MOUNT OF OLIVES (הַר הַזֵּיתִ֜ים, τὸ̀ ὄρος τῶν ἐλαιῶν, meaning the mount of olives; τὸ̀ ὄρος τὸ̀ καλούμενον ἐλαιῶν, meaning the mount called olives, Luke 19:29; 21:37; τοῦ ἐλαιῶνος, meaning the olives or olivet, Acts 1:12). A N to S ridge c. two m. long across from the Kidron Valley E of Jerusalem, known for its abundance of olive trees.

1. Names and geography. There is reason to believe that in ancient times the Mt. of Olives had many more olive groves on it than it does today, which accounts for the derivation of its name. It is called the same in Arab. today, viz., Jebel Zaitun, literally, Mt. of Olives. The Mt. is really a ridge running parallel to the Kidron Valley E of Jerusalem. There are undulations along it separating several high points. Although the northernmost of these has been connected with Nob of Isaiah 10:32 and the Mt. Scopus of Josephus (War II. xi. 4. 7; V. iv. 1), that is prob. incorrect. The northernmost peak is not on the usual route to Jerusalem from the N. Today this is called Ras el-Mesharif. On the S part of that elevated area today are the original Hadassah Hospital and the Augusta Victoria German Lutheran Hospital. The road from Jerusalem goes due E from the N part of the old city and up the mountain where there is a shallow depression. To the right or S is the beginning of the village of et-Tur (the mount or tower) which is strung southward along the hill. This middle height is sometimes named after the Gr. Orthodox monastery of Viri Galilaei. It is directly opposite the Haram es-Sharif of Old Jerusalem. The Mt. of Olives drops off to the S where the modern road to Jericho runs. The third and southernmost summit, which some do not even consider a part of the same ridge, is the Mt. of Offense, so named because of Solomon’s placing pagan worship shrines for his many foreign wives on the location (1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23:13). On its slopes is the Jerusalem suburb of Silwan.

The center part of the Mt. of Olives or Olivet rises c. 100 ft. higher than Jerusalem or c. 2,700 ft. above sea level. To the E is a magnificent view of the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea c. fifteen m. distant in a straight line. Beyond are the mountains of Moab. To the S and SE one can see the expansive wilderness of Judea. To the W the finest, most unforgettable, panoramic view of the old city of Jerusalem is available.

The hill is made of cretaceous limestone with a chalk-like top layer. The olive tree, which is one of the hardiest trees, thrives here, but there are many pines as well. The wind blows hard from the NW and gives many of the trees a decided bent to the SE. In fact, the southernmost peak is called by the Arabs Jebel Batn el-Hawa (the Mt. of the Belly of the Wind) because it blows so hard through that valley separating it from the central summit.

2. In the OT. Considering the proximity of the Mt. of Olives to Jerusalem, there are surprisingly few mentions of it. It first occurs in 2 Samuel 15:30 where one reads that David went up the ascent of the Mt. of Olives. (The word “mount” is not in the MT.) Absalom had been wooing the men of Israel and it had become unsafe for David to remain in Jerusalem. Verse 32 states that “David came to the summit, where God was worshiped.” Up to this point no mention had been made of a sanctuary on the Mount, but knowing the propensity of ancient peoples to worship on mountains, it would not be a surprise to find a shrine there. David met Hushai there, dispatched him back to Jerusalem, and continued on his way toward the wilderness. 2 Samuel 16 opens with David passing over the summit where he met Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth. Then he went to the village of Bahurim (2 Sam 16:5) and eventually down to the Jordan River (v. 14). Bahurim has been identified tentatively with Ras et-Tmim on the E slope of the hill and N of the old Jericho road which went straight over the hill rather than around its S slope as the modern one does. Because of the word ascent in 2 Samuel 15:30, some have figured his route as the almost staircase-like trail which bears left up the hill past the Roman Catholic Garden of Gethsemane and reaches the top near the Gr. Orthodox monastery.

It is easy to connect a religious sanctuary on the Mt. of Olives with the references to Nob, the city of priests, and Ahimelech the priest (1 Sam 21:1; 22:9, 11, 19). There is the possibility of a connection between the Biblical Anathoth, a city where priests lived, and the modern Anata just N of the Mt. of Olives range (Jer 1:1). The place where “Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem....for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods” (1 Kings 11:7f.) was “east of Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption” (2 Kings 23:13). Today the Mount of Corruption, Scandal, Offense, or Evil Counsel, as it is variously called, may or may not mark the place where these several abominations were. There may be a play on words in 2 Kings 23:13. The word מַשְׁחִית׃֒, meaning corruption,” is similar to מִשְׁחָה֒, H5418, meaning “anointing,” which would allude to the Mt. of Olives where anointing oil was produced.

The second occurrence of the name Mt. of Olives is in Zechariah 14:4: “On that day [i.e., the day of the Lord’s coming] his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives which lies before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley; so that one half of the Mount shall withdraw northward, and the other half southward.”

3. In the NT. The Mt. of Olives is most important in the closing week of Jesus’ life on earth. Undoubtedly He crossed over it many times in His going to and from festivals in Jerusalem. Since the custom was not to pass through Samaria, Galileans prob. detoured across the Jordan in the N and then recrossed to the W bank near Jericho. This would account for Jesus’ appearances in Jericho, the geography of His parable of the Good Samaritan, and His presence in Bethany and Bethphage.

