about 4,700 years ago. We were assigned to read it for our first earth literacy course because it is the perfect example of ecological disaster as a consequence of human action.
Gilgamesh saw the magnificence of an immense virgin cedar forest, the "abode of the gods," and thought, "Wow! What a great city I could build with these timbers!" This was the center of civilization — the fertile crescent — the place where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers met. Gilgamesh, and each subsequent ruler, trying to amass more material wealth than the ruler who came before them, only succeeded in destroying that civilization.
Men stripped the mountains of their cover leaving bare rock. The winds and rain came, washing away the soil and clogging irrigation ditches. The erosion of salt-rich sedimentary rock poisoned what soil was left so that crops became more and more difficult to grow. Eventually silt built up and up, and harbors had to be abandoned.
The deforestation also changed the climate. The amount of water in the soil, the groundwater and the moisture in the atmosphere all decreased. What was once a forest so dense that the sun's light could barely penetrate the foliage was replaced with scrubby flora. Perennial springs dried up, as temperatures rose and a drying-out of the lowlands occurred.
Biodiversity suffered as well as changing habitat caused animal and plant populations to shift or become extinct. Larger mammals and birds were particularly affected. With a loss of diversification and genetic variation, come an increased risk of destruction due to disease and a loss of stability in reproduction.
Not only in the Epic of Gilgamesh, but also in other religious and mythological recordings, including the Bible, the Cedar of Lebanon is regarded as a "world tree." "Who can be compared with you in majesty? . . . a cedar in Lebanon . . . all the birds of the air nested in its boughs, all the beasts of the field gave birth under its branches; all the great nations lived in its shade . . ." (Ezekiel 31).
The Phoenicians advanced their shipbuilding trade on the shores of what is now present-day Lebanon using the wood of the cedar. Cedar was also part of their trade with Egypt, who used it in temple and palace construction. Romans, Greeks, Persians, Assyrians, and Babylonians used it. King Solomon's temple, and the palace of King David utilized cedar in their construction.
All parts of the cedars of Lebanon were used, materially, culturally for ceremonies and rituals, and medicinally. Cedar resin was used for mummification, pitch for toothaches, sawdust for protection from snakes, bark for treatment of leprosy.
Thus, the wanton cutting of the cedar is seen as the destruction of world empires, the ruin of nations. "Those who lived in its shade, its allies among the nations, had also gone down to the grave with it, joining those killed by the sword" (Ezekiel 31). With an understanding of ecology we can see that humanity depends on the natural environment, and in our arrogance we have been ruining our renewable and sustainable partners in living for thousands of years.
And today? Those forests that probably covered large areas in the mountains of the Mediterranean have shrunk to a mere 12 stands of cedars in the Lebanon of today. They are still being destroyed by men of other nations who are seeking immortality through belief that their religion, their nation, their faith merits the destruction of others. In the long run it is not just the land that we ruin, it is ourselves as well.
(For more information there is an excellent article by Rania Masri of the International Relief Fund.
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Anne E. Ulvestad is a freelance writer residing in Maryland. She has her masters in earth literacy and can be reached at {email anne@ourplaceintheuniverse.com}anne@ourplaceintheuniverse.com{/email}. © copyright 2006 by Anne E. Ulvestad
— — —
ReligionAndSpirituality.com is a big tent for all expressions
of faith and spirituality, neither excluding nor favoring any.
All opinions expressed belong to the writer alone, and are
not necessarily shared by ReligionAndSpirituality.com.
Remember Gilgamesh? The Epic of Gilgamesh is, perhaps, the oldest written story on Earth. It comes from Ancient Samaria, east of present day Lebanon, and takes place about 4,700 years ago. We were assigned to read it for our first earth literacy course because it is the perfect example of ecological disaster as a consequence of human action.
Gilgamesh saw the magnificence of an immense virgin cedar forest, the "abode of the gods," and thought, "Wow! What a great city I could build with these timbers!" This was the center of civilization — the fertile crescent — the place where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers met. Gilgamesh, and each subsequent ruler, trying to amass more material wealth than the ruler who came before them, only succeeded in destroying that civilization.
Men stripped the mountains of their cover leaving bare rock. The winds and rain came, washing away the soil and clogging irrigation ditches. The erosion of salt-rich sedimentary rock poisoned what soil was left so that crops became more and more difficult to grow. Eventually silt built up and up, and harbors had to be abandoned.
The deforestation also changed the climate. The amount of water in the soil, the groundwater and the moisture in the atmosphere all decreased. What was once a forest so dense that the sun's light could barely penetrate the foliage was replaced with scrubby flora. Perennial springs dried up, as temperatures rose and a drying-out of the lowlands occurred.
Biodiversity suffered as well as changing habitat caused animal and plant populations to shift or become extinct. Larger mammals and birds were particularly affected. With a loss of diversification and genetic variation, come an increased risk of destruction due to disease and a loss of stability in reproduction.
Not only in the Epic of Gilgamesh, but also in other religious and mythological recordings, including the Bible, the Cedar of Lebanon is regarded as a "world tree." "Who can be compared with you in majesty? . . . a cedar in Lebanon . . . all the birds of the air nested in its boughs, all the beasts of the field gave birth under its branches; all the great nations lived in its shade . . ." (Ezekiel 31).
The Phoenicians advanced their shipbuilding trade on the shores of what is now present-day Lebanon using the wood of the cedar. Cedar was also part of their trade with Egypt, who used it in temple and palace construction. Romans, Greeks, Persians, Assyrians, and Babylonians used it. King Solomon's temple, and the palace of King David utilized cedar in their construction.
All parts of the cedars of Lebanon were used, materially, culturally for ceremonies and rituals, and medicinally. Cedar resin was used for mummification, pitch for toothaches, sawdust for protection from snakes, bark for treatment of leprosy.
Thus, the wanton cutting of the cedar is seen as the destruction of world empires, the ruin of nations. "Those who lived in its shade, its allies among the nations, had also gone down to the grave with it, joining those killed by the sword" (Ezekiel 31). With an understanding of ecology we can see that humanity depends on the natural environment, and in our arrogance we have been ruining our renewable and sustainable partners in living for thousands of years.
And today? Those forests that probably covered large areas in the mountains of the Mediterranean have shrunk to a mere 12 stands of cedars in the Lebanon of today. They are still being destroyed by men of other nations who are seeking immortality through belief that their religion, their nation, their faith merits the destruction of others. In the long run it is not just the land that we ruin, it is ourselves as well.
(For more information there is an excellent article by Rania Masri of the International Relief Fund.
— — —
Anne E. Ulvestad is a freelance writer residing in Maryland. She has her masters in earth literacy and can be reached at {email anne@ourplaceintheuniverse.com}anne@ourplaceintheuniverse.com{/email}. © copyright 2006 by Anne E. Ulvestad
ReligionAndSpirituality.com is a big tent for all expressions
of faith and spirituality, neither excluding nor favoring any.
All opinions expressed belong to the writer alone, and are
not necessarily shared by ReligionAndSpirituality.com.