the matter. Their decision was made known to congregations in all places and was accepted as authoritative. (Acts 15:1-31; 16:1-5) Thus, even as some “older men” served Israel on a national basis, so it is evident that these “older men” with the apostles formed a governing body for the entire Christian congregation in all lands. At a later date, Paul went to Jerusalem and met with James and “all the older men,” relating to them the results of his work and receiving their counsel on certain matters.—Acts 21:15-26.

Paul and Peter, as “older men” with apostolic authority, at times exercised oversight toward other “older men” in certain congregations (compare 1 Corinthians 4:18-21; 5:1-5, 9-13; Philippians 1:1; 2:12; 1 Peter 1:1; 5:1-5), as did the apostle John and the disciples James and Jude—all writers of letters to congregations. Paul assigned Timothy and Titus to represent him in certain places. (1 Cor. 4:17; Phil. 2:19, 20; 1 Tim. 1:3, 4; 5:1-21; Titus 1:5) In many cases, these men were dealing with newly established congregations of believers; Titus’ commission was to “correct the things that were defective [or “wanting,” “lacking”]” in the congregations in Crete.

Even as each city in Israel had its “older men” who guided and judged, so each city-congregation of spiritual Israel had its body of “older men” or “overseers,” these regularly being mentioned in the plural, as at Jerusalem (Acts 11:30; 15:4, 6; 21:18), at Ephesus (Acts 20:17, 28), at Philippi (Phil. 1:1), and with regard to the ‘laying of hands’ on Timothy. (1 Tim. 4:14) On this point, the earlier-mentioned Cyclopaedia comments: “Some . . . have imagined that the arrangement in the larger cities included several congregations, while, however, each of these had but one elder or bishop; that the principle of congregation polity [governmental form or constitution] thus from the beginning was . . . monarchical. But this view is contradicted by the passages [such as those quoted above], in which the presbyters [“older men”] appear as a college, . . . Whether a full parity reigned among these collegiate presbyters, or whether one, say the eldest, constantly presided over the rest, or whether, finally, one followed another in such presidency as primus inter pares [first among equals] by some certain rotation, cannot be decisively determined by the N.T. The analogy of the Jewish synagogue leads here to no entirely sure result, since it is questionable whether a particular presidency belonged to its eldership as early as the time of Christ.” Reference is then made to Christian writings of the early centuries to confirm this point.—Vol. III, p. 117.

The “older men,” as the overseers of the congregation, ‘presided’ over their brothers. (Rom. 12:8; 1 Thess. 5:12-15; 1 Tim. 3:4, 5; 5:17) Doubtless at each congregational meeting one or more of their number presided so that everything might “take place decently and by arrangement,” with good order. (1 Cor. 14:26-32, 39, 40) Such individual presiding or chairmanship, whether permanent or rotational, may also have been employed in the meetings of the body of overseers of the congregation to assure good order and effectual discussion.

Appointment and tenure of office

Paul, Barnabas, Titus, and evidently Timothy, are recorded as taking part in appointing persons to the position of “older men” in the congregations. (Acts 14:21-23; 1 Tim. 5:22; Titus 1:5) There is no record of such appointments by congregations independently. In relating Paul and Barnabas’ revisiting of Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, Acts 14:21-23 states that “they appointed older men to office [khei·ro·to·neʹsan·tes] for them in the congregation” (“in each of these churches they appointed elders” JB; “they had appointed elders for them in every church,” RS; it may be noted that in this text the original Greek does not include any separate term for “office”). Other translations, such as those by Rotherham and by Young, render khei·ro·to·neʹsan·tes as referring to an ‘appointing by vote.’ The Greek verb khei·ro·to·neʹo (from kheir, “the hand,” and teiʹno “to stretch”) means to ‘elect or appoint by stretching out of the hand,’ and, while the idea of voting may be conveyed, this is not a required or inherent sense of the word. A Greek-English Lexicon by Liddell and Scott (Ninth ed., 1968, p. 1986), after first giving common definitions to khei·ro·to·neʹo, says: “later, generally, appoint, . . . appoint to an office in the Church.” Likewise, A Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament by John Parkhurst (1845 ed., p. 673) says under definition IV: “With an accusative following, to appoint or constitute to an office, though without suffrages or votes.” The office to which these Christian men were appointed was that of “older men.” No other office is indicated. This does not preclude the possibility that, as some special need might exist or arise, appointments could be made to care for specific offices or particular duties. This was true in ancient Israel where certain ones among the “older men” served as “chiefs” or “officers” in varying capacities as the situation might demand.