The first actual reference to the Mt. of Olives in the NT is in the questionable account of the woman taken in adultery. John 8:1f. records that Jesus went to the Mt. of Olives and the next day went to the Temple where the scene took place. Otherwise, all references to the famous Mt. are during and after Passion week.

Mark and Luke both mention Bethany, Bethphage, and the Mt. of Olives together in their record of the triumphal entry (Mark 11:1; Luke 19:29). The descriptions and location of Biblical Bethany fit well with the Arab village of el-Azariyeh SE of the Mt. astride the modern Jericho Road. Bethphage is adjacent to Bethany, but nearer the top of the Mt. of Olives. Abu-Dis represents it today, although there is a case for identifying it with the village of et-Tur on the very top.

As Jesus came over the crest of the hill and caught sight of the Holy City, He wept (Luke 19:41). When He returned from the city that night He went to Bethany, apparently again to the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus or the home of Simon the leper (Mark 11:11; 14:3). The next day He went into the city again and on His way cursed a fig tree (Matt 21:19; Mark 11:13). It was prob. to the Mt. of Olives that the Savior referred when He said, “If you have faith and never doubt...but...say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will be done” (Matt 21:21).

The following day, after having spent the previous night in Bethany and having returned from the Temple, Jesus was sitting on the Mt. of Olives with His disciples as He discoursed about the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world (Matt 24:3; Mark 13:3). In a summary statement Luke (21:37) says that every night after teaching in the Temple Jesus went out to the Mt. called Olivet. For a Galilean, the seclusion from the hustle of the city which the groves on the hillside offered undoubtedly was welcome. Furthermore, there was prob. no room in the inns of Jerusalem at Passover time.

It was in the Garden of Gethsemane on the W slopes of the Mt. of Olives that Jesus agonized with the Father (Matt 26:30, 36ff.; Mark 14:26, 32ff.; Luke 22:39ff.; John 18:1ff.), and there Judas betrayed his Lord.

Lastly, it was from the Mt. called Olivet that the disciples returned after witnessing the Ascension of their Lord (Acts 1:9-12; cf. Luke 24:50).

4. The shrines on the mount. Apart from the city of Jerusalem, there is prob. no greater concentration of shrines than on the Mt. of Olives. To trace the history, significance, and denominational connection of each would be an impossible task. About the only things that are certain are the location of the hill itself and the location of Bethany to the SE. There are three “Palm Sunday” trails over the hill, three Gardens of Gethsemane, two or three sites for the Ascension, two Jericho roads, and so forth. Faithful devotees of Jesus and the land on which He walked have marked with the church of Dominus Flevit the exact spot where He wept over Jerusalem, and have recovered the stone on which He stepped as He mounted the donkey on Palm Sunday in Bethphage. A Muslim shrine called Inbomon, built within the ruins of an octagonal church originally constructed in 375, later destroyed but restored by the crusaders, contains a footprint in the rock floor reputed to be the last footprint of Christ on earth. The credit for the most gross abomination or the most extravagant enterprise must go, however, to the Arab selling rides on a white donkey which he says is a direct descendant of the one Jesus rode!

The first sanctuary on the Mt. was begun in a.d. 325 by Helena, the mother of Constantine, on the S end of the central hill. Called the Eleona (Olives), the structure sheltered a grotto in which Jesus was to have taught the disciples. The Persians destroyed it in the 7th cent., but over it in 1869 was built the Church of the Pater Noster on the assumption that the Lord’s Prayer (the “Our Father”) was given there (Luke 11:1-4). That church has the Lord’s Prayer written on panels on the walls of the sanctuary and cloister in forty different languages.

In addition to the Inbomon, with its footprint, is the Russian Orthodox Monastery of the Ascension with its tall and most distinctive bell tower. Another monastery, a Gr. Orthodox one called Viri Galilaei, may be named from the words in Acts 1:11, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?”

On the W slope of the hill near the bottom are the Gardens of Gethsemane. Three churches with three gardens are there for the pilgrim’s choice. Nearer the center of the hillside is the Russian church of Mary Magdalene with its typical Byzantine architecture. Below it is the famous Roman Catholic Church of All Nations sheltering the “Rock of Agony.” This site has a long tradition behind it. In the garden to the N are 1,000-year old olive trees. Further N is a church built c. a.d. 455 over the supposed tomb of Mary. It is operated by the Greeks and the Coptics.

On the N end of the ridge of the Mt. of Olives is the magnificent Augusta Victoria Hospital built by Kaiser Wilhelm II. It is not intended to mark a Biblical site, however, although in the digging of the foundations in 1907 remains of a very ancient settlement were discovered. A modern luxury hotel now dominates the S end of the central ridge overlooking the many tombstones of the centuriesold Jewish cemeteries.

Bibliography G. Dalman, Sacred Sites and Ways (1935), 261-270; K. Kraeling, Bible Atlas (1956), 396-398; G. A. Barrois in Interpreter’s Bible Dictionary, IV (1962).