Olive-tree: Is frequently mentioned in Scripture. The dove from the ark brought an
olive-branch to Noah
(Genesis 8:11) It is mentioned among the most notable
trees of Palestine, where it was cultivated long before the time of
the Hebrews
(Deuteronomy 6:11; 8:8) It is mentioned in the first Old Testament
parable, that of Jotham
(Judges 9:9) and is named among the blessings of
the "good land," and is at the present day the one characteristic
tree of Palestine. The oldest olive-trees in the country are those
which are enclosed in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is referred to as
an emblem of prosperity and beauty and religious privilege
(Psalms 52:8)
(Jeremiah 11:16; Hosea 14:6) The two "witnesses" mentioned in
(Revelation 11:4) are
spoken of as "two olive trees standing before the God of the earth."
(Comp.)
(Zechariah 4:3,11-14) The "olive-tree, wild by nature"
(Romans 11:24)
is the shoot or cutting of the good olive-tree which, left ungrafted,
grows up to be a "wild olive." In
(Romans 11:17) Paul refers to the
practice of grafting shoots of the wild olive into a "good" olive
which has become unfruitful. By such a process the sap of the good
olive, by pervading the branch which is "graffed in," makes it a good
branch, bearing good olives. Thus the Gentiles, being a "wild olive,"
but now "graffed in," yield fruit, but only through the sap of the
tree into which they have been graffed. This is a process "contrary to
nature"
(Romans 11:24)