The idea of the congregation’s voting in the appointment of these “older men,” as referred to in Acts 14:21-23, goes contrary to the grammatical structure of the Greek in the text, which shows that it was Paul and Barnabas, not the assembly or congregation, who appointed by the stretching out of the hands. It may be noted that the Jewish historian (writing in Greek) refers to King Saul as being ordained (khei·ro·to·neʹo) by God (Antiquities of the Jews, Book VI, chap. IV, par. 2; chap. XIII, par. 9), and it is apparent that no voting was called for prior to God’s making such appointment. So, in the Christian congregation this Greek verb was evidently used in referring to appointment of individuals to office by proper authority, without any supporting votes by others stretching forth their hands.—Compare Acts 10:41 where the compound form pro·khei·ro·to·neʹo (to appoint beforehand) is used.

Nothing is said of any term or period being assigned to the holding of the position of “older man.” Since the appointment was an acknowledgment of the person’s spiritual qualifications, it would appear that the “older men” continued to be accredited as such as long as they did not prove unfaithful.

“WORTHY OF DOUBLE HONOR”

Paul wrote Timothy: “Let the older men who preside in a fine way be reckoned worthy of double honor [“double reward,” NW, ftn., 1950 ed.; “double consideration,” JB], especially those who work hard in speaking and teaching.” (1 Tim. 5:17) In view of the following verse (18) and also the preceding discussion of honoring widows through material aid (verses 3-16), this “double honor” evidently included consideration and reward in a material way.

“TWENTY-FOUR OLDER PERSONS”

In the book of Revelation the term pre·sbyʹte·roi is applied (some twelve times) to spirit creatures. Their surroundings, dress and actions give a clue as to their identity.

The apostle John had a vision of Jehovah’s throne in heaven, surrounded by twenty-four lesser thrones upon which were seated twenty-four older persons dressed in white outer garments and having golden crowns upon their heads. (Rev. 4:1-4) As the vision continued, John saw the twenty-four not only repeatedly falling down in worship before Jehovah’s throne, but also observed them taking an active part in the various features of the vision as it progressed. (Rev. 4:9-11; 5:4-14; 7:9-17; 14:3; 19:4) Especially were they observed joining in the kingdom proclamation to the effect that Jehovah had taken up his great power and had begun to rule as king.—Rev. 11:15-18.

Being a Jew, John was familiar with the fact that “older men of Israel” represented and spoke for the entire nation. (Ex. 3:16, 18; 19:7) In the same way Christian “older men” may stand for or represent the entire congregation of spiritual Israel. According to this rule, the twenty-four older persons seated on thrones about God might well represent the entire body of anointed Christians who, proving faithful till death, receive the promised reward of a heavenly resurrection and thrones near that of Jehovah. (Compare Revelation 3:21.) The number twenty-four is also significant, for this was the number of the divisions into which King David divided the priests to serve at Jerusalem’s temple. The Christian congregation is to be a “royal priesthood.”—1 Chron. 24:1-19; Luke 1:5-23, 57-66; 1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 20:6; see OVERSEER.

OLIVE

[Heb., zaʹyith; Gr., e·laiʹa].

The olive tree was unquestionably one of the most valuable plants in Bible times, of equal importance with the vine and the fig tree. (Judg. 9:8-13; 2 Ki. 5:26; Hab. 3:17; Jas. 3:12) It appears early in the Bible record, as, following the Flood, it was an olive leaf brought back by a dove that indicated to Noah the recession of the waters.—Gen. 8:11.

The olive tree (Olea europaea) thrives in Palestine, particularly along the coast on the plains of Philistia (Deut. 28:40; Judg. 15:5) and up in the central highlands, as well as throughout the entire Mediterranean area. It flourishes in rocky, chalky soil, too dry for many other plants, and can endure frequent droughts. At the time of the exodus from Egypt, the Israelites were promised that the land into which they would come was one of “oil olives and honey,” with “vineyards and olive trees that [they] did not plant.” (Deut. 6:11; 8:8; Josh. 24:13) Since the olive is a slow-growing tree and may take ten years or more to begin bearing good harvests, the fact that these trees were already growing was a decided advantage for the Israelites. The tree is exceptionally long-lived, producing fruit for hundreds of years, and it is suggested that some of the olive trees in Palestine date back to the early part of the Common Era.

