68 kilometers, just over 40 miles, from Beirut,
after passing through Amshit, Abaïdate and
Lehfed, you come to the Cedars of Jej. Nestled in
the high mountain, the “Jurd”, at an altitude of
1,500 meters (4,800 feet), this cluster of cedars
is one of the most ancient natural reserves left
of the forest that once covered the whole region
and which the kings of Byblos exploited during the
3rd millennium B.C...
There is the well-known
episode of the emissary Ouen Amon, sent by the high
priest of the Egyptian god Amon. When this envoy
had settled the bill, King Zaker Baal (Shecrallah)
sent two hundred woodcutters up into the hills to
hew down the cedars which Ouen Amon needed for the
temple in Egypt. It is also told in the Bible, in
I Kings, 5: 32, that Hiram King of Tyre sent the
Gibilites (Jbeïlis, people of Byblos) to cut
wood for the construction of the temple of Jehovah
in Jerusalem in the time of King Solomon, about
930 B.C..
On the heights of Jej there are now only a few fine
specimens of cedars, hundreds of years old, rooted
among the masses of rock. They are surely well worth
the promenade, for their majestic stature, their
eternal verdure and, when there is a light breeze,
their particular perfume and odors fully recompense
the effort of a visit that they truly merit after
having held out so long against tragic devastation.
A very old squat chapel with walls of crudely cut
stones, with narrow door and windows and decrepit
interior, hides in disorder some holy pictures.
It stands as a curiosity and as yet another witness
to the difficulties of the Christian mountain-dwellers
during the long “winter” of the rule of the Ottoman
pashas. This was a time when the Christians were
“dhimmi”, admittedly “protected” but as an inferior
caste in the Ottoman state and obliged to feign
destitution in order to be less exploited. But the
mighty cedars soaring from among the rocks seem
to express what these people could have been if
given the opportunity.
A road has recently been pierced, a car-park laid
out and a winding pathway cleared up the mountainside
to lead one up to the illustrious cedars.
Joseph Matar
Translation from the French : Kenneth J. Mortimer
