Deuteronomy describes the Promised Land as a land filled with olive oil.

From September-October to November, the olive trees are harvested.

They were shaken from the trees onto blankets, then sorted into baskets, pickled, packed in salt or pressed for the precious oil.

Earlier on, the oil was squeezed out by stepping on the olives or by pounding them with a rock (Deut.24:20). Later on a press with a millstone was developed. When the olives were pressed, the oil ran down and was captured in great vats.

Once it had been given time to settle, the oil was then poured into jars.

When David was king of Israel, he had a man in charge of the royal olive groves, in addition to a man who oversaw the storage of the oil (1 Chr. 27:28)

Olive oil was one of the chief exports of Israel in New Testament times.

"Olive branches were used in making booths "for the feast of the seventh month" (Neh.8:14-15). The olive tree is a symbol of peace, rest and rejoicing."

"The olive tree's bark and leaves are a soft gray-green, and its trunk becomes gnarled with age. Olive trees live longer than most other fruit trees. Some olive trees in Palestine are more than 2,000 years old.

"When an olive tree is cut down, suckers will grow up, so in a few years what appears to be a ruined olive orchard becomes productive once again. The suckers growing around the base of the tree are pictured as children in Psalm 128:13- 'Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house; thy children like olive plants round about thy table.'

"A mature olive tree may have as many as 500,000 small flowers on it. Most of the flowers are imperfect, and fruit cannot grow from them. They give off pollen, which is carried from flower to flower by the wind.

"Most olive trees will bear a large crop one year and a small crop the next. The beautiful, little white flowers are so plentiful that when they fall they look just like 'snow in summer.' 'He... shall cast off his flower as the olive.' Job 15:33"

-- Family Bible Lessons, Year 1, Qtr.1; Sonlight

"His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon." Hosea 14:6

The verse promises that Israel's beauty shall be like the olive tree

The olive tree is not pretty to look at. It has a large trunk and grayish-green leaves. It's beauty is in its fruit. The tree is a rich producer of fatness, of oil and fruit, to bless those who harvest it.

Likewise God will make us beautiful, perhaps not in our outward appearance, but in our fruitage. He will make beautiful characters in each of us.

I have long loved olive trees, since long before I lived in an area where they could grow. I've always thought their crown of silver-green leaves beautiful. That they keep their leaves year around is an added bonus.

They survive in an arid climate and thrive when watered. Many of the unharvested fallen olives sprout into little trees during the year, until disked out by the good farmer who wants to keep the undergrowth clear for the harvest.

I have perhaps 50-60 ancient olive trees along my road. Their trunks are huge and gnarled, with deep crevices. You have to constantly keep after the suckers that grow around the trunks. Their beauty is in the huge crown of silver-green leaves. The mature trees provide deep, impenetrable shade for anyone who wants to escape the heat of the summer sun. When the breezes blow, the leaves move luxuriously, showing silver with one gust, green with the next. The sound of the wind in the leaves is much like listening to the waves of the ocean.

LynnDel