English 
Chinese 
Dutch 
Arabic 
Spanish 
Portuguese 
Russian 
French 
Italian 
German 
Japanese 
Continue reading with a subscription
Get unlimited access to all our premium content and exclusive features.
Enjoy unlimited access, cancel anytime.
Summary
- In the Bible the olive tree stands for a life rooted in God (“like a green olive tree in the house of God”, Psalm 52:8) and for Israel, which God named “a green olive tree” (Jeremiah 11:16).
- In Romans 11 Paul pictures Gentile believers as wild olive branches grafted into the cultivated tree, and warns them not to boast against the natural branches.
- Olive oil fed families, lit the tabernacle lamp, went into the grain offerings, soothed wounds and set priests and kings apart when they were anointed.
- Olives were harvested in October and November by picking or beating the branches, and the Law left what was missed for the stranger, the fatherless and the widow (Deuteronomy 24:20).
- Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed before his arrest, is usually explained as “oil press”, and it lay at the foot of the Mount of Olives.
- Zechariah’s two olive trees beside the lampstand are “the two anointed ones” (Zechariah 4:14), and Revelation 11:4 calls God’s two witnesses “the two olive trees”.
- Scripture gives olive oil no power of its own: in James 5 it is “the prayer of faith” that saves the sick, and churches that anoint the sick do it with prayer.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- The Holy Bible, King James Version (public domain), quoted from BibleGateway: Genesis 8:11; 28:18; Exodus 27:20; Leviticus 2:1; Deuteronomy 8:8; 24:20; Judges 9:8–9; 1 Samuel 16:13; 2 Samuel 15:30; 1 Kings 5:11; 6:23; 17:16; Nehemiah 8:15; Psalm 52:8; 104:15; 128:3; Isaiah 17:6; Jeremiah 11:16–17; Hosea 14:1, 6; Micah 6:15; Habakkuk 3:17–18; Zechariah 4:3, 6, 9, 12, 14; 14:4; Matthew 24:3; 26:36; Mark 14:32; Luke 10:34; 19:37; 21:37; 22:39, 42, 44; John 18:1; Acts 1:11–12; Romans 11:13, 17–18, 20, 23–24; James 5:14–15; Revelation 11:3–4, 6. Also cited or checked for context: Leviticus 2:1–7; 24:2; Judges 9:5–7; 2 Samuel 15:13–14; Exodus 7:20; 29:40; 1 Kings 5:10; 6:31–32; 17:1, 12–16; Zechariah 3:1; 6:11; Luke 10:30.
- Word counts for olive, olives, olive tree and Mount of Olives from the King James Version text of Project Gutenberg eBook #10, counted 20 October 2026.
- Emil G. Hirsch and Immanuel Benzinger, “Olive”, and Emil G. Hirsch and Immanuel Löw, “Oil”, The Jewish Encyclopedia (1901–1906).
- Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, Greek 1068 (Gethsemane), and Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Hebrew 3323 (yitshar), Bible Hub: Greek 1068 and Hebrew 3323.
- Tertullian, On Baptism, chapter 8, translated by S. Thelwall, Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 3 (1885), New Advent.
- Olive Oil Times, “Gethsemane Olive Trees Among World’s Oldest”, 30 October 2012, on the study by Italy’s National Research Council.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1511, 1670 and 1672 and 2111, vatican.va.
- Orthodox Church in America, The Orthodox Faith, vol. 2, “Holy Unction”.
- Thomas E. Trask, Defining Truths of the Assemblies of God: Divine Healing, Enrichment journal, 2007.
Leave a Reply