Lebanon is the mountain region whose cedar forests are named in the Isaiah passages Nephi quotes in 2 Nephi. In each, the cedars or the region stand for something high and powerful that the Lord brings down. The day of the Lord is said to come upon all the cedars of Lebanon, “for they are high and lifted up,” along with the oaks of Bashan (2 Nephi 12:13). The forests are cut down with iron, and “Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one” (2 Nephi 20:34).
In the taunt over the fallen king of Babylon, the fir trees and the cedars of Lebanon are said to rejoice, saying that since he is laid down, “no feller is come up against us” — no one comes to cut them down (2 Nephi 24:8). A later passage reverses the image: “yet a very little while and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field; and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest” (2 Nephi 27:28).