OIL. Fat or oil used for many purposes in the ancient Near E; a necessity of life in Biblical times.

1. Terminology. שֶׁ֫מֶן, H9043, from word meaning “grow fat” (Exod 25:6; Lev 10:7; Ezek 16:9, etc.); יִצְהָר֒, H3658, “fresh oil,” from word meaning “to appear” (Deut 7:13; Neh 5:11; Hag 1:11; etc.); מְשַׁ֗ח, from word meaning “to smear” (Ezra 6:9; 7:22); צָהַר, H7414, “to press out oil” (Job 24:11). The Gr. word for olive oil, ἔλαιον, G1778, (Matt 25:3; Luke 7:46, etc.) and the Lat. “oleum,” from which the Eng. “oil” is derived, seem to go back to a Sem. term for oil, ulu.

2. History of usage. The origin of the use of oil for illumination, food, unguents, medicines, and sacred purposes is lost in antiquity. The ancient Egyptians made use of at least twelve different vegetable oils, including olive, castor, balanos, and almond. They were skilled in the manufacture of ointments and perfumes which required oil bases. Oil was used from early times in Greece. The ancients used some animal fats but depended mainly on olive oil. The olive was cultivated as early as 2500 b.c. in Crete. The modern species of olive prob. is descended from the wild Oleaster or Olea. Spain and Africa prob. received the olive from Phoen. traders and settlers. From the Eastern Mediterranean, cultivation of the olive and its use in cooking spread westward, reaching Rome about 580 b.c. It eventually was common in all coastal regions of the Mediterranean, spreading into N Europe. Moses called Pal. a “land of olive trees” (Deut 8:8).

3. Preparation. The first stage was the picking of olives in the fall (Sept-Nov), usually by hand, in order not to spoil the olives. A good tree yielded ten to fifteen gallons of oil annually. After picking, the oil was separated from the pulp and from a bitter watery liquid which the ancients called “amurca.” It was essential to avoid crushing the kernel. This was achieved by first partly crushing the olive, removing the kernel and the liquid and then pressing out the oil. All this usually was done quite soon after picking, though the olives were sometimes stored for a time on the floor of the press-house. They were sometimes trod by foot (Mic 6:15) or by pounding with a pestle, the latter yielding the finer “beaten...oil” (cf. Exod 27:20). They were sometimes crushed with a heavy stone in a shallow cavity hewn in stone. The Romans prob. were responsible for the invention of the “trapetum,” a device which could crush the olives without crushing the kernels. It consisted of a pair of stones turning around a solid column in the middle of a basin and could be adjusted to a given distance from the walls of the basin, thus crushing the olives just right without spoiling the oil. To extract the last drop of oil the remaining pulp was soaked in hot water and then subjected to a second pressing in a beam or screw press that also was commonly used in the production of wine. This second pressing could be carried out by stages, increasing the pressure each time. Each additional pressing produced more oil but of lower quality. Usually three grades of olive oil were extracted. The unguents and cosmetics required oil of a high purity. The extracted oil was allowed to stand in a rock-hewn vat or in a jar while the impurities settled. Large commercial presses were found at Debir and Beth-shemesh in Judah, dating from the 10th to 6th cent. b.c.

4. Uses

a. Food. Though not mentioned often in the Bible, oil was an essential food in ancient times. Olive oil was the main source of fat used in cooking (1 Kings 17:12-16; 2 Kings 4:2). It was mixed with meal from which bread was made (1 Kings 17:12). The taste of manna was compared to that of cakes baked with oil (Num 11:8). Cakes made of fine flour mingled with oil, or with oil poured on them comprised part of the meal offering (Lev 2:1, 4-7). Though these cakes were for ritual purposes, the use of oil in them prob. indicates that it was used similarly in the home. A common food of the Greeks was “maza,” a kind of porridge, which contained flour, honey, and oil. Beans, beer, wine, and oil supplemented the bread diet of the Rom. soldiers. Olives eaten with coarse brown bread are still the main food of many of the poor in Biblical lands today.

