OLIVES, MOUNT OF, and OLIVET (-in ; LXX. and N. T., rd iSposr&Y ; but in Luke xix. 29, .7-6 Spas 76 tXRiiiv ; and Acts i. 12, AaLCa'vos (Olivet"); mons olizail nm), the well-known hill, or rather ridge, on the east side of Jerusalem, separated from the city by the Kidron valley.
The name 'Mount of Olives' occurs only once in the O. T. (Zech. xiv. 4) ; but the hill is clearly alluded to in five other passages. In 2 Sam. xv. 3o we read that David, in fleeing from Jerusalem during Absalom's rebellion, ' went up by the ascent of the Olives' (n+nlri r6pnz), unquestionably the western side of the mount, up which he had to go toward the way of the wilderness' (ver. 23). In I Kings xi. 7 it is recorded that Solomon built `an high place for Chemosh in the hill that is before ntn? 17 13, ' which is in the face of') Jeru salem.' This is an accurate description of the position of Olivet—facing the holy city, visible from every part of it. The same hill is called in 2 Kings xxiii. 13, The Mount of Corruption' (rpritynn—r), doubtless from the idolatrous rites established by Solomon and practised there. In Neh. viii. 15 Olivet is called emphatically `the Mount' (irlr1)— ' Go forth into the mount, and fetch olive-branches,' etc. Ezekiel mentions it as the mountain which is on the cast side (npn) of the city. Olivet covers the whole eastern side of Jerusalem, shutting out all view of the country beyond. These are the only direct allusions to Olivet in the O. T.
In the N. T. its ordinary name is ' The Mount of Olives,' r6 Epos r(7)v iXaLary, which may be re garded as a descriptive appellation—the mount on which the olives grew (Matt. xxi. I ; xxiv. 3 ; xxvi. 3o ; Mark xi. i ; Luke xix. 37 ; John viii. t). But Luke in three passages gives it a distinct proper And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called Elaion'—wp6s T6 Spas 76 Kalloop.evoy 'ENaLEIN ; not, as in the A. V., the Mount of Olives.' The word is 'EXcittbv, the nom. sing., and not Aatiiiv, the gen. pl. of Auk (see Alford, Tischendorf,
Lachmann, etc., ad loc.), in which case it would have the article (xix. 29 ; cf. ver. 37 ; xxi. 37 ; xxii. 39). In Acts i. 12 Luke again employs it in the gen. sing.—' Then returned they unto Jeru salem from the mount called Olivet,' are tipous 700 ICallogIvou (` called Elaion' ). In Jose phus also we read Stii rou 'EXat@pos 5povs vii. 9. 2 ; cf. xx. 8. 6 ; Bell. Yid. v. 2. 3), showing that in his time Elaion was the ordinary name given to the mount.
The rabbins called Olivet The Mount of Anointing' (nnvnn in ; Mishna, Para, iii. 6 ; Reland, p. 337) ; and Jarchi, in his note on 2 Kings xxiii. 13, says this was its usual name ; but that the sacred writers changed it to Mount of Corruption' in) by a play upon the word, and to denote its defilement by the idolatrous rites of Solomon. The name nnwn is closely allied in sense to Olivet—the latter referring to the oil-producing tree, the former to the anointing with its oil (Lightfoot, Opera, ii. 200).
At present the hill has two names, 7ebel Lt,,-), which may be regarded as equiva lent to the expression the Mount' (TIM) in Neh. 15. This is the name almost universally given to it by the Mohammedan residents in Jerusalem. The Christians and Jews seem to prefer the Scripture name 7ebel ez-Zeits2n Mount of Olives.' Physical Features.—The Mount of Olives lies on the east side of Jerusalem, and intercepts all view of the wilderness of Judea and the Jordan valley. It is separated from the city by the deep and narrow glen of the Kidron. Its appearance as first seen sadly disappoints the Bible student. Properly speaking it is not a hill. It is only one of a multi tude of rounded crowns that form the summit of the broad mountain-ridge which runs longitudinally through Central Palestine. Zion, Moriah, Scopus, Gibeah, Ramah, and Mizpeh, are others like Olivet. These bare rocky crowns encircle the Holy City— Olivet being the highest and most conspicuous in the immediate vicinity.