Olives
The Olive Leaf as a Post-Flood Sign of New Life
In Genesis 8, we learn that Noah’s ark rested on the mountains of Ararat. Noah tested the conditions outside the ark by sending a raven and a dove on flying expeditions. On the dove’s second flying expedition outside the resting ark, it picked up an olive leaf, and by the leaf’s freshness Noah was able to conclude that there were young olive trees growing and therefore the waters had abated. The fact that an olive leaf was the first sign of new life that Noah encountered after the flood would seem to give the olive some special symbolic value.
The Olive Tree as a Symbol of Righteousness
In Psalms 52, we see a stark contrast between an evil man and a good man, in which case the good man is symbolized by an olive tree, as follows:
Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man? The lovingkindness of God endures all day long. Your tongue devises destruction, like a sharp razor, O worker of deceit. You love evil more than good, falsehood more than speaking what is right. Selah. You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue.
But God will break you down forever; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent, and uproot you from the land of the living. Selah. The righteous will see and fear, and will laugh at him, saying, “Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and was strong in his evil desire.”
But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever. I will give You thanks forever, because You have done it, and I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones. (Psalms 52:1-9, NASB)
At the individual level, the good man is like a green olive tree in the house of God. There are a lot of trees out there, and it seems remarkable that the olive tree keeps coming up in such a positive way. The good man trusts in God’s lovingkindness, will wait on the LORD’s name, and will give the LORD Jesus thanks forever. In contrast to the good man, the evil mighty man trusts in his own wealth, clings to evil desires, and is deceitful and destructive.
By extension, at the national level, the House of Israel and the House of Judah are also represented by the image of a green olive tree. However, depending on the behavior of Israel’s and Judah’s citizens, God can bring fire against the very same green olive tree—a tree that God planted—if the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah go a’whoring after foreign gods. When the sons of Israel and Judah entertained all manner of false gods, burning incense to Baal and thereby breaking the covenant which God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, then God pronounced evil against this green olive tree by bringing fire against it and making its branches worthless:
Cursed is the man who does not heed the words of this covenant which I commanded your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, “Listen to My voice, and do according to all which I command you; so you shall be My people, and I will be your God. . . .” Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, “Hear the words of this covenant and do them. For I solemnly warned your fathers in the day that I brought them up from the land of Egypt, even to this day, warning persistently, saying, ‘Listen to My voice’. Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked, each one, in the stubbornness of his evil heart; therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not. . . .” A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned back to the iniquities of their ancestors who refused to hear My words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers. . . . Behold I am bringing disaster on them which they will not be able to escape; though they will cry to Me, yet I will not listen to them. Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they surely will not save them in the time of their disaster. For your gods are as many as your cities, O Judah; and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to the shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal. . . . What right has My beloved in My house when she has done many vile deeds? Can the sacrificial flesh take away from you your disaster, so that you can rejoice?
The LORD called your name, “A green olive tree, beautiful in fruit and form”; with the noise of a great tumult he has kindled fire on it, and its branches are worthless. The LORD of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me by offering up sacrifices to Baal.
Behold I am about to uproot them from their land and will uproot the house of Judah from among them. And it will come about that after I have uprooted them, I will again have compassion on them; and I will bring them back, each one to his inheritance and each one to his land. Then if they will really learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, “As the LORD lives,” even as they taught My people to swear by Baal, they will be built up in the midst of My people. But if they will not listen, then I will uproot that nation, uproot and destroy it. . . . (Jeremiah 11:3b-4, 6b-8, 9b-10, 11b-13, 15, 16-17, Jeremiah 12:14b-17a, NASB)
Thus, when the house of Israel and the house of Judah are behaving well, they are as a green olive tree, beautiful in fruit and form to the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel.
Similarly, in Hosea 14, we see Israel being encouraged to return to the LORD God of Israel and to stop idolizing the work of their own hands. A repentant Israel, that has had its apostasy healed by the LORD, is described by God in beautifully poetic terms—Israel’s beauty will be like that of the olive tree, Israel’s fragrance will be like that of Lebanon cedars, Israel’s taking root will be like that of Lebanon cedars, Israel’s blossoming will be like that of the lily, and Israel’s renown will be like Lebanon wine. In Hosea 14, the LORD God of Israel is pictured as a luxuriant cypress, the One who answers and looks after Israel. Therefore, in its healthiest state of repentance and godliness, Israel is like a beautiful olive tree in the shadow of, and in the protection of, a great and luxuriant cypress tree! This truth—that the way to blossom and sprout in a holy aspect is to follow the ways of the LORD God of Israel—is necessary for any who would be wise and discerning.
