Olive

The 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 see OIL. 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.)

Olive

This 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 8:8 Habakkuk 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 24:20 Isaiah 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 9:8,9 2 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 32:13 Job 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.

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.) 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.

OLIVE TREE

ol'-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; compare Joshua 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 (compare Deuteronomy 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 in Jeremiah 11:16 Hosea 14:6, and its fruitfulness in Psalm 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 in Psalm 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 in Isaiah 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 (compare Exodus 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 10:34 James 5:14). In ancient times it was greatly used for anointing the person (Psalm 23:5 Matthew 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" in Nehemiah 8:15, see OIL TREE.

E. W. G. Masterman

OLIVE, WILD

Figuratively used in Romans 11:17, 24 for the Gentiles, grafted into "the good olive tree" of Israel.

See OLIVE TREE.

OIL, OLIVE

See OIL; OLIVE TREE.

OLIVE

See OLIVE TREE.

OLIVE BERRIES

ber'-iz.

See OLIVE TREE.

OLIVE YARD

ol'-iv yard.

See OLIVE TREE.

OLIVE, GRAFTED

See OLIVE TREE.

65. agrielaios -- of the wild olive
... of the wild olive. Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration: agrielaios Phonetic
Spelling: (ag-ree-el'-ah-yos) Short Definition: a wild olive tree ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/65.htm - 7k

2565. kallielaios -- a cultivated olive (tree)
... a cultivated olive (tree). Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration: kallielaios
Phonetic Spelling: (kal-le-el'-ah-yos) Short Definition: a cultivated ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2565.htm - 7k

1638. elaion -- an olive orchard, ie spec. the Mt. of Olives
... 1637, 1638. elaion. 1639 . an olive orchard, ie spec. the Mt. of Olives.
Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine Transliteration: elaion ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/1638.htm - 7k

1636. elaia -- an olive (the tree or the fruit)
... an olive (the tree or the fruit). Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration:
elaia Phonetic Spelling: (el-ah'-yah) Short Definition: an olive tree ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/1636.htm - 7k

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. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/1637.htm - 7k

1068. Gethsemani -- Gethsemane, an olive orchard on the Mt. of ...
... Gethsemani. 1069 . Gethsemane, an olive orchard on the Mt. ... Word Origin of Hebrew
origin gath and shemen Definition Gethsemane, an olive orchard on the Mt. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/1068.htm - 6k

218. aleipho -- anoint.
... 218 -- properly, to rub or smear olive oil on the body. 218 () is the ordinary
term used for anointing the body with (olive) oil. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/218.htm - 7k

2428. hiketeria -- supplication
... Transliteration: hiketeria Phonetic Spelling: (hik-et-ay-ree'-ah) Short Definition:
supplication, entreaty Definition: (originally: the olive branch held in ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2428.htm - 7k

5548. chrio -- to anoint
... Anointing (literally) involved rubbing olive oil on the head, etc., especially to
present someone as (appointed by God) to serve as prophet, priest or king, etc ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/5548.htm - 7k

4096. piotes -- fatness
... Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration: piotes Phonetic Spelling:
(pee-ot'-ace) Short Definition: fatness Definition: fatness, as of the olive; richness ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4096.htm - 6k

2132. zayith -- olive tree, olive
... 2131, 2132. zayith. 2133 . olive tree, olive. Transliteration: zayith
Phonetic Spelling: (zay'-yith) Short Definition: olive. Word ...
/hebrew/2132.htm - 6k

2133. Zethan -- "olive tree," a Benjamite
... 2132, 2133. Zethan. 2134 . "olive tree," a Benjamite. Transliteration: Zethan
Phonetic Spelling: (zay-thawn') Short Definition: Zethan. ...
/hebrew/2133.htm - 6k

7795b. shurah -- probably row (of olive trees or vines)
... 7795a, 7795b. shurah. 7796 . probably row (of olive trees or vines).
Transliteration: shurah Short Definition: rows. Word Origin ...
/hebrew/7795b.htm - 5k

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 ...
/hebrew/8081.htm - 6k

Under the Olive Trees.
... Jesus' Habits of Prayer Under the Olive Trees. The twelfth mention is
made by Luke, chapter twenty-two. It is Thursday night of ...
//christianbookshelf.org/gordon/quiet talks on prayer/under the olive trees.htm

