A Luxuriant Olive Tree in the House of God

"There Exists Hope for Even a Tree"

An elderly father who serves Jehovah delights in his godly children.  But these same children mourn when their father eventually 'goes in the way of all the earth."  (1 Kings 2:2) To help us cope with such a family tragedy, the Bible assures us that there will be a resurrection. -John 5:28, 29; 11:25. 

Job, the father of many children, was keenly aware of man's short life span. He compared it to a blossom that quickly withers.  (Job 1:2; 14:1, 2)  Job longed for death as a way to escape from his agony, viewing the grave as a place of concealment from which he could return.  "If an able-bodied man dies can he live again?"  Job asked. Then he confidently answered:  "All the days of my compulsory service I shall wait, until my relief comes.  You [Jehovah] will call, and I myself shall answer you. For the work of your hands you will have a yearning." -Job 14:13-15.

How did Job illustrate his conviction that God would call him forth from the grave?   By means of a  tree, the description of which makes it likely that he was  referring to the olive.  "There exists hope  for even a tree," Job said.  "If it gets cut down, it will even sprout again." (Job 14:7) And olive tree may be chopped  down, but that will not destroy it. Only if the tree is uprooted it will die. If the roots remain intact, the tree will sprout again with renewed vigor. 

Even if a prolonged drought severely  withers an old olive tree, the shriveled stump can come back to life.  "If its root grows old in the earth and in the dust its stump dies, at the scent of water it will sprout and it will certainly produce a bough like a new plant." (Job 14:8, 9) Job lived in a dry dusty land where had  probably  observed many an old olive stump that looked like dried up and lifeless. When the rains came, however, such a "dead" tree returned to life  and a  new trunk emerged from its roots as if it were  "a new plant." This remarkable resilience led one Tunisian horticulturist to observe:  "You can say that olive trees are immortal."

Just as a farmer longs to see his withered olive trees  sprout again, so does Jehovah years to resurrect his faithful servants. He looks forward to the time when faithful individuals like Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and many others will be restored to life.  (Matthew 22:31, 32) How wonderful it will be to welcome back the dead and see them living full and fruitful lives once more!

Next time: A Luxuriant Tree in the House of God -The Symbolic Olive Tree

From the Watchtower magazine, 2000