Mount of Olives in Easton's Bible Dictionary
so called from the olive trees with which its sides are
clothed,
is a mountain ridge on the east of Jerusalem (1
Kings 11:7;
Ezek. 11:23; Zech. 14:4), from which it is separated
by the
valley of Kidron. It is first mentioned in
connection with
David's flight from Jerusalem through the rebellion
of Absalom
(2 Sam. 15:30), and is only once again mentioned in
the Old
Testament, in Zech. 14:4. It is, however, frequently
alluded to
(1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23:13; Neh. 8:15; Ezek.
11:23).
It is frequently mentioned in the New Testament
(Matt. 21:1;
26:30, etc.). It now bears the name of Jebel et-Tur,
i.e.,
"Mount of the Summit;" also sometimes called Jebel
ez-Zeitun,
i.e., "Mount of Olives." It is about 200 feet above
the level of
the city. The road from Jerusalem to Bethany runs as
of old over
this mount. It was on this mount that Jesus stood
when he wept
over Jerusalem. "No name in Scripture," says Dr.
Porter, "calls
up associations at once so sacred and so pleasing as
that of
Olivet. The 'mount' is so intimately connected with
the private,
the devotional life of the Saviour, that we read of
it and look
at it with feelings of deepest interest and
affection. Here he
often sat with his disciples, telling them of
wondrous events
yet to come, of the destruction of the Holy City; of
the
sufferings, the persecution, and the final triumph
of his
followers (Matt. 24). Here he gave them the
beautiful parables
of the ten virgins and the five talents (25); here
he was wont
to retire on each evening for meditation, and
prayer, and rest
of body, when weary and harassed by the labours and
trials of
the day (Luke 21:37); and here he came on the night
of his
betrayal to utter that wonderful prayer, 'O my
Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless
not as I will,
but as thou wilt' (Matt. 26:39). And when the cup of
God's wrath
had been drunk, and death and the grave conquered,
he led his
disciples out again over Olivet as far as to
Bethany, and after
a parting blessing ascended to heaven (Luke 24:50,
51; Acts
1:12)."
This mount, or rather mountain range, has four
summits or
peaks: (1) the "Galilee" peak, so called from a
tradition that
the angels stood here when they spoke to the
disciples (Acts
1:11); (2) the "Mount of Ascension," the supposed
site of that
event, which was, however, somewhere probably nearer
Bethany
(Luke 24:51, 52); (3) the "Prophets," from the
catacombs on its
side, called "the prophets' tombs;" and (4) the
"Mount of
Corruption," so called because of the "high places"
erected
there by Solomon for the idolatrous worship of his
foreign wives
(1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23:13; Vulg., "Mount of
Offence").
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