The Olive Tree Speaks

Trees are a precious gift from the Lord, and of all the trees in Israel, one of the most important and remarkable is the olive tree.

Most of us are not familiar with olive trees because they don't grow where we live. However, in the land of the Bible, it was, and is, the most important of all trees, because it is a source of food, light, hygiene, and healing.

But primarily, the olive tree symbolizes faithfulness and steadfastness. Psalms 52:8 says, "But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercies of God forever and ever."

As with other common symbols in Israel, the characteristics of the olive tree are used by the writers of the Bible to tell us a great deal about God and Israel, and our relationship to both.

The Olive Tree, Israel, And The Church

The most striking use of the image of the olive tree in the Bible is found in Romans 11. It is here that the apostle Paul describes God's relationship between Israel and the Jewish people, and the Church. In fact, the entire three chapters of Romans 9-11 are focused on this topic and culminate with the olive tree image.

Paul shows us that the olive tree represents the covenants and promises to Israel, growing from its holy Root, which is the Messiah, the Word of God. The natural branches are the people of Israel. Those who turned away from that relationship were broken off. Christians are simply the wild branches grafted in among the natural branches to "become a partaker with them of the root and fatness of the olive tree," which God established (Romans 11:17).

It is evident from Scripture, as well as from nature, that a tree's root and trunk support the branches, and not vice versa (11:18). In this position, there is no room for pride or the belief that we Christians have replaced Israel, the Jewish people, or that God rejected His own covenants and promises in the Hebrew Scriptures. There is no room for boasting and arrogance, as the Church has sometimes been prone to do. Why? Because both the natural branches and the engrafted wild branches only remain by faith as Romans 11:18-21 tells us. The Church came after the Jews, not before them, and is, therefore, an extension of a plan that pre-existed it - the plan of the Father.