Food and drink
Olive oil
Hebrew shemen · Greek elaion · food, light and care of the body
Olive oil was used in almost every kitchen: bread was baked and food fried with it (1 Kings 17:12). The finest oil came from olives crushed by hand in a stone mortar; most were trodden in a vat or crushed under a heavy millstone and pressed with weighted beams. The oil settled in vats and was stored in jars or skins. It was a valuable trade good: Solomon paid Hiram of Tyre with oil every year (1 Kings 5:11), and at Ekron archaeologists found more than a hundred oil presses from the 7th century BC.
After sunset the only light came from small clay lamps filled with olive oil and a wick of flax; a lamp held enough for a night, and in Jesus’ parable the wise bridesmaids carried extra oil in flasks (Matthew 25:3–4). People rubbed oil on their skin and hair after washing and on festive days — not anointing yourself was a sign of mourning (2 Samuel 14:2). Oil was also used as a medicine: the good Samaritan poured oil and wine on the wounded man’s wounds.
Key verses
And you are to command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually.and year after year Solomon would provide Hiram with 20,000 cors of wheat as food for his household, as well as 20,000 baths of pure olive oil.wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil that makes his face to shine, and bread that sustains his heart.You will sow but not reap; you will press olives but not anoint yourselves with oil; you will tread grapes but not drink the wine.So Joab sent to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, “Please pretend to be a mourner; put on clothes for mourning and do not anoint yourself with oil. Act like a woman who has mourned for the dead a long time.He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.Sources
Adapted and shortened from the Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0
Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers · CC BY-SA 4.0 — Oil; Food and Food Preparation: Fruits, Nuts, and Wine; Lamp, Lampstand
Adapted from Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary: articles chosen, shortened and retold in our own words (history, nature and daily life only) and, in languages other than English, machine-translated. The original work by Tyndale House Publishers is available for free at tyndaleopenresources.com.
