Topical Encyclopedia
The olive tree, its fruit, and its oil hold significant importance throughout the Bible, symbolizing peace, prosperity, and divine blessing. The olive tree is one of the most frequently mentioned plants in the Scriptures, reflecting its central role in the daily life and religious practices of the ancient Near East.
Botanical and Agricultural ContextThe olive tree (Olea europaea) is a hardy, evergreen tree native to the Mediterranean region. It is well-suited to the climate of the Holy Land, thriving in the rocky and arid soil. The tree is known for its longevity and resilience, often living for hundreds of years. Its fruit, the olive, is harvested for both consumption and the production of olive oil, a staple in ancient diets and economies.
Biblical References and Symbolism1.
Peace and Reconciliation: The olive branch is a universal symbol of peace, originating from the account of Noah and the Flood. After the waters receded, a dove returned to Noah with an olive leaf in its beak, signaling the end of God's judgment and the restoration of the earth (
Genesis 8:11: "When the dove returned to him in the evening, there was a freshly plucked olive leaf in its beak. So Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth.").
2.
Prosperity and Blessing: Olive oil was a valuable commodity in biblical times, used for cooking, lighting lamps, anointing, and as a base for perfumes and ointments. It is often associated with abundance and blessing. In
Deuteronomy 8:7-8 , the Promised Land is described as "a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey."
3.
Religious and Ceremonial Use: Olive oil was integral to religious rituals, including anointing priests, kings, and sacred objects. In
Exodus 30:22-25 , God instructs Moses to make a holy anointing oil using olive oil as a base, signifying the consecration and sanctification of the priests and the tabernacle.
4.
Symbol of Israel: The olive tree is often used metaphorically to represent Israel. In
Jeremiah 11:16 , God refers to Israel as "a thriving olive tree with beautiful fruit," highlighting the nation's intended purpose and beauty. The Apostle Paul also uses the olive tree as a metaphor in
Romans 11, illustrating the relationship between Israel and the Gentiles in God's redemptive plan.
5.
Mount of Olives: This significant geographical location east of Jerusalem is frequently mentioned in the New Testament. It is the site of many key events in the life of Jesus, including His triumphal entry into Jerusalem (
Matthew 21:1), His teachings on the end times (
Matthew 24:3), and His ascension into heaven (
Acts 1:9-12).
Cultural and Historical SignificanceIn ancient Israel, the olive tree was a symbol of national identity and economic stability. Olive oil production was a major industry, and the tree's resilience and productivity were seen as a reflection of God's provision and care for His people. The olive harvest was a time of joy and celebration, as seen in the festivals and offerings prescribed in the Law.
ConclusionThe olive tree, with its deep roots in the biblical narrative, continues to be a powerful symbol of peace, blessing, and divine favor. Its enduring presence in the Scriptures serves as a reminder of God's faithfulness and the richness of His provision for His people.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
OliveThe olive was among the most abundant and characteristic vegetation of Judea. The olive tree grows freely almost everywhere on the shores of the Mediterranean, but it was peculiarly abundant in Palestine. See (6:11;8:8;28:40) Oliveyards are a matter of course in descriptions of the country like vines and cornfields. (Judges 15:5;1 Samuel 8:14) The kings had very extensive ones. (1 Chronicles 27:28) Even now the is very abundant in the country. Almost every village has its olive grove. Certain districts may be specified where at various times this tree been very luxuriant. The cultivation of the olive tree had the closest connection with the domestic life of the Israelites (2 Chronicles 2:10) their trade, (Ezekiel 27:17;Hosea 12:1) and even their Public ceremonies and religious worship. In Solomon's temple the cherubim were "of olive tree," (1 Kings 6:23) as also the doors, vs. (1 Kings 6:31,32) and posts. ver. (1 Kings 6:33) For the various uses of olive oil seeOIL. The wind was dreaded by the cultivator of the olive for the least ruffling of a breeze is apt to cause the