An evergreen tree and its fruit, an oval-shaped, oil-bearing drupe. The olive in antiquity was the fruit par excellence; either the fresh fruit or its oil found a place at every meal. The tree became a symbol of fertility (Ps 128:3), beauty (Jer 11:16; Hos 14:6), divine blessing (Deut 7:13), and peace and bountifulness (Gen 8:11). There was hardly a phase of life not touched by the olive tree. It was used for food (Num 11:8), for fuel for lamps, as a medicine (Isa 1:6; Luke 10:34), as an anointing oil (1Sam 10:1; 2Kgs 9:3; Isa 61:1), and in sacrifice (Lev 2:4; Gen 28:18), and its wood was used for furniture (1Kgs 6:23; 1Kgs 6:31-33). The olive branch was the first vegetation seen by Noah after the Flood (Gen 8:11).
