Olive Tree

The olive tree is hardy and astonishingly long-lived, thriving in poor soil and bearing for centuries. Its oil was liquid wealth in the ancient world — used for cooking, as lamp fuel, as medicine, in cosmetics, and as the sacred oil for anointing priests and kings.

Because the olive endures and renews, it became an emblem of peace (the dove's olive leaf after the Flood) and of a flourishing, faithful life — “I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.” Paul used the cultivated olive and a “wild” branch grafted in to explain how Gentiles are brought into the covenant promises first given to Israel.

The Mount of Olives, where Jesus prayed in the garden called Gethsemane (“oil press”), takes its name from these groves. The olive's quiet endurance and its life-giving oil made it one of Scripture's richest pictures of the Spirit-anointed, peace-bearing people of God.