flowers to fall. (Job 15:33) It is needless to add that the locust was a formidable enemy of the olive. It happened not unfrequently that hopes were disappointed, and that "the labor of the olive failed." (Habakkuk 3:17) As to the growth of the tree, it thrives best in warm and sunny situations. It is of moderate height, with knotty gnarled trunk and a smooth ash-colored bark. It grows slowly, but lives to an immense age. Its look is singularly indicative of tenacious vigor, and this is the force of what is said in Scripture of its "greenness, as emblematic of strength and prosperity. The leaves, too, are not deciduous. Those who see olives for the first time are occasionally disappointed by the dusty color of their foilage; but those who are familiar with them find an inexpressible charm in the rippling changes of their slender gray-green leaves. (See Ruskin's "Stones of Venice," iii. 175-177.) The olive furnishes the basis of one of Paul's allegories. (Romans 11:16-25) The Gentiles are the "wild olive" grafted in upon the "good olive," to which once the Jews belonged, and with which they may again be incorporated, (The olive grows from 20 to 40 feet high. In general appearance it resembles the apple tree; in leaves and sterns, the willow. The flowers are white and appear in June, The fruit is like a plum in shape and size, and at first is green, but gradually becomes purple, and even black, with a hard stony kernel, and is remarkable from the outer fleshy part being that in which much oil is lodged, and not, as is usual, in the almond of the seed. The fruit ripens from August to September. It is sometimes eaten green, but its chief value is in its oil. The wood is hard, fine beautifully veined, and is open used for cabinet work. Olive trees were so abundant in Galilee that at the siege of Jotapata by Vespasian the Roman army were driven from the ascent of the walls by hot olive oil poured upon them and scalding them underneath their armor. --Josephus, Wars, 3; 7:28. --ED.)
ATS Bible Dictionary
OliveThis is one of the earliest trees mentioned in Scripture, and has furnished, perhaps ever since he deluge the most universal emblem of peace,Genesis 8:11. It is always classed among the most valuable trees of Palestine, which is described as a land of oil olive, and honey, De 6:11 8:8Habakkuk 3:17. No tree is more frequently mentioned in the Greek and Roman classics. By the Greeks it was dedicated to Minerva, and employed in crowning Jove, Apollo, and Hercules. The olive is never a very large or beautiful tree, and seldom exceeds thirty feet in height: its leaves are dark green on the upper surface, and of a silvery hue on the under, and generally grow in pairs. Its wood is hard, like that of box, and very close in the grain. It blossoms very profusely, and bears fruit every other year.
The flower is at first yellow, but as it expands, it becomes whiter, leaving a yellow center. The fruit resembles a plum in shape and in color, being first green, then pale, and when ripe, black. It is gathered by shaking the boughs and by beating them with poles, De 24:20Isaiah 17:6, and is sometimes plucked in an unripe state, put into some preserving liquid, and exported. It is principally valuable for the oil it produces, which is an important article of commerce in the east. A full-sized tree in full bearing vigor is said to produce a thousand pounds of oil, Jud 9:8,92 Chronicles 2:10. The olive delights in a stony soil, and will thrive even on the sides and tops of rocky hills, where there is scarcely any earth; hence the expression "oil out of the flinty rock," etc., De 32:13Job 29:6. It is an evergreen tree, and very longlived, an emblem of a fresh and enduring piety,Psalm 52:8. Around an old trunk young plants shoot up from the same root, to adorn the parent stock when living, and succeed it when dead; hence the allusion in describing the family of the just,Psalm 128:3. It is slow of growth, and no less slow to decay. The ancient trees now in Gethsemane are believed by many to have sprung from the roots of those, which witnessed the agony of our Lord. The "wild olive-tree" is smaller than the cultivated, and inferior in all its parts and products. A graft upon it, from a good tree, bore good fruit; while a graft from a "wild" olive upon a good tree, remains "wild" as before.
Yet, "contrary to nature," the sinner engrafted on Christ partakes of His nature and bears good fruit,Romans 11:13-26.
