Mount of Olives in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Har-hazzey-thim. E. of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 11:23), separated from it by "the valley of Jehoshaphat" (Zechariah 14:4). "The mount of the olive grove" (Elaionos), Acts 1:12. Arabic jebel es Zeitun. In 2 Samuel 15:30 "the ascent of the olives" (Hebrew). "The mountain facing Jerusalem" (1 Kings 11:7); called "the hill of corruption" from Solomon's high places built to Chemosh and Moloch (2 Kings 23:13-14). The road by which David fled from Absalom across Kedron, and passed through trees to the summit, where was a consecrated spot (an old sanctuary to Elohim, like Bethel) at which he worshipped God (2 Samuel 15:30; 2 Samuel 15:32). Turning the summit he passed Bahurim (2 Samuel 16:5), probably near Bethany, then through a "dry and weary (Hebrew hayeephim) land where no water was," as he says Psalm 63:1; 2 Samuel 16:2; 2 Samuel 16:14 (the same Hebrew), 2 Samuel 17:2. In Psalm 42 he was beyond Jordan; in Psalm 63 he is in the wilderness on the near side of Jordan (2 Samuel 15:28; 2 Samuel 17:21-22). Shimei, scrambling along the overhanging hill, flung down the stones and dust of the rough and parched descent. The range has four hills. Josiah defiled Solomon's idolatrous high places, breaking the "statues," cutting down the groves, and filling their places with men's bones. After the return from Babylon the olive, pine, palm, and myrtle branches for booths at the feast of tabernacles were thence procured (Nehemiah 8:15). The ridge runs N. and S., separating the city which lies on its western side from the wilderness reaching from the eastern side of Olivet to the Dead Sea. At the northern extremity the range bends to the W., leaving a mile of level space between it and the city wall; whereas on the E. the mountain approaches the wall, separated only by a narrow ravine, Kedron, to which the descent from the Golden gate, or the gate of Stephen, is steep, and the ascent from the valley bed up the hill equally so. The northern part, probably Nob, Mizpeh, and Scopus (so called from the view it commands of the city), is distinct historically, though geologically a continuation, from "the Mount of Olives." So too the "mount of evil counsel" on the S. The Latin Christians call the northern part "Viri Galilaei", being the presumed site of the angels' address to the disciples at the ascension, "ye men of Galilee," etc. (Acts 1:11). Olivet (Et Tur), the historical hill so called, separated from Scopus by a depression running across, is a limestone rounded hill, the whole length two miles; the height at the Church of the Ascension on the summit is 2,700 ft. above the Mediterranean, Zion is 2,537 ft. above, Moriah ("temple area" or Haram) at 2,429 ft., the N.W. corner of the city at 2,581 ft. Thus it is considerably...