Olive
The olive runs through Scripture as tree, fruit, oil, and place. It is one of the standing trees of the land of promise, the timber of the cherubim and the doors of the inner sanctuary, the source of fuel for the lamp that never went out, and the medium by which priests and kings were marked off for office. Its branches frame Noah's dove, Jotham's fable, the two witnesses of Zechariah, and Paul's argument about Israel and the nations. The hill east of Jerusalem from which David fled, on which Solomon built high places, and from which Jesus repeatedly entered and left the city, takes its name from the same tree.
A Tree of the Land of Promise
The first olive in Scripture is the leaf in the dove's mouth: "and the dove came in to him at evening; and, look, in her mouth an olive-leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth" (Gen 8:11). When Israel is brought into the land, the olive is named among its standing wealth. The promise is of "a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey" (Deut 8:8), and of "houses full of all good things, which you didn't fill, and cisterns cut out, which you didn't cut, vineyards and olive trees, which you didn't plant" (Deut 6:11). The sabbath-year law assumes the same: "In like manner you will deal with your vineyard, [and] with your oliveyard" (Ex 23:11). The harvest law shields the poor and the resident foreigner: "When you beat your olive tree, you will not go over the boughs again: it will be for the sojourner, for the fatherless, and for the widow" (Deut 24:20).
The tree is fragile in its blossom and slow to come into yield. Job pictures the wicked as one who "will cast off his flower as the olive tree" (Job 15:33). Disobedience under the covenant brings the same image into curse form: "You will have olive trees throughout all your borders, but you will not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olive will cast [its fruit]" (Deut 28:40). Even judgment, however, leaves a remnant; Isaiah pictures it as gleaning at harvest: "there will be left in it gleanings, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough" (Isa 17:6). Where there is blessing the picture brightens: the household at peace is one in which "Your sons like olive plants, [stand] Around your table" (Ps 128:3); the man who takes refuge in Yahweh says, "as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God" (Ps 52:8). When Habakkuk strips the land of every comfort, the olive goes with the rest: "The labor of the olive will fail, And the fields will yield no food" (Hab 3:17). The post-exilic community read the olive as a sign of restoration; at the reading of the Law under Ezra and Nehemiah they were to "fetch olive branches, and branches of wild olive, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths" (Neh 8:15).
Olive Wood in the House of Yahweh
The wood, not only the fruit, was set apart for the sanctuary. In Solomon's temple the inner cherubim were carved from olive: "in the oracle he made two cherubim of olive-wood, each ten cubits high" (1Ki 6:23). The doors of the most holy place and the door-posts at the temple entrance were the same: "for the entrance of the oracle he made doors of olive-wood" (1Ki 6:31), with "carvings of cherubim and palm-trees and open flowers" (1Ki 6:32) overlaid in gold, and the entrance posts likewise "of olive-wood" (1Ki 6:33). The same tree that fed the lamps inside the holy place gave the timber that framed the way into them.
Jotham's Fable of the Trees
After Abimelech's massacre at Ophrah, Jotham alone of Gideon's sons survived: "but Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself" (Judg 9:5). From the height of Mount Gerizim he tells a fable in which the trees go out to choose a king. They first turn to the olive, the most valued tree of the country: "the trees went forth to anoint a king over them; and they said to the olive tree, Reign over us" (Judg 9:8). The olive will not leave its work for the throne: "Should I leave my fatness, which by me they honor God and men, and go to wave to and fro over the trees?" (Judg 9:9). Inside the fable the olive is the tree of usefulness — its oil is what honors God and people, in lamp and offering and anointing. Sovereignty over the trees, in Jotham's argument, falls to the bramble Abimelech because the trees that were good for fruit were unwilling to abandon their fruit.
Oil for Lamp and Tabernacle
The lamp of the sanctuary burned olive oil. The command to Israel is twice given in the Pentateuch in nearly the same words: "you will command the sons of Israel, that they bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually" (Ex 27:20; cf. Lev 24:2). The lampstand and "the oil for the light" are listed together among the finished articles of the tabernacle (Ex 39:37). The same oil enters the meal-offering — "unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil" (Ex 29:2) — and the priest is to "put oil on it, and lay frankincense on it: it is a meal-offering" (Lev 2:15), taking up "of the fine flour of the meal-offering, and of its oil" (Lev 6:15) for the altar.
