OLIVE-TREE. There are two kinds of Olive-Trees, the wild and natural, and those that require Care and Culture. St. Paul distinguishes these in his Epistle to Rom. xi. 24.the Romans. Tu ex naturali excisus oleastro, & contra naturam insertus es in bonam olivam. The wild and uncultivated Olive-Tree he calls natural; naturalis oleaster. The cultivated Olive-Tree is of a moderate Heighth, its Trunk is knotty, its Bark smooth, and of an Ash-colour, its Wood is solid and yellowish, the Leaves are oblong, and almost like those of the Willow, of a green Colour, dark on the upper Side, and white on the under Side. In the Month of June it puts out white Flowers that grow in Bunches. Each Flower is of one Piece, widening upwards, and dividing into four Parts. After the Flower succeeds the Fruit, which is also oblong and plump. It is first green, then pale, and lastly black, when it is quite ripe. In the Flesh of it is inclos’d a hard Stone, full of an oblong Seed. The wild Olive differs from this, in that it is smaller in all its Parts.
When Noah sent forth the Dove out of the Ark, it brought back to him a small Gen. viii. 11.Olive-Branch with its Leaves; which was a Token to the Patriarch, that the Waters of the Deluge were sunk away. Solomon in the Temple of Jerusalem made Cherubims1 Kings vi. 23, 33. Col. iii. 9. Job xv. 33. of the Wood of the Olive; and Gates that parted the Sanctum from the Sanctuary, of the same Wood. Eliphaz in Job compares a wicked Man to a Vine which sheds its Blossoms in the Spring, and to an Olive whose Flowers fall before their Season, and consequently brings no Fruit. The sacred Writers often make use of Similes taken from the Olive.