Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Kings 5:6

"Now therefore command thou that they cut me cedar-trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants; and I will give thee hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt say: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that knoweth how to cut timber like unto the Sidonians." — 1 Kings 5:6 (ASV)

Cedar trees out of Lebanon. The central range of Lebanon is bare; but in the lower ranges there is still—probably in ancient times there was to a far greater extent—a rich abundance of timber, especially precious to the comparatively treeless country of Palestine. The forest of Lebanon was proverbial for its beauty and fragrance (Song of Solomon 4:11; Hosea 14:6–7), watered by the streams from the snowy heights (Jeremiah 18:14), when all Palestine was parched up. The cedars which now remain—a mere group, at a height of about six thousand feet—are but a remnant of the once magnificent forest which the Lord had planted (Psalms 104:16).

Solomon’s request—couched almost in the language of command—is simply for cedar wood, or rather, for skilled labour in felling and working it, for which the Tyrians were proverbially famed in all ancient records. For this labour he offers to pay; while he seems to take for granted a right for his own servants to come and bring away the timber itself. Hiram’s answer (1 Kings 5:8) mentions timber of fir also, which agrees exactly with the fuller account of Solomon’s request given in 2 Chronicles 2:8. The pine still grows abundantly in the sandstone regions of Lebanon; but it is almost certain that the fir here named is the cypress.