Olives..l

 Olives…

Yesterday I received a small, hand carved, wooden nativity…made of olive wood from Israel…a friend talked about using olive oil to massage her aging mother…and this morning Psalm 52 mentioned olive tree, with footnotes….three uses of olives in less than 24 hours…okay, I get it…

Part of my growing up years we lived around olive orchards near Lindsay, California…(you can buy Lindsay Olives still in the Grocery stores). My grandmother gave each of us a can of Lindsay olives for Christmas and we ate them on special occasions, always fitting them on our fingers first…hummmm, so good…

As with other fruit in the area I thought as a child you could pick the olives right off the tree and eat…not a good idea…they have to be harvested, brined, worked with before eating…

Olive oil is made from olives which have been through a press…with the oil draining through and caught…different pressings make different grade of oil…

Biblically, olives were used for a multitude of purposes…fuel, perfumes, medicinals,dietary, embalming and religious functions…

Since the olive tree can live to be 1000 years old, it represented longevity and perseverance…prolific, it can produce up to a thousand pounds of olives per year…

David wrote..

 But I am like a green olive treein the house of God.I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever. I will thank you forever,because you have done it.I will wait for your name, for it is good,in the presence of the godly.

Ps.52.8-9

Noah received an olive leaf from a dove sent from the ark…

And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth..

Gen.8.11

The Israelites brought oil for the tabernacle…

 “You shall command the people of Israel that they bring to you pure beaten olive oil for the light, that a lamp may regularly be set up to burn.

Exod.27.20

Olives were part of the promised land…

 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey,

Deut.8.7-8 

Solomon used precious olive wood to build the temple…

In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high. For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olivewood; the lintel and the doorposts were five-sided. He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid them with gold and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees. So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olivewood, in the form of a square,…

1Kgs.6.23,1Kgs.6.31,1Kgs.6.32,1Kgs.6.33

More than likely, the perfume Mary used was made with some olive oil…for Jesus

 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

John.12.3

Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.

John.12.7

The Mount of Olives was spoken of several times in the New Testament…a particular place talked of in the New and Old Testament …and still exists…a hill orchard of olives trees…

And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.

Luke.22.39

Paul speaks of wild olives and cultivated olives…

 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

Rom.11.17-24

Jesus spoke of the ten virgins and their oil or lack thereof…being ready…

 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 

Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 

For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 

As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 

But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 

Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 

But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. 

Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 

But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Matt.25.1-13

“Not every reference to olive oil in the Bible is symbolic, of course. But there are passages in which olive oil can be a picture of the Holy Spirit, the One who sanctifies us, fills us, readies us to see Christ, and brings us light, joy, and spiritual health.” gotquestions.org

This got longer than I thought, but so many things to add…hard to not include…, but this last quote was where I was going…the symbolism  of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised to send as He departed…that we, as followers of Christ, would have His indwelling presence with the Holy Spirit…to teach, to convict, to light, to comfort….persevering forever as the olive tree does over the centuries… 

Thank YOU….

A Mediterranean salad includes olives, an olive press…