The Olive as a Symbol for Israel
The Assyrian king, Sennacherib, enemy of the Judean king, Hezekiah, described Judah as a land of grain, new wine, bread, vineyards, olive trees, and honey (2 Kings 18). Sure enough, olive trees are a major symbol of Israel, as evidenced by the fact that in King David’s time, his overseers included Baal-hanan the Gederite, who oversaw the olive trees and the sycamore trees in the Shephelah, and Joash, who oversaw the oil stores (1Chronicles 27:28).
Psalms 128 connects olive trees with the peace and prosperity of Israel. “How blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in His ways. When you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, you will be happy and it will be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house, your children like olive plants around your table. . . . The LORD bless you from Zion, and may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. Indeed, may you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel!” (Psalms 128:1-3, 5-6, NASB) The Prince of Peace, Jesus, often went to the Mount of Olives and gave His Olivet Discourse from there, therefore olives are connected with peace. God-fearing people can expect to be blessed by their children, who will surround their parents’ table like a band of little blessings—in the manner of a band of little olive-plant-like blessings! Of course, much of the Olivet Discourse—told by Jesus on the Mount of Olives—is about judgment on Israel, therefore olives can be seen relating to God’s blessings and judgments on Israel.
Jacob (a.k.a. Israel) will be shaken like an olive tree during the time of the destruction of Damascus (Isaiah 17). Again, we clearly see Israel being pictured as a kind of olive tree. An olive tree is a particularly apt picture for both blessing and judgment—when thriving, the olive tree is full of bounty (blessings), and when shaken, the olive tree drops its bounty to the ground. Another description of a shaking olive tree is given in Isaiah 24: “Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants. And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the LORD has spoken this word. . . . All joy turns to gloom. The gaiety of the earth is banished. Desolation is left in the city and the gate is battered to ruins. For thus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, as the shaking of an olive tree, as the gleanings when the grape harvest is over. . . . Terror and pit and snare confront you, O inhabitant of the earth. Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare; for the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake. The earth is broken asunder, the earth is split through, the earth is shaken violently. The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard and it totters like a shack, for its transgression is heavy upon it, and it will fall, never to rise again.” (Isaiah 24:1-3, 11b-13, 17-20, NASB) Keeping with our theme, the peoples of the earth will be shaken just like olives are shaken off of the olive tree!
In Amos 4:9, God decries Israel for not returning to Him: “I smote you with scorching wind and mildew; and the caterpillar was devouring your many gardens and vineyards, fig trees and olive trees; yet you have not returned to Me.” When the LORD has given the olive tree as a symbol of Israel, and the sons of Israel see their olive trees being devoured by caterpillars, it would be a good time for the sons of Israel to take the hint and redouble their efforts to reverence their God, indeed, their Maker. In Amos 4:12b-13 and Amos 5:8-9 (NASB), the LORD reminds Israel that it is He who created them: “Prepare to meet your God, O Israel. For behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind and declares to man what are His thoughts, He who makes dawn into darkness and treads on the high places of the earth, the LORD God of hosts is His name. . . . He who made the Pleiades and Orion and changes deep darkness into morning, Who also darkens day into night, Who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is His name. It is He who flashes forth with destruction upon the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress.” Prepare to meet your God is a phrase that has caught on in the popular culture, usually used for force and impact in a dramatic showdown of some kind, but it is not used enough in the halls of power around the world as a kind of sobering tonic or reality juice, and it is not often remembered even in the discourse of believers. Here in Amos 4, the LORD God calls the sons of Israel “you cows of Bashan,” such was His displeasure over their rebellious ways. Most people give a man who is 6′4″ and brimming with muscles the right of way, so how much more reasonable is it to give the right of way, heartistically speaking, to the LORD God of hosts—the Maker of Pleiades and Orion, the Maker of mountains and wind, the Holy One who treads on the high places of the earth, the Holy One who turns the day into night and the darkness into morning, the Holy One who pours out the sea waters over the earth’s surface, and the Holy One who flashes forth with destruction upon the strong! What did the “cows of Bashan” do to deserve the wrath of God? Among other things, they sat pretty in well-hewn stone houses while imposing heavy rent on the poor and while hating him who reproves in the gate. Again, if the olive tree of Israel is to avoid the devouring mouths of caterpillars, then the sons of Israel must worship the King of kings, the LORD God of hosts, the Maker of Pleiades and Orion, and the Holy One of Israel who changes day into night and darkness into morning.