The olive trees present a refreshing view throughout Palestine, often growing on rocky hillside terraces or carpeting the valley floors. The tree may reach a height of forty feet (12.2 meters). The gnarled trunk with its ash-colored bark has a profuse branch system bearing a thick foliage of slender grayish-green leaves. Though not generally thought of by many as being such, the tree is an evergreen. It generally flowers about May and is covered with thousands of pale-yellow blossoms. The ease with which these flowers are blown off is mentioned in the Bible. (Job 15:33) The fruit or olive berries are green when immature but ripen into a deep pruplish to black color. Harvesting is done in the autumn (October-November), and the ancient method of beating the tree with rods is still frequently employed. (Deut. 24:20; Isa. 24:13) In Bible times gleaners gathered the remaining fruit. (Isa. 17:6) By nature the tree is an alternately bearing one, that is, its good harvest is followed by a slack one the following year. The fresh fruit contains a bitter substance that is removed by soaking in brine, and the olives are then eaten raw or pickled. Their chief value, however, is in their oil, which composes as much as 30 percent or more (by weight) of the fresh fruit. One good tree, yielding from ten to fifteen gallons (37.8 to 56.8 liters) in a year, thus could provide the proportion of fats needed in the diet of a family of five or six persons. The wood of the tree is very hard and must be seasoned for years to be of value for woodworking.

The olive tree not only lives for centuries but, if cut down, will send up as many as five new shoots from its roots to develop into new trunks, and aged trees also will often perpetuate themselves in this way. New trees are frequently planted by using slips cut from a grown tree. Thus the psalmist’s illustration is very apt when likening the blessed man’s sons to “slips of olive trees all around your table.”—Ps. 128:3.

GRAFTING

Wild olive trees growing on hillsides were often subjected to grafting with cuttings from the cultivated productive trees in order that they would produce good fruit. It was quite contrary to the regular procedure, therefore, for wild stock to be grafted into a cultivated tree, inasmuch as the wild stock would continue to bear its own fruit. This heightens the force of Paul’s illustration at Romans 11:17-24, wherein he likened the Gentile Christians who became part of the ‘seed of Abraham’ to branches of a wild olive tree grafted into a cultivated tree to replace the unproductive branches that were broken off and that represented the rejected natural Jewish members removed from the symbolic tree for their lack of faith. (Gal. 3:28, 29) This act, “contrary to nature,” emphasizes God’s undeserved kindness toward such Gentile believers, stresses the benefits resulting to them as branches of “a wild olive” in receiving of the “fatness” of the garden olive’s roots, and thus removes any basis for boasting on the part of these Gentile Christians.—Compare Matthew 3:10; John 15:1-10.

GROVES AND PRESSES

Conditions permitting, nearly every village in Palestine had its olive grove. Its failure, as when damaged by its principal enemy, the caterpillar, constituted a grave disaster for the people. (Amos 4:9) King David had valued olive groves in the Shephelah region. (1 Chron. 27:28) The mountain ridge to the E of Jerusalem about a “sabbath day’s journey” distant was noted for its olives in King David’s day, and by Zechariah’s time was already called “the mountain of the olive trees.” (2 Sam. 15:30; Zech. 14:4; Luke 19:29; 22:39; Acts 1:12) The large number of ancient stone olive presses found throughout Palestine testify to the extensive cultivation of the tree. The “gardens” of that time were frequently in the nature of an orchard and often contained an olive press. Thus the garden named Gethsemane, to which Jesus retired after the last supper with his disciples, draws its name from an Aramaic term gath sh^emanimʹ meaning “an oil press.” Olives were also trodden by foot at times.—Mic. 6:15.

FIGURATIVE USE

The olive tree is used figuratively in the Bible as a symbol of fruitfulness, beauty and dignity. (Ps. 52:8; Jer. 11:16; Hos. 14:6) Its branches were among those used in the Festival of Booths. (Neh. 8:15; Lev. 23:40) At Zechariah 4:3, 11-14 and Revelation 11:3, 4 olive trees are used as symbols of God’s anointed ones and witnesses.

OLIVES, MOUNT OF

A chain of rounded limestone hills located on the eastern side of Jerusalem, a “sabbath day’s journey” away, and separated from the city by the Kidron Valley. (Ezek. 11:23; Zech. 14:4; Acts 1:12) Anciently, this ridge was covered with palm, myrtle, oil and, particularly, olive trees. (Neh. 8:15) From the olive trees this range got its name. During the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., however, the Mount of Olives was denuded of its trees. (Wars of the Jews, Book V, chap. XII, par. 4) Including the so-called “Mount of Offense,” the Mount of Olives extends about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from NE to SW and has four summits. According to a recent survey, the highest and most northerly of these eminences rises to an altitude of 2,963 feet (903 meters) above the level of the Mediterranean Sea or more than 400 feet (122 meters) above the general elevation of Jerusalem.

Notable events of Bible history are associated with the Mount of Olives. King David, barefoot and weeping, ascended the Mount of Olives as he fled from his rebellious son Absalom. (2 Sam. 15:14, 30, 32) King Solomon built high places for idolatrous worship there. (1 Ki. 11:7) King Josiah later made