The Easily Corrupted Tree

A few little points of interest by Truman Madsen 

Dec 1982 “The Olive Press”

The Olive Tree

One Jewish legend identifies the tree of life as the olive tree. 3

The olive tree is a perennial, not a deciduous tree. Its leaves do not seasonally fade nor fall. Through scorching heat and winter cold they are continually rejuvenated. The tree is thus evergreen, or “everolive.” Without cultivation it is a wild, unruly, easily corrupted tree. Only after long, patient cultivating, usually eight to ten years, does it begin to yield fruit. Long after that, new shoots often come forth from apparently dead roots. As one stands in the olive groves, struck by the gnarled tree trunks that are at once ugly and beautiful, it is hard to avoid the impression of travail—of ancient life and renewing life. Today some trees, still productive on the Mount of Olives, are known by scientific measure to be at least 1,800 years old. 

The Golden Gate

The sealed Eastern gate or aka the Golden Gate of the old Jerusalem wall (seen here from the beautiful Orson Hyde Gardens on the Mt. of Olives directly across the street) has a fascinating history and future.  Jewish tradition says that this is the gate through which the Messiah will enter.  The gate was sealed in 1541 by the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.  It is possible Suleiman had the gate sealed for defense reasons but he may have had it sealed simply to prevent the Messiah from entering the city at His coming.  If you look closely you can see that the stones surrounding the gate are actually grave stones in a cemetery.  That cemetery was built by the Muslims also to prevent the Messiah from entering through the gate.  Jewish belief holds that a priest can not enter a cemetery.  Although there are qualifiers to that statement, the Muslim cemetery was built on that premise.

Matt 24:27 says:

27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.