1. choresh , 'thick intricate wood,' 2 Chronicles 27:4; also translated 'wood' in 1 Samuel 23:15,16,18,19 .
2. yaar , a 'forest.' This is the word commonly used for both 'wood' and 'forest;' to be distinguished from a third word, pardes, Nehemiah 2:8 , which signifies 'a park,' with cultivated trees, whereas the other is wild.
Several forests are specified under the word yaar.
1. The forest in ARABIA, Isaiah 21:13; its situation is unknown.
2. The 'forest of his CARMEL.' 2 Kings 19:23; Isaiah 37:24 .This reads in the margin, and in the R.V., 'forest of his fruitful field,' and does not refer to any forest connected with Carmel.
3. The forest of HARETH, 1 Samuel 22:5 : situated in Judah, but not known.
4. The forest of LEBANON. 1 Kings 7:2; 1 Kings 10:17,21; 2 Chronicles 9:16,20 .
The context shows that these passages do not refer to the forest at Lebanon; but that Solomon had a house at Jerusalem built of the trees from Lebanon, and called it 'the house of the forest of Lebanon.' The actual forest at Lebanon is often referred to for its noble trees.
5. The wood of EPHRAIM in which Absalom was slain, on the east of the Jordan. 2 Samuel 18:6,8,17 . This has not been identified. It has been suggested that the pride and defeat of Ephraim mentioned in Judges 12:1-6 caused some forest to be called after the name of that tribe. This place, by its swamps, morasses and pits, 'devoured' the Israelites by preventing their escape.