Whether Olive Oil is a Suitable Matter for this Sacrament?
... EXTREME UNCTION (QQ -33) Whether olive oil is a suitable matter for this
sacrament? Objection 1: It would seem that olive oil is ...
//christianbookshelf.org/aquinas/summa theologica/whether olive oil is a.htm

The Christ on Olive's Mount in Prayer
... ASPIRATIONS The Christ on Olive's mount in prayer. tr., John Brownlie 8,6,8,6. I.
The Christ on Olive's mount in prayer. His heart to God exprest; ...
/.../brownlie/hymns from the morningland/the christ on olives mount.htm

Olive's Brow. LM Christ in Gethsemane.
... 117 Olive's Brow. ... 'Tis midnight; and on Olive's brow The star is dimmed that lately
shone; 'Tis midnight; in the garden, now, The suffering Savior prays alone. ...
/.../lorenz/the otterbein hymnal/117 olives brow l m christ.htm

By a Comparison Drawn from the Wild Olive-Tree, Whose Quality but ...
... Against Heresies: Book V Chapter X."By a comparison drawn from the wild olive-tree,
whose quality but not whose nature is changed by grafting, he proves more ...
/.../irenaeus/against heresies/chapter x by a comparison drawn.htm

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 the Olive. That, therefore ...
/.../augustine/anti-pelagian writings/chapter 21 xix thus sinners are.htm

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 "Wild Olive Tree.". ...
/.../augustine/anti-pelagian writings/chapter 37 xxxii the law of.htm

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 the Olive Tree and the Wild Olive. ...
/.../augustine/anti-pelagian writings/chapter 58 adams sin is derived.htm

Psalm LXXIII.
... "For if thou," he saith, "being cut out of the natural wild olive, hast been graffed
in among them, do not ... And who doth graff the wild olive on the olive? ...
/.../augustine/exposition on the book of psalms/psalm lxxiii.htm

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 wild olive tree, were grafted ...
/.../faustus argues that if the.htm

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 ...
/o/olive.htm - 37k

Olive-tree (17 Occurrences)
Olive-tree. Olivetree, Olive-tree. Olive-trees . Easton's Bible Dictionary ... The
dove from the ark brought an olive-branch to Noah (Genesis 8:11). ...
/o/olive-tree.htm - 13k

Olive-trees (11 Occurrences)
Olive-trees. Olive-tree, Olive-trees. Olivewood . Multi-Version
Concordance Olive-trees (11 Occurrences). Revelation ...
/o/olive-trees.htm - 9k

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 ...
/o/olive-oil.htm - 7k

Olive-gardens (4 Occurrences)
Olive-gardens. Olive-branches, Olive-gardens. Olive-leaf . Multi-Version
Concordance Olive-gardens (4 Occurrences). Joshua 24:13 ...
/o/olive-gardens.htm - 7k

Olive-yards (5 Occurrences)
Olive-yards. Oliveyards, Olive-yards. Olves . Multi-Version
Concordance Olive-yards (5 Occurrences). Deuteronomy 6:11 ...
/o/olive-yards.htm - 8k

Olive-branches (2 Occurrences)
Olive-branches. Olive-berries, Olive-branches. Olive-gardens .
Multi-Version Concordance Olive-branches (2 Occurrences). Nehemiah ...
/o/olive-branches.htm - 7k

Olive-wood (4 Occurrences)
Olive-wood. Olivewood, Olive-wood. Oliveyard . Multi-Version
Concordance Olive-wood (4 Occurrences). 1 Kings 6:23 And ...
/o/olive-wood.htm - 7k

Olive-berries (1 Occurrence)
Olive-berries. Olive, Olive-berries. Olive-branches . Multi-Version
Concordance Olive-berries (1 Occurrence). James 3:12 Can the ...
/o/olive-berries.htm - 6k

Olive-yard (2 Occurrences)
Olive-yard. Oliveyard, Olive-yard. Oliveyards . Multi-Version
Concordance Olive-yard (2 Occurrences). Exodus 23:11 But ...
/o/olive-yard.htm - 7k

What is the significance of the olive tree in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org

What was olive oil a symbol of in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org

What does it mean that the church has been grafted in Israel's place? | GotQuestions.org

Olive: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

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