A second use of the oil is sacral. The "holy anointing oil" is "a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer" (Ex 30:25), and Moses "made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, after the art of the perfumer" (Ex 37:29). It was applied at the consecration of Aaron — "Then you will take the anointing oil, and pour it on his head, and anoint him" (Ex 29:7) — and it was the same blending tradition that the priestly families remembered into the post-exilic period: "some of the sons of the priests prepared the confection of the spices" (1Chr 9:30).
Anointing — Priest, King, Prophet
The oil consecrated objects before it consecrated persons. The altar was anointed for atonement and sanctified by sprinkling: "you will cleanse the altar, when you make atonement for it; and you will anoint it, to sanctify it" (Ex 29:36); Moses "sprinkled of it on the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its vessels" (Lev 8:11). He "took of the anointing oil, and of the blood which was on the altar, and sprinkled it on Aaron, on his garments, and on his sons" (Lev 8:30); the tent of meeting and the ark were anointed (Ex 30:26), and so were "the altar of burnt-offering, and all its vessels" (Ex 40:10). On the day Moses finished setting up the tabernacle, he "anointed it and sanctified it, and all its furniture, and the altar and all its vessels" (Num 7:1). Sirach summarizes the priestly side of the rite: "Moses consecrated him, And anointed him with the holy oil; And it became for him an eternal covenant" (Sir 45:15).
The same oil designated kings. Samuel "took the vial of oil, and poured it on his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not that Yahweh has anointed you to be leader over his inheritance?" (1Sam 10:1) — and later "took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers: and the Spirit of Yahweh came mightily on David from that day forward" (1Sam 16:13). Zadok "took the horn of oil out of the Tent, and anointed Solomon" (1Kgs 1:39). Jehu's reign began the same way: "take the vial of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus says Yahweh, I have anointed you king over Israel" (2Kgs 9:3). Joash was crowned and anointed in the temple (2Kgs 11:12); after Josiah's death "the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king" (2Kgs 23:30). Sirach remembers Samuel as the one who "anointed princes over the people" (Sir 46:13), and Elijah as the one "Who anointed kings for retribution, And a prophet to succeed in your place" (Sir 48:8) — a passage echoing the Yahweh-spoken commission "Jehu the son of Nimshi you will anoint to be king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you will anoint to be prophet in your place" (1Kgs 19:16).
Oil as Sign of Joy and Hospitality
Beyond the rites, oil signals welcome, gladness, and health. "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies: You have anointed my head with oil" (Ps 23:5). Of the king the psalmist sings, "God, your God, has anointed you With the oil of gladness above your peers" (Ps 45:7). Brotherly unity is "like the precious oil on the head, That ran down on the beard, Even Aaron's beard" (Ps 133:2). Even rebuke, when it comes from the righteous, is received as "oil on the head" (Ps 141:5). Isaiah pictures restored Zion as exchanging "a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning" (Isa 61:3). Ezekiel describes Jerusalem in her best estate eating "fine flour, and honey, and oil" (Ezek 16:13), and in Zarephath the widow has only "a handful of meal in the jar, and a little oil in the cruse" (1Kgs 17:12) before the prophet's word multiplies them.
In daily practice anointing belonged with washing and clean clothing. Naomi tells Ruth, "Wash yourself therefore, and anoint yourself, and put your raiment on you" (Ruth 3:3). Qoheleth's counsel runs the same way: "Let your garments always be white; and don't let your head lack oil" (Eccl 9:8). The psalmist names the renewing of strength itself as "I am anointed with fresh oil" (Ps 92:10). Where the practice is abused, the prophets press it: those at ease in Zion "drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph" (Amos 6:6); apostate Jerusalem "went to the king with oil, and increased your perfumes" (Isa 57:9).
