Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 44:14

"He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the holm-tree and the oak, and strengtheneth for himself one among the trees of the forest: he planteth a fir-tree, and the rain doth nourish it." — Isaiah 44:14 (ASV)

He heweth him down cedars. —The manufacture is traced further back, possibly by way of protest against the belief current in all nations that some archaic image had fallen from heaven (Acts 19:35). The “cypress” is probably the Quercus ilex, and the “ash” a fig tree; but the identification of trees in the language of a remote time and language is always somewhat uncertain.

Which he strengtheneth for himself. —Better, fixes his choice among. The eye travels, it will be noted, backward from the workshop.