OLIVE

The Olive signifies the "annointed one." The Olive is the oil-tree.

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This is one of the earliest trees mentioned in Scripture, and has furnished, perhaps ever since he deluge the most universal emblem of peace, Ge 8:11. It is always classed among the most valuable trees of Palestine, which is described as a land of oil olive, and honey, De 6:11 8:8 Hab 3:17. No tree is more frequently mentioned in the Greek and Roman classics. By the Greeks it was dedicated to Minerva, and employed in crowning Jove, Apollo, and Hercules. The olive is never a very large or beautiful tree, and seldom exceeds thirty feet in height: its leaves are dark green on the upper surface, and of a silvery hue on the under, and generally grow in pairs. Its wood is hard, like that of box, and very close in the grain. It blossoms very profusely, and bears fruit every other year. The flower is at first yellow, but as it expands, it becomes whiter, leaving a yellow center. The fruit resembles a plum in shape and in color, being first green, then pale, and when ripe, black. It is gathered by shaking the boughs and by beating them with poles, De 24:20 Isa 17:6, and is sometimes plucked in an unripe state, put into some preserving liquid, and exported. It is principally valuable for the oil it produces, which is an important article of commerce in the east. A full-sized tree in full bearing vigor is said to produce a thousand pounds of oil, Jud 9:8,9 2Ch 2:10. The olive delights in a stony soil, and will thrive even on the sides and tops of rocky hills, where there is scarcely any earth; hence the expression "oil out of the flinty rock," etc., De 32:13 Job 29:6. It is an evergreen tree, and very longlived, an emblem of a fresh and enduring piety, Ps 52:8. Around an old trunk young plants shoot up from the same root, to adorn the parent stock when living, and succeed it when dead; hence the allusion in describing the family of the just, Ps 128:3. It is slow of growth, and no less slow to decay. The ancient trees now in Gethsemane are believed by many to have sprung from the roots of those, which witnessed the agony of our Lord. The "wild olive-tree" is smaller than the cultivated, and inferior in all its parts and products. A graft upon it, from a good tree, bore good fruit; while a graft from a "wild" olive upon a good tree, remains "wild" as before. Yet, "contrary to nature," the sinner engrafted on Christ partakes of His nature and bears good fruit, Ro 11:13-26.

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Olive. Olive
The fruit of the olive-tree. This tree yielded oil which was highly valued. The best oil was from olives that were plucked before being fully ripe, and then beaten or squeezed (Deut. 24:20; Isa. 17:6; 24:13). It was called “beaten,” or “fresh oil” (Ex. 27:20). There were also oil-presses, in which the oil was trodden out by the feet (Micah 6:15). James (3:12) calls the fruit “olive berries.” The phrase “vineyards and olives” (Judg. 15:5, A.V.) should be simply “olive-yard,” or “olive-garden,” as in the Revised Version. (See OIL.)

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OLIVE. → (A fruit tree) → Branch of, brought by the dove to Noah's ark Ge 8:11 → Common to the land of Canaan Ex 23:11; De 6:11; 8:8 → Israelites commanded to cultivate in the land of promise De 28:40 → Branches of, used for booths (huts) Ne 8:15 → Bears flowers Job 15:33 → Precepts concerning gleaning the fruit of De 24:20; Isa 17:6 → The cherubs made of the wood of 1Ki 6:23,31-33 → Fable of Jud 9:8 → FIGURATIVE
* Of prosperity Ps 128:3
* The wild, a figure of the Gentiles; the cultivated, of the Jews Ro 11:17-21,24

→ SYMBOLICAL Zec 4:2-12; Re 11:4 → FRUIT OF
* Oil extracted from, used as illuminating oil in the tabernacle Ex 39:37; Le 24:2; Zec 4:12
* See OIL

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olive. Olive, n. a tree or its fruit, an emblem of peace

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Ol″ive (?), n. [[F., fr. L. oliva, akin to Gr. �. See Oil.]] 1. 1. (Bot.) (a) A tree (Olea Europæa) with small oblong or elliptical leaves, axillary clusters of flowers, and oval, one-seeded drupes. The tree has been cultivated for its fruit for thousands of years, and its branches are the emblems of peace. The wood is yellowish brown and beautifully variegated. (b) The fruit of the olive. It has been much improved by cultivation, and is used for making pickles. Olive oil is pressed from its flesh.
2. 2. (Zoöl.) (a) Any shell of the genus Oliva and allied genera; — so called from the form. See Oliva. (b) The oyster catcher.
3. 3. (a) The color of the olive, a peculiar dark brownish, yellowish, or tawny green. (b) One of the tertiary colors, composed of violet and green mixed in equal strength and proportion.
4. 4. (Anat.) An olivary body. See under Olivary.
5. 5. (Cookery) A small slice of meat seasoned, rolled up, and cooked; as, olives of beef or veal.
☞ Olive is sometimes used adjectively and in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, olive brown, olive green, olive-colored, olive-skinned, olive crown, olive garden, olive tree, olive yard, etc. Bohemian olive (Bot.), a species of Elæagnus (E. angustifolia), the flowers of which are sometimes used in Southern Europe as a remedy for fevers. — Olive branch. (a) A branch of the olive tree, considered an emblem of peace. (b) Fig.: A child. — Olive brown, brown with a tinge of green. — Olive green, a dark brownish green, like the color of the olive. — Olive oil, an oil expressed from the ripe fruit of the olive, and much used as a salad oil, also in medicine and the arts. — Olive ore (Min.), olivenite. — Wild olive (Bot.), a name given to the oleaster or wild stock of the olive; also variously to several trees more or less resembling the olive.