Easton's Bible Dictionary
The fruit of the olive-tree. This tree yielded oil which was highly valued. The best oil was from olives that were plucked before being fully ripe, and then beaten or squeezed (
Deuteronomy 24:20;
Isaiah 17:6;
24:13). It was called "beaten," or "fresh oil" (
Exodus 27:20). There were also oil-presses, in which the oil was trodden out by the feet (
Micah 6:15). James (
3:12) calls the fruit "olive berries." The phrase "vineyards and olives" (
Judges 15:5, A.V.) should be simply "olive-yard," or "olive-garden," as in the Revised Version. (see
OIL.)
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
1. (
n.) A tree (Olea Europaea) with small oblong or elliptical leaves, auxiliary clusters of flowers, and oval, one-seeded drupes. The tree has been cultivated for its fruit for thousands of years, and its branches are the emblems of peace. The wood is yellowish brown and beautifully variegated.
2. (n.) The fruit of the olive. It has been much improved by cultivation, and is used for making pickles. Olive oil is pressed from its flesh.
3. (n.) Any shell of the genus Oliva and allied genera; -- so called from the form. See Oliva.
4. (n.) The oyster catcher.
5. (n.) The color of the olive, a peculiar dark brownish, yellowish, or tawny green.
6. (n.) One of the tertiary colors, composed of violet and green mixed in equal strength and proportion.
7. (n.) An olivary body. See under Olivary.
8. (n.) A small slice of meat seasoned, rolled up, and cooked; as, olives of beef or veal.
9. (a.) Approaching the color of the olive; of a peculiar dark brownish, yellowish, or tawny green.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
OLIVE TREEol'-iv tre (zayith, a word occurring also in Aramaic, Ethiopic and Arabic; in the last it means "olive oil," and zaitun, "the olive tree"; elaia):
1. The Olive Tree:
The olive tree has all through history been one of the most characteristic, most valued and most useful of trees in Palestine. It is only right that it is the first named "king" of the trees (Judges 9:8, 9). When the children of Israel came to the land they acquired olive trees which they planted not (Deuteronomy 6:11; compareJoshua 24:13). The cultivation of the olive goes back to the earliest times in Canaan. The frequent references in the Bible, the evidences (see 4 below) from archaeology and the important place the product of this tree has held in the economy of the inhabitants of Syria make it highly probable that this land is the actual home of the cultivated olive. The wild olive is indigenous there. The most fruitful trees are the product of bare and rocky ground (compareDeuteronomy 32:13) situated preferably at no great distance from the sea. The terraced hills of Palestine, where the earth lies never many inches above the limestone rocks, the long rainless summer of unbroken sunshine, and the heavy "clews" of the autumn afford conditions which are extraordinarily favorable to at least the indigenous olive.
The olive, Olea Europaea (Natural Order Oleaceae), is a slow-growing tree, requiring years of patient labor before reaching full fruitfulness. Its growth implies a certain degree of settlement and peace, for a hostile army can in a few days destroy the patient work of two generations. Possibly this may have something to do with its being the emblem of peace. Enemies of a village or of an individual often today carry out revenge by cutting away a ring of bark from the trunks of the olives, thus killing the trees in a few months. The beauty of this tree is referred to inJeremiah 11:16Hosea 14:6, and its fruitfulness inPsalm 128:3. The characteristic olive-green of its foliage, frosted silver below and the twisted and gnarled trunks-often hollow in the center-are some of the most picturesque and constant signs of settled habitations. In some parts of the land large plantations occur: the famous olive grove near Beirut is 5 miles square; there are also fine, ancient trees in great numbers near Bethlehem.
In starting an oliveyard the fellah not infrequently plants young wild olive trees which grow plentifully over many parts of the land, or he may grow from cuttings. When the young trees are 3 years old they are grafted from a choice stock and after another three or four years they may commence to bear fruit, but they take quite a decade more before reaching full fruition. Much attention is, however, required. The soil around the trees must be frequently plowed and broken up; water must be conducted to the roots from the earliest rain, and the soil must be freely enriched with a kind of marl known in Arabic as chuwwarah. If neglected, the older trees soon send up a great many shoots from the roots all around the parent stem (perhaps the idea inPsalm 128:3); these must be pruned away, although, should the parent stem decay, some of these may be capable of taking its place. Being, however, from the root, below the original point of grafting, they are of the wild olive type-with smaller, stiffer leaves and prickly stem-and need grafting before they are of use. The olive tree furnishes a wood valuable for many forms of carpentry, and in modern Palestine is extensively burnt as fuel.
