Olives have served as a staple for people in the Middle East for thousands of years. In the first century, the olive industry flourished in Israel. Olives provided economic stability. They could be used for food, for oil, for fuel, for lighting of lamps, for nourishing the skin, for healing, and for religious rituals. Throughout Galilee, Samaria, and Judea, people planted olive groves. The funds from export alone helped the harbor cities flourish, as did the grape and wine industries.

But olive groves were not just for orchard cultivation and harvest. They also grew wild throughout the region and provided beauty, rest, and shade.

The olive provided the oil of anointing used for Israel’s kings, priests, and prophets. Because of it’s beauty and rampant growth in the region, as well as its reli…