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Plants of the Bible
Olive tree
Hebrew zayit · Greek elaia · one of the most valuable trees of Israel
The olive is an evergreen tree with a gnarled trunk, smooth gray bark and leathery leaves, and in many parts of the land it was the only large tree. It grows slowly but lives for centuries; when it is cut down, new shoots spring up from the root. A study in 2012 dated some of the old olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane to the 12th century AD. The hard, yellowish wood was fine enough for the doors and cherubim of Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 6:23, 31).
In the autumn the olives were beaten from the branches with long poles, and the Law told farmers not to go over the branches a second time but to leave the rest for the poor (Deuteronomy 24:20). Some olives were pickled in brine and eaten with bread, but most were pressed for oil. In the fable of Judges 9 the olive tree refuses to be king rather than give up its oil.
Key verses
And behold, the dove returned to him in the evening with a freshly plucked olive leaf in her beak. So Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth.a land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey;When you beat the olives from your trees, you must not go over the branches again. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.One day the trees set out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’ But the olive tree replied, ‘Should I stop giving my oil that honors both God and man, to hold sway over the trees?’For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon constructed doors of olive wood with five-sided doorposts. The double doors were made of olive wood, and he carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold.Your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table.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 — Plants: Olive, Olive Tree (Olea europaea); Food and Food Preparation: Fruits, Nuts, and Wine
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.
