That Jewish writers have understood “_the forest_,” as metaphorically
representing Jerusalem with her stately buildings, and “_Lebanon_,” as the
temple itself, appears from the following note of Mr. Lowth, on this
passage.
“By Lebanon, most interpreters understand the temple, whose stately
buildings resemble the tall cedars of that forest. Thus the word is
commonly understood,” Hab. ii. 17.
There is a remarkable story mentioned in the Jewish writers to this
purpose. Some time before the destruction of the temple, the doors of it
opened of their own accord; a circumstance mentioned by Josephus, Bell.
Jud. 1. 7. c. 12. Then R. Johanan, a disciple of R. Hillel, directing his
speech to the temple said, _I know thy destruction is at hand, according
to the prophecy of Zechariah_, Open thy doors, O Lebanon, &c.
The passage in Josephus in my edition is, lib. 6, cap. 5, and a very
remarkable one it is, containing many other portents preceding the
destruction of the temple, besides the spontaneous opening of these
massive doors, which were so ponderous as to require twenty men to open
and shut them.