The olive tree is frequently mentioned in the Bible, from the time of the flood when the dove from the ark brought an olive branch to Noah, to Revelation 11:4, where the two witnesses are represented as two olive trees. As one of the most valuable and useful trees known to the ancient Jews, the olive tree is significant for a number of reasons in the Bible. His importance in Israel is expressed in Jotham’s parable in Judges 9:8–9: “One day the trees came out to anoint themselves king. They said to the olive tree: “Be our king”. But the olive tree answered: ‘Must I give up my oil, by which both gods and men are honored, in order to dominate the trees?’”
Fairly common in the Holy Land, the olive tree is a multi-branched evergreen tree with a knotted trunk, smooth ash-colored bark, and oblong, leathery silver-green leaves. Mature, cultivated olive trees grow to 20 or more feet tall and produce small yellow or white flowers around the first of May. When the flowers begin to fall, the olives, the fruit of the tree, begin to form. The fruit is green at first, but turns a deep, blue-black or dark green when the olives are fully ripe and harvested in early fall.
In the ancient Near East, olive trees were an essential source of food (Nehemiah 9:25), lamp oil (Exodus 27:20), medicine (Isaiah 1:6; Luke 10:34), anointing oil (1 Samuel 10:1; 2 Kings 9:3), sacrificial oil (Leviticus 2:4; Genesis 28:18), and wood for furniture (1 Kings 6:23, 31–33).
An extremely slow-growing plant, the olive tree requires years of patient work to reach full fruition. Being well suited to growing in the Mediterranean climate, the olive tree played an important role in the region’s economy. The fleshy outer part of the oval shaped fruit is what produces the valuable product of olive oil. Even today, olive oil is considered good for health.
The olive tree and olive branch have been symbols of peace and reconciliation since Noah’s account of the flood. When the dove brought Noah “an olive leaf plucked in its beak,” the olive branch represented new life springing up on the earth (Genesis 8:11). The olive tree was alive and growing. The promise of the olive branch of the dove was a new beginning for humanity, peace and reconciliation with God, renewal and revival. The slow and vigorous growth of the olive tree also implies establishment and peace. Some of the oldest olive trees in the world still grow today in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives.
The olive tree in bloom is a symbol of beauty and abundance in the Bible. The tree’s fruitfulness and ability to prosper suggest the model of a righteous person (Psalm 52:8 ; Hosea 14:6 ), whose children are described as “vigorous young olive trees” ( Psalm 128:3, NLT ). Olive oil was also used in the anointing and coronation of kings, making it an emblem of sovereignty.
Olive oil is a symbol of the anointing of the Holy Spirit, as it was used as a carrier for a mixture of spices that made up the holy anointing oil. In Zechariah 4, the prophet has a vision of two olive trees standing on either side of a solid gold candlestick. Olive trees supply the oil that powers the lamps. The two olive trees represent Zorobabely Joshua, the governor and high priest. The Lord encourages them not to rely on financial or military resources, but on the power of God’s Holy Spirit working through them (verse 6). As in other Old Testament analogies, the Holy Spirit of God is represented by olive oil.
The process by which olives are beaten and crushed to produce olive oil also has spiritual significance. Jesus Christ was beaten and crushed on the cross so that his Holy Spirit would be poured out on the church after his ascension to heaven. In essence, Jesus Christ is the olive tree of God, and the Holy Spirit, his olive oil. It is no mere coincidence that Christ’s dying prayer, just before his arrest, occurred in Gethsemane, a place of many olive trees and whose name means “olive press.”
God uses the image of an olive tree in Jeremiah 11:16–17 to remind his people of his covenant relationship with them. The people of God (the nation of Israel) are represented as an olive tree and God as the farmer. He planted them as a beautiful olive tree, but he warned that he would cut them down if they disobeyed his laws and worshiped false gods. The apostle Paul makes use of this imagery to teach a lesson to Gentile believers in Romans 11:17–24. Paul chooses the cultivated olive tree to represent Israel and the wild olive tree to represent Gentile believers. The cultivated olive tree is pruned and cared for so that it bears a lot of fruit. Unsuccessful and ineffective branches are trimmed and discarded, but the root remains intact. God has preserved the holy root of Israel and has pruned the useless branches.
The Gentiles, represented by the wild olive tree in Romans 11, have been grafted into the cultivated olive root. Like a wild olive tree, its root was weak. Its branches were incapable of bearing fruit until they were grafted onto the nurturing and life-sustaining root of the cultivated olive tree. Gentile believers now share in Israel’s blessings, but Paul warns: “Do not boast that you are better than those branches. But if you boast, you do not support the root, but the root supports you” (CSB). Paul wants the Gentile believers to understand that they have not replaced Israel. God has done a beautiful thing for the Gentiles, but Israel remains God’s chosen nation and the source of the riches of salvation now enjoyed by the Gentiles.
Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel, is the root of Jesse, or the root of the cultivated olive tree. From Him, Israel and the Church take their life.