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Olive

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

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Concordances
Nave Topical Bible
• Olives, Mount of
• Olive
Scofield Reference Index
• Olives
• Olive
Thompson Chain Reference
• Olives, Mount of
• Olive-Yards
• Olive-Trees
•   (only first 3 shown)
Torrey Topical Textbook
• Olive-Tree, the
Dictionaries
American Tract Society
• Olives, Mount of
• Olive
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
• Olive
Easton's Bible Dictionary
• Olive-Tree
• Olive
Fausset Bible Dictionary
• Olives, Mount of
• Olive
Holman Bible Dictionary
• Olives, Mount of
• Olives
Hastings' BibleDictionary
• Wild Olive
• Olives, Mount of
• Olive
Hastings' NT Dictionary
• Olive
• Oil (Olive)
• Mount of Olives
King James Dictionary
• Olive
Morrish Bible Dictionary
• Olives, Olivet, Mount of
• Olive, Olive Tree
1910 New Catholic Dictionary
• Sunday, Olive
• Plunket, Oliver
• Oliver Plunket
•   (only first 3 shown)
Hawker's Poor Man's Dictionary
• Olive Tree
People's Bible Dictionary
• Olives
• Olive Olive-Tree
Smith Bible Dictionary
• Olives The Mount of
• Olive
Vines' Expository Dictionary
• Olives, Olive Tree
Wilson's Bible Types
• Olive (Tree)
Webster Dictionary
• Queen Olive
• Oliver
• Olived
•   (only first 3 shown)
Watson's Theological Dictionary
• Olive Tree
• Olives
Encyclopedias
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Henry Oliver Walker
• Isaac Oliver
• Mount of Olives
•   (only first 3 shown)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
• Mount of Olives
• Oil, Olive
• Olive
•   (only first 3 shown)
Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia
• Olive-Tree
• Olives Mount of
McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
• Allen, David Oliver
• Ammerman, Oliver Valentine
• Badgeley, Oliver
•   (only first 3 shown)
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
• Brown, Oliver Madox
• Cromwell, Oliver
• Goldsmith, Oliver
•   (only first 3 shown)
The Catholic Encyclopedia
• Blessed Oliver Plunket
• George Oliver
• Oliver Almond
•   (only first 3 shown)
The Jewish Encyclopedia
• Cromwell, Oliver
• Fullana, Nicolas de Oliver Y
• Olive
•   (only first 3 shown)
Lexicons
• ܙܰܝܬ݁ܳܐ
• ἀγριέλαιος
• ἐλαία
• ἔλαιον
•   (only first 3 shown)
• גַּרְגַּר
• זַיִת
• שֶׁמֶן

Olive trees, both wild and cultivated, were among the most common trees of Palestine (Deuteronomy 8:8; Judges 15:5; 1 Chronicles 27:28; Luke 22:39). They grew also in Mesopotamia and other places in the region (Genesis 8:11). The trees grew to about six metres in height, and although their timber was of no use in building construction, it could be used to make furniture and ornamental articles (1 Kings 6:23; 1 Kings 6:31). The Israelites used branches of olive trees to help make shelters for the Feast of Tabernacles (Nehemiah 8:15).

Mostly, however, people grew olive trees for their fruit, which could be crushed to produce oil (Exodus 27:20; Leviticus 2:4; 2 Kings 18:32; Micah 6:15; see OIL). Farmers harvested the olives by shaking or beating the tree so that the fruit fell to the ground. They then collected the fruit in baskets (Deuteronomy 24:20; Isaiah 17:6; Isaiah 24:13; Amos 8:2). To obtain higher quality fruit and larger harvests, they sometimes grafted branches from good quality trees on to wild trees. To graft branches from wild trees on to good trees was ‘contrary to nature’ (Romans 11:17-24).

In the symbols and pictures of the Bible, the olive tree had a variety of meanings. It was a symbol of peace (Genesis 8:10-12), fruitfulness (Psalms 128:3-4), freshness (Psalms 52:8), pleasantness (Jeremiah 11:16), beauty (Hosea 14:5-7), God’s Spirit (Zechariah 4:1-6), God’s family (Romans 11:17-24) and God’s witnesses (Zechariah 4:11-14; Revelation 11:3-4).