ZAIT or SAIT (za'it or sa'it), (Heb. zah' yith), is universally acknowledged to be the olive tree.
Though the olive continues to be much culti vated in Syria, it is yet much more extensively so in the south of Europe, whence the rest of the world is chiefly supplied with olive-oil.
No tree is more frequently mentioned by an cient authors, nor was anyone more highly hon ored by ancient nations. By the Greeks it was dedicated to Minerva, and even employed in crowning Jove, Apollo, and Hercules, as well as emperors, philosophers, and orators and 'quivis alii, co.teros inortales virtute et industria super gressi, alea caronantur.' By the Romans also it was highly honored. The olive is one ot the earliest of the plants specifically mentioned in the Bible, the fig being the first. Thus, in Gen. viii: II, the dove is described as bringing the olive branch to Noah. It is always enumerated among the valued trees of Palestine ; which Moses de scribes (Deut. vi ; viii :8) as 'a land of oil olive and honey' (so in xxviii :4o, etc.) ; and (2 Chron. :1o) Solomon gave to the laborers sent him by Hiram, king of Tyre, 20,000 baths of oil.
Besides this, immense quantities must have been required for home consumption, as it was ex tensively used as an article of diet, for burning in lamps, and for the ritual service. The olive still continues one of the most extensively cultivated of plants.
Not only the olive-oil, but the branches of the tree were employed at the Feast of Tabernacles.
The wood also was used (1 Kings vi :23) by Solo mon for making the cherubim (verses 31, 32), and for doors and posts 'for the entering of the oracle,' the former of which were carved with cherubim, and palm-trees, and open flowers. The olive being an evergreen was adduced as an em blem of prosperity (Ps. Hi :8), and it has con tinued, from the earliest ages, to be an emblem of peace among all civilized nations. It seems to flourish best where it can get its roots into the crevices of the rock (Deut. xxxii :13). It grows slowly, lives to a very great age, and still bears fruit when the trunk is but a hollow shell ; illus trating Ps. xcii :14.
J. F. R.