One of the gifts of travelling to the Holy Land, is that we get to see and understand so much more fully the culture and setting of the scriptures. One great example of this, for me, has been grasping more deeply the connection between the context of Gethsemane and the struggles Jesus faced there.
Gethsemane, in Aramaic, means ‘Oil Press’ and, in the pictures below, you can see a reproduction of the first century technology used to harvest olives and the oil that can be pressed out of them.
- The stone wheel, driven by a donkey (or in our case one of our YL leaders!), crushes the olives and produces what we know as Virgin oil. This is the very best, and most valued harvest. once the virgin oil has been collected, the olives are then taken in the olive basket to the next stages.
2. The second pressing is done by moving the olives to a lever press. Here more weight is added to the process and so the olives are squeezed even more – producing oil that is used for cooking and medicinal purposes.
3. Then, the final harvesting is done by adding large stones to the lever arm and, one last time, pressing the olives under great weight. This last endeavour produces oil that is suitable for oil lamps and the making of soaps.
4. The leftover pulp that remains, is then gathered and kept to be used as firelighters.
Three pressings of harvest in an oil press and three pressings of Jesus in prayer in the Garden by that name. What an insight to his suffering on our behalf!