In Romans 11, Paul notes that he is a sort of apostle to the Gentiles, and that the sons of Israel did not stumble for the sake of stumbling, but rather that “by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make [the sons of Israel] jealous.” (Romans 11:11, NASB) Paul says, in effect, that the situation of Gentiles being saved was akin to a wild olive being grafted onto an olive tree that had had several branches break off. Continuing the analogy, then, Paul exhorts the Gentile believers to partake of the rich root of the olive tree (i.e. Jesus) without becoming arrogant, emphasizing that they should maintain a healthy dose of fear. For the Gentile believers would experience God’s kindness if they continued in His kindness, whereas they too would be cut off if they did not continue in His kindness; and conversely, the unbelieving sons of Israel could come to belief and thenceforth be grafted into their own olive tree. “For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?” (Romans: 11-24, NASB) Indeed, Paul notes, a “partial hardening” has happened to Israel until the “fulness of the Gentiles” is completed, and then all of Israel will be saved just as it is written—”THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.” (Romans 11:25-26, NASB)
The Olive as a Symbol for Worshipping the God of Israel
David wept as he ascended the Mount of Olives, head covered and feet bare, upset as he was over the rebellion of his son Absalom (2 Samuel 15:30). David’s covering his head and walking barefoot would seem to have been in reverence for the sacredness of the Mount of Olives, as well as out of mourning for his lost son.
Solomon made two cherubim of olive wood for the temple’s inner sanctuary, each wing ten cubits high and the span from the end of one wing to the end of the other wing also being ten cubits; he made two doors of olive wood for the inner sanctuary, and he carved cherubim carvings on these doors, overlaying the cherubim with gold; he also made four-sided doorposts of olive wood for the entrance of the nave (1 Kings 6).
Responding to Ezra’s reminder that it is written that the sons of Israel should live in booths during the seventh-month feast, the people of Judah went to the hills and gathered wild olive branches, myrtle branches, palm branches, and other leafy branches—with which to construct booths on the people’s houses, in the people’s courts, in the courts of the house of God, and at the squares by the Water Gate and the Ephraim Gate, respectively. Indeed, all those who had returned from the Babylonian Captivity made booths and lived in them during the feast of the seventh month (Nehemiah 8).
The prophet Zechariah took instruction from an angel regarding things which he had seen—specifically, a golden lampstand (with a bowl on top of it, with seven lamps on it, each lamp having seven spouts, for a total of 49 spouts) and two olive trees which were next to the golden lampstand. Regarding the two olive trees, the angel told Zechariah that “These are the two anointed ones who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth.” (Zechariah 4:14, NASB) Therefore, the two olive trees next to the golden lampstand represent the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth! This verse begs comparison with Revelation 11, which describes two witnesses that will witness with power for the LORD God during a three-and-a-half year period, the same length of time that the nations will tread under foot (i.e. control) the holy city (i.e. Jerusalem):
“And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire. When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up ot of the abyss will make war with the, and overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. and they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here.’ then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.” (Revelation 11:3-13, NASB)
The Olive as a Symbol for End-Times Israel
In the day that the LORD gathers the nations to Jerusalem for a battle, He will fight against those nations. In that day, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, and that mountain will split from east to west so that half of the mountain will move northward and half of the mountain will move southward, and a great valley will be formed by the split. Some will flee by this newly-formed valley which the LORD will have created, and then the LORD God will come and all the holy ones with Him. By the LORD’s purpose, that day will be neither day nor night; there will be no light until the evening when there will be some light. Also in that day, living waters will flow from Jerusalem—half towards the eastern sea and half towards the western sea—and this flowing will take place both in summer and in winter. (Zechariah 14) In any case, clearly God has great plans for the Mount of Olives when the Lord Jesus comes back to fight against the enemies of Jerusalem.
According to Zechariah 14, also in that day a section of land will be changed into a plain south of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem itself will rise. The peoples that have gone to war against Jerusalem will be stricken by a plague from the LORD—”their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth. It will come about in that day that a great panic from the LORD will fall on them; and they will seize one another’s hand, and the hand of one will be lifted against the hand of another. Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered. . . .” (Zechariah 14:12b-14a, NASB) The land of olives will be defended vigorously by the LORD God of Israel.