14. In the forest thereof. This phrase has been understood to mean either (1) the literal forests (see 1 Sam. 23:15), or (2) the royal building, which, because of its cedar columns, was called “the house of the forest of Lebanon” (1 Kings 7:2; 10:21; see 2 Sam. 7:2, 7; see on Jer. 22:6, 7). One of the destructive acts of an invading army, like that of Nebuchadnezzar, was the cutting down of “the tall cedar trees” and “the choice fir trees” (2 Kings 19:23). Repeated desolations of the timber of the land furnish a partial reason for the comparative scarcity of trees in modern Palestine.
1. Thus saith the Lord. The exact date of this message is not certain. This much seems clear, however, that it came in the reign of Jehoiakim (see on 10; see also PK 429, 430).