Oil-tree

This article incorporates text from Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897), a publication now in the public domain.

Oil-tree - (Isa. 41:19; R.V. marg., "oleaster"), Heb. 'etz shemen, rendered "olive tree" in 1 Kings 6:23, 31, 32, 33 (R.V., "olive wood") and "pine branches" in Neh. 8:15 (R.V., "branches of wild olive"), was some type of tree distinct from the olive.

Description

It was probably the oleaster (Elaeagnus angustifolia), which grows abundantly in almost all parts of the Land of Israel, especially about Hebron and Samaria. "It has a fine hard wood", says Tristram, "and yields an inferior oil, but it has no relationship to the olive, which, however, it resembles in general appearance".

See also

• Elaeagnus