your sons will be like olive shoots around your table

Psalm 128
A Pilgrim Song
1-2 All you who fear God, how blessed you are! how happily you walk on his smooth straight road!
You worked hard and deserve all you've got coming.
Enjoy the blessing! Revel in the goodness!

3-4 Your wife will bear children as a vine bears grapes,
your household lush as a vineyard,
The children around your table
as fresh and promising as young olive shoots.
Stand in awe of God's Yes.
Oh, how he blesses the one who fears God!

5-6 Enjoy the good life in Jerusalem
every day of your life.
And enjoy your grandchildren.
Peace to Israel!

I have always mused about my children. At this stage in my life, I have but one 19 year-old. And I often wonder about the verse: “your sons will be like olive shoots around your table” ...I have here excerpt-notes on Olive trees and verses that refer to it that I found very interesting. (Sources are written below)

Olive oil has been called the Elixir of the Gods." Some 6,000 years ago
olive cultivation began in the eastern Mediterranean . The first mention of the olive in the Bible is the olive leaf that the dove returned to Noah, signifying peace and restoration from the devastating flood, Genesis 8:11 Olive oil is burned for lamp light (Matthew 25:1-9), babies are washed with it, squeaky hinges are lubricated with it, cosmetics are based on it, diamonds polished with it, kings anointed with it. Olive oil preserves fish, cheese, and wine for years. Boiled, it is one of the more deadly weapons of war and torture. Soap made from olive oil makes you feel cleaner than chemically-made soap.

As wine makes the heart glad, and bread strengthens the heart, so does oil make the face to shine, Psalm 104:15.

The Good Samaritan poured oil and wine on the wounds of the stricken traveler, Luke 10:30-36. Oil was a valuable item of trade, as seen in the story of Elisha and the miracle of the widow’s oil being multiplied, II Kings 4:1-7. The term "Messiah," or "Christ," means "the anointed one," because kings of Israel were anointed with oil, I Samuel 10:1, 16:1, 6-7, 13; II Samuel 2:4, 5:3; I Kings 1:39, 19:16; II Kings 9:1, 3, 6, 11:12. Oil is associated with joy, and the Messiah, Psalm 45:7, Hebrews 1:9. Olive oil is associated with the joy of the Feasts of the Lord. In Deuteronomy 14:22-23, we are told to faithfully tithe, and eat before the Lord the tithe of our corn, wine, and oil<>

The olive is known to be quite long-lived sometimes thousands of years old. According to the articles I am reading these trees continue to produce sufficient foliage and fruit, but when it gets old, the centre of the aged trunk eventually disintegrates, leaving the large, hollow trees fragile and vulnerable to damage by high winds. However, the aged olive tree has a way to ensure its own safety by sending up new shoots from their outlying roots. These small young trees surround their “parent” tree, to protect the aged, hollow tree in the centre. This gives the Olive tree a kind of immortality not enjoyed by other species. The responsibility of the parent reaches much further than their own children – their discipling will determine the discipleship of the following generation, and continue on well after the “trunk” has died. It’s a concept that should awaken parents to the very important role they play in the lives of their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on.


David, in Psalm 52:8, said he was like a green olive tree in the house of God, trusting in the mercy of God for ever, not like those who put their trust in riches and wickedness.


Yes, we should be like the olive tree that grows by the riverside, yielding its fruit in season, Psalm 1:1-3. See also Jeremiah 11:16. In a godly family, the children are like olive plants, sturdy and strong and productive, Psalm 128:1-6. Godly children are not likened to pine trees, palm trees, or apple trees, but olive trees! Olive tress that develop deep roots, last a long time, and produce fruit for years.

The psalmist’s vision is of children who surround and support their aged, righteous parents. If we’ve done a good job as parents and as adult children, caring for our own parents when they need us, we can expect our children to follow the example that we (and the olive tree) have set for them, caring for us in our later years. It is also a reminder of our obligations to our own parents and to our Heavenly Father.

Source: http://psalm128.wordpress.com/2008/07/23/the-olive-tree/; www.giveshare.org/BibleStudy/180.oliveoil.html