2. The Fruit:
The olive is in flower about May; it produces clusters of small white flowers, springing from the axils of the leaves, which fall as showers to the ground (Job 15:33). The first olives mature as early as September in some places, but, in the mountain districts, the olive harvest is not till November or even December. Much of the earliest fruit falls to the ground and is left by the owner ungathered until the harvest. The trees are beaten with long sticks (Deuteronomy 24:20), the young folks often climbing into the branches to reach the highest fruit, while the women and older girls gather up the fruit from the ground. The immature fruit left after such an ingathering is described graphically inIsaiah 17:6: "There shall be left therein gleanings, as the shaking (margin "beating") of an olive-tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost branches of a fruitful tree." Such gleanings belonged to the poor (Deuteronomy 24:20), as is the case today. Modern villages in Palestine allow the poor of even neighboring villages to glean the olives. The yield of an olive tree is very uncertain; a year of great fruitfulness may be followed by a very scanty crop or by a succession of such.
The olive is an important article of diet in Palestine. Some are gathered green and pickled in brine, after slight bruising, and others, the "black" olives, are gathered quite ripe and are either packed in salt or in brine. In both cases the salt modifies the bitter taste. They are eaten with bread.
More important commercially is the oil. This is sometimes extracted in a primitive way by crushing a few berries by hand in the hollow of a stone (compareExodus 27:20), from which a shallow channel runs for the oil. It is an old custom to tread them by foot (Micah 6:15).
3. Olive Oil:
Oil is obtained on a larger scale in one of the many varieties of oil mills. The berries are carried in baskets, by donkeys, to the mill, and they are crushed by heavy weights. A better class of oil can be obtained by collecting the first oil to come off separately, but not much attention is given to this in Palestine, and usually the berries are crushed, stones and all, by a circular millstone revolving upright round a central pivot. A plenteous harvest of oil was looked upon as one of God's blessings (Joel 2:24;Joel 3:13). That the "labor of the olive" should fail was one of the trials to faith in Yahweh (Habakkuk 3:17). Olive oil is extensively used as food, morsels of bread being dipped into it in eating; also medicinally (Luke 10:34James 5:14). In ancient times it was greatly used for anointing the person (Psalm 23:5Matthew 6:17). In Rome's days of luxury it was a common maxim that a long and pleasant life depended upon two fiuids-"wine within and oil without." In modern times this use of oil for the person is replaced by the employment of soap, which in Palestine is made from olive oil. In all ages this oil has been used for illumination (Matthew 25:3).
4. Greater Plenty of Olive Trees in Ancient Times:
Comparatively plentiful as olive trees are today in Palestine, there is abundant evidence that the cultivation was once much more extensive. "The countless rock-cut oil-presses and wine-presses, both within and without the walls of the city (of Gezer), show that the cultivation of the olive and vine was of much greater importance than it is anywhere in Palestine today..... Excessive taxation has made olive culture unprofitable" ("Gezer Mem," PEF, II, 23). A further evidence of this is seen today in many now deserted sites which are covered with wild olive trees, descendants of large plantations of the cultivated tree which have quite disappeared.
5. Wild Olives:
Many of these spring from the old roots; others are from the fallen drupes. Isolated trees scattered over many parts of the land, especially in Galilee, are sown by the birds. As a rule the wild olive is but a shrub, with small leaves, a stem more or less prickly, and a small, hard drupe with but little or no oil. That a wild olive branch should be grafted into a fruitful tree would be a proceeding useless and contrary to Nature (Romans 11:17, 24). On the mention of "branches of wild olive" inNehemiah 8:15, see OIL TREE.