Oil also dressed wounds. Of the prostrate nation Isaiah laments that her "wounds, and bruises, and fresh stripes" had not been "mollified with oil" (Isa 1:6); the Samaritan in Jesus' parable "bound up his wounds, pouring on [them] oil and wine" (Luke 10:34). The Twelve "cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them" (Mark 6:13), and James prescribes the same for the church: "Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord" (Jas 5:14). The risen Christ uses the figure for vision: "eyesalve to apply to your eyes, that you may see" (Rev 3:18).
The Anointed Community in Christ
In the apostolic letters the practice is taken up as image of the Spirit's work. "He who establishes us with you⁺ in Christ, and anointed us, is God" (2Cor 1:21). John writes to a church under pressure: "you⁺ have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you⁺ know" (1John 2:20). The same anointing teaches and abides: "the anointing which you⁺ received of him stays in you⁺, and you⁺ don't need that anyone teach you⁺; but as his anointing teaches you⁺ concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you⁺, you⁺ stay in him" (1John 2:27).
Two Olive Trees, Two Witnesses
In Zechariah's night vision the prophet sees a single golden lampstand with seven lamps, "and two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl, and the other on the left side of it" (Zech 4:3). The lamps are the eyes of Yahweh that "run to and fro through the whole earth" (Zech 4:10). The prophet asks the angel twice — once after, "What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lampstand and on the left side of it?" (Zech 4:11), and again, "What are these two olive-branches, which are beside the two golden spouts, that empty the gold out of themselves?" (Zech 4:12). The trees feed the lamp directly; oil flows out of them into the bowl. John picks up the figure for the two witnesses of his vision: "These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands, who stand before the Lord of the earth" (Rev 11:4).
The Mount of Olives
The hill east of Jerusalem is named for the tree that grew on it. David fled over it from Absalom: "David went up by the ascent of the [mount of] Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered, and went barefoot" (2Sam 15:30). Solomon's compromise put high places "on the right hand of the Mount of Olives" — a hill the Deuteronomistic historian calls instead, with deliberate scorn, the Mount of Corruption — "for Ashtoreth the detestable thing of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the detestable thing of Moab, and for Milcom the disgusting thing of the sons of Ammon" (2Kgs 23:13), all defiled by Josiah.
In the Gospels the same hill marks Jesus' approach to the city and his return from it. He sends two of his disciples ahead "when they draw near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives" (Mark 11:1; cf. Luke 19:29). At the descent of it the crowd begins "to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works which they had seen" (Luke 19:37). Jesus teaches there privately: "as he sat on the mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately" (Mark 13:3). After the supper "they went out to the mount of Olives" (Mark 14:26), and Luke notes that this was his settled habit: "every day he was teaching in the temple; and every night he went out, and lodged in the mount that is called of Olives" (Luke 21:37); "as his custom was, to the mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed him" (Luke 22:39).
The Wild Olive Grafted In
Paul takes the olive as figure for Israel and the nations. The cultivated olive is Israel; "if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became copartners with them of the root of the fatness of the olive tree" (Rom 11:17). The grafted branch is to remember its place: "do not glory over the branches: but if you glory, it is not you that bear the root, but the root you" (Rom 11:18). The status of the natural and the engrafted is held in tension. "Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in" — yes, "by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don't be highminded, but fear" (Rom 11:19-20). "If God didn't spare the natural branches, lest neither will he spare you" (Rom 11:21). The argument turns on continuance: "See then the goodness and severity of God: toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, God's goodness, if you continue in his goodness: otherwise you also will be cut off" (Rom 11:22). And it leaves the door open both ways. "If they do not continue in their unbelief, [they] will be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again" (Rom 11:23). The botanical impossibility is the point: "if you were cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more will these, which are the natural [branches], be grafted into their own olive tree" (Rom 11:24).
Israel's Praise of the Olive
Sirach lets personified Wisdom take the olive into her own self-description, alongside the palm of En-gedi and the rose of Jericho: "I was exalted like a palm tree on the seashore, And as rose plants in Jericho; And as a fair olive tree in the plain; Yes, I was exalted as a sycamore tree by the waters" (Sir 24:14). The same tree that fed the temple lamp, framed the cherubim, anointed the kings, named the hill east of Jerusalem, and rooted Paul's argument about the nations stands in Israel's own praise as a figure for Wisdom in the land.