2 Chronicles 2:8

“Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of Lebanon, etc.] Of the two first of these, and which Hiram sent, (see <110510>1 Kings 5:10). The algum trees are the same with the almug trees, (<111011>1 Kings 10:11,12) by a transposition of letters; these could not be coral, as some Jewish writers think, which grows in the sea, for these were in Lebanon; nor Brazil, as Kimchi, so called from a place of this name, which at this time was not known; though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India, as appears from the above quoted place, as well as from Arabia; and it seems, as Beckius f3 observes, to be an Arabic word, by the article “al” prefixed to it: for…”

“Send me . . . cedar trees, &c.--The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable; the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood), though not found on Lebanon, are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on Kg1 10:11).”

“2:8 The cedar is Cedrus libani (“cedar of Lebanon”), a tree renowned for its beauty, impressive height (sometimes reaching 100 feet), and fragrant wood. Kings from Egypt, Phoenicia, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece used cedar timber from Lebanon for building temples and palaces. • Red sandalwood was used to make supports for the Temple (possibly pillars or balustrades) as well as musical instruments (see 1 Kgs 10:11). Often mentioned in ancient writings, the exact identity of this hard, reddish-brown wood is uncertain.”

“Send me also: Kg1 5:6 algum trees: or, algummim, Called in the parallel passage, by a transposition of letters, almuggim, or "almug-trees;" which is rendered by the Vulgate, ligna thyina, the thya or lignum vite wood. Theophrastus say that "the thyon of thya tree grows near the temple of Jupiter Ammon (in Africa), and in the Cyrenaica; that it resembles the cypress in its boughs, leaves, stalk, and fruit; and that its wood (from its close texture) never rots." The LXX render here πευκινα; and Josephus calls it ξυλα πευκινα, torch or pine-trees; but cautions us against supposing that the wood was like what was known in his time by that name; for these "were to the sight like the wood of the…”