E. W. G. Masterman
OLIVE, WILD
Figuratively used inRomans 11:17, 24 for the Gentiles, grafted into "the good olive tree" of Israel.
SeeOLIVE TREE.
OIL, OLIVE
SeeOIL;OLIVE TREE.
OLIVE
SeeOLIVE TREE.
OLIVE BERRIES
ber'-iz.
SeeOLIVE TREE.
OLIVE YARD
ol'-iv yard.
SeeOLIVE TREE.
OLIVE, GRAFTED
SeeOLIVE TREE.
Greek
65. agrielaios -- of the wildolive... of the wild
olive. Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration: agrielaios Phonetic
Spelling: (ag-ree-el'-ah-yos) Short Definition: a wild
olive tree
...2565. kallielaios -- a cultivatedolive (tree)
... a cultivatedolive (tree). Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration: kallielaios
Phonetic Spelling: (kal-le-el'-ah-yos) Short Definition: a cultivated...
1638. elaion -- anolive orchard, ie spec. the Mt. of Olives
... 1637, 1638. elaion. 1639 . anolive orchard, ie spec. the Mt. of Olives.
Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine Transliteration: elaion...
1636. elaia -- anolive (the tree or the fruit)
... anolive (the tree or the fruit). Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration:
elaia Phonetic Spelling: (el-ah'-yah) Short Definition: anolive tree...
1637. elaion --olive oil
...olive oil. Part of Speech: Noun, Neuter Transliteration: elaion Phonetic Spelling:
(el'-ah-yon) Short Definition:olive oil Definition:olive oil, oil....
1068. Gethsemani -- Gethsemane, anolive orchard on the Mt. of...
... Gethsemani. 1069 . Gethsemane, anolive orchard on the Mt.... Word Origin of Hebrew
origin gath and shemen Definition Gethsemane, anolive orchard on the Mt....
218. aleipho -- anoint.
... 218 -- properly, to rub or smearolive oil on the body. 218 () is the ordinary
term used for anointing the body with (olive) oil....
2428. hiketeria -- supplication
... Transliteration: hiketeria Phonetic Spelling: (hik-et-ay-ree'-ah) Short Definition:
supplication, entreaty Definition: (originally: theolive branch held in...
5548. chrio -- to anoint
... Anointing (literally) involved rubbingolive oil on the head, etc., especially to
present someone as (appointed by God) to serve as prophet, priest or king, etc...
4096. piotes -- fatness
... Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration: piotes Phonetic Spelling:
(pee-ot'-ace) Short Definition: fatness Definition: fatness, as of theolive; richness...
Strong's Hebrew
2132. zayith --olive tree,olive... 2131, 2132. zayith. 2133 .
olive tree,
olive. Transliteration: zayith
Phonetic Spelling: (zay'-yith) Short Definition:
olive. Word
...2133. Zethan -- "olive tree," a Benjamite
... 2132, 2133. Zethan. 2134 . "olive tree," a Benjamite. Transliteration: Zethan
Phonetic Spelling: (zay-thawn') Short Definition: Zethan....
7795b. shurah -- probably row (ofolive trees or vines)
... 7795a, 7795b. shurah. 7796 . probably row (ofolive trees or vines).
Transliteration: shurah Short Definition: rows. Word Origin...
8081. shemen -- fat, oil
... shamen Definition fat, oil NASB Word Usage choice (1), fatness (2), fertile (2),
fertile* (1), lavish (1), oil (176), oils (3), ointment (1),olive (6), wild...
Library
Under theOlive Trees.
... Jesus' Habits of Prayer Under theOlive Trees. The twelfth mention is
made by Luke, chapter twenty-two. It is Thursday night of...
WhetherOlive Oil is a Suitable Matter for this Sacrament?
... EXTREME UNCTION (QQ -33) Whetherolive oil is a suitable matter for this
sacrament? Objection 1: It would seem thatolive oil is...
The Christ onOlive's Mount in Prayer
... ASPIRATIONS The Christ onOlive's mount in prayer. tr., John Brownlie 8,6,8,6. I.
The Christ onOlive's mount in prayer. His heart to God exprest;...
Olive's Brow. LM Christ in Gethsemane.
... 117Olive's Brow.... 'Tis midnight; and onOlive's brow The star is dimmed that lately
shone; 'Tis midnight; in the garden, now, The suffering Savior prays alone....
By a Comparison Drawn from the WildOlive-Tree, Whose Quality but...
... Against Heresies: Book V Chapter X."By a comparison drawn from the wildolive-tree,
whose quality but not whose nature is changed by grafting, he proves more...
Thus Sinners are Born of Righteous Parents, Even as Wild Olives...
... Book I. Chapter 21 [XIX.]"Thus Sinners are Born of Righteous Parents, Even
as Wild Olives Spring from theOlive. That, therefore...
The Law of Sin with Its Guilt in Unbaptized Infants. By Adam's Sin...
... Book I. Chapter 37 [XXXII.]"The Law of Sin with Its Guilt in Unbaptized Infants.
By Adam's Sin the Human Race Has Become a "WildOlive Tree."....
Adam's Sin is Derived from Him to Every one who is Born Even of...
... Book II. Chapter 58."Adam's Sin is Derived from Him to Every One Who is Born Even
of Regenerate Parents; The Example of theOlive Tree and the WildOlive....
Psalm LXXIII.
... "For if thou," he saith, "being cut out of the natural wildolive, hast been graffed
in among them, do not... And who doth graff the wildolive on theolive?...
Faustus Argues that if the Apostles Born under the Old Covenant...
... But the apostle himself says that the Jews, who would not believe in Christ, were
branches broken off, and that the Gentiles, a wildolive tree, were grafted...
Thesaurus
Olive (61 Occurrences)... Easton's Bible Dictionary The fruit of the
olive-tree. This tree yielded
oil which was highly valued. The best oil was from olives
...Olive-tree (17 Occurrences)
Olive-tree. Olivetree,Olive-tree.Olive-trees . Easton's Bible Dictionary... The
dove from the ark brought anolive-branch to Noah (Genesis 8:11)....
Olive-trees (11 Occurrences)
Olive-trees.Olive-tree,Olive-trees. Olivewood . Multi-Version
ConcordanceOlive-trees (11 Occurrences). Revelation...
Olive-oil (4 Occurrences)
Olive-oil.Olive-leaf,Olive-oil.Olive-plants . Multi-Version Concordance
Olive-oil (4 Occurrences). Exodus 27:20 And thou shalt...
Olive-gardens (4 Occurrences)
Olive-gardens.Olive-branches,Olive-gardens.Olive-leaf . Multi-Version
ConcordanceOlive-gardens (4 Occurrences). Joshua 24:13...
Olive-yards (5 Occurrences)
Olive-yards. Oliveyards,Olive-yards. Olves . Multi-Version
ConcordanceOlive-yards (5 Occurrences). Deuteronomy 6:11...
Olive-branches (2 Occurrences)
Olive-branches.Olive-berries,Olive-branches.Olive-gardens .
Multi-Version ConcordanceOlive-branches (2 Occurrences). Nehemiah...
Olive-wood (4 Occurrences)
Olive-wood. Olivewood,Olive-wood. Oliveyard . Multi-Version
ConcordanceOlive-wood (4 Occurrences). 1 Kings 6:23 And...
Olive-berries (1 Occurrence)
Olive-berries.Olive,Olive-berries.Olive-branches . Multi-Version
ConcordanceOlive-berries (1 Occurrence). James 3:12 Can the...
Olive-yard (2 Occurrences)
Olive-yard. Oliveyard,Olive-yard. Oliveyards . Multi-Version
ConcordanceOlive-yard (2 Occurrences). Exodus 23:11 But...
Resources
What is the significance of the olive tree in the Bible? | GotQuestions.orgWhat was olive oil a symbol of in the Bible? | GotQuestions.orgWhat does it mean that the church has been grafted in Israel's place? | GotQuestions.orgOlive: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.comBible Concordance •
Bible Dictionary •
Bible Encyclopedia •
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