b. Illumination. Lamps were an essential part of a well-equipped house (2 Kings 4:10). They have been found in great numbers in all excavated cities from the Middle Bronze Age on. They were simple shallow clay bowls with pinched lips to hold the wick fast as it extended over the edge. Oil was poured in the bowl to serve as fuel (Exod 25:6; cf. Matt 25:3-8 which warned that the wise person carried with him an adequate supply of oil for his lamp). Pure beaten oil was used for the continual light in the Tabernacle (Exod 27:20). Olive-fed lamps were lighted on high places to mark the beginning of the new moon. The lamp continued in its development until in the Hellenistic-Roman-Byzantine period the shallow clay bowl had become enclosed, with only a small hole on top for pouring in oil and an extension on the side with a separate hole for the wick.

c. Medicinal. The ancient Egyptians had “holy oils” which combined medical and magical qualities; medicine and religion were intimately associated in ancient times. The same close relationship between magic and medicine existed in Mesopotamia. Oil was a common remedy for wounds (Isa 1:6; Mark 6:13). Sometimes wine was added to the oil and then poured on the wound (Luke 10:34). Herod was placed in a bath of warm oil in an attempt to cure his disease (Jos, War. I. xxxiii. 5). The elders were instructed to anoint the sick with oil (James 5:14).

d. Cosmetic. Oil was used widely in the ancient Near E to anoint the body (see Ointment). Its use was essential in the burning eastern sun to avoid desiccation of the skin, being omitted only in time of mourning (2 Sam 14:2). The body usually was anointed after bathing (Ruth 3:3; 2 Sam 12:20; Ps 104:15) and oil was also poured on the hair (Eccl 9:8). Olive oil still is made into fine soap by the addition of soda.

e. Religious. Religious use of unguents is quite old. In the Petersburg Papyrus the snake goddess was promised nine holy oils to anoint her statue. Oil is mentioned frequently in the Bible in connection with anointing, whether of a king (1 Sam 10:1; 2 Kings 9:3), a priest (Lev 8:30), a prophet (Isa 61:1), or even the shield of a soldier (2 Sam 1:21; Isa 21:5), the latter prob. as an act of consecration or as a preservative. The Tabernacle and its furnishings also were anointed (Exod 30:22-33). Oil was used also in the lamp that burned continually in the sanctuary (27:20; Lev 24:2), as part of the continual burnt offering (Exod 29:40; Num 28:5), and as part of the grain offerings (Lev 2:4-6). It was included as part of the tithes (Deut 12:17). Oil figured prominently in a vision of Zechariah (Zech 4:1-14). It was offered to idols (Isa 57:9).

f. Hospitality. Guests were anointed when they arrived for a banquet (Ps 23:5; Amos 6:6) as a sign of honor. To fail to anoint the guest was a mark of disrespect, as Jesus called to the attention of his host, Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:46). The anointing oil used was usually a perfumed ointment (see Ointment).

5. Commercial value. The principal products of ancient Pal. were grain, wine, and olive oil, all of which were important in commercial life (Num 18:12; Deut 7:13; 2 Chron 32:28; Neh 5:11; Hos 2:8). Olive oil was an important commodity of trade in the ancient world (Ezek 27:17; Luke 16:6). The wealth of the kings of Crete was based partly on the export of olive oil to Egypt and other Mediterranean countries. Beaten oil formed part of Solomon’s annual payment to Hiram of Tyre (1 Kings 5:11). Elisha advised the widow of one of the sons of the prophets to sell her oil to pay her debts (2 Kings 4:7). Oil was kept in the royal storehouses along with gold, silver, and spices (2 Kings 20:13; 2 Chron 32:28). It was used in payment of tribute (Hos 12:1). Ten pilgrims from Shechem and Samaria saved their lives by offering Ishmael their hidden stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey (Jer 41:8). Ostraca from the reign of Jeroboam II found at Samaria contain records of wine and oil deliveries from vineyards and olive groves which belonged to the king. Oil was part of the payment to the Sidonians and Tyrians for the cedar wood which they brought for construction of the second temple (Ezra 3:7). In NT times oil is mentioned as part of the cargo of Babylon, along with gold, silver, ivory, horses, spices, wine, slaves (Rev 18:12, 13). There were oil merchants from whom individuals bought their oil (Matt 25:8).

6. Figurative usage. Oil was a symbol of plenty (Deut 32:13), of luxury (Prov 21:17; Ezek 16:13), of joy (Ps 45:7; Eccl 9:8; Isa 61:3; Heb 1:9), and of hospitality (Ps 23:5). Its lack was evidence of God’s displeasure (Joel 1:10); its abundance was proof of God’s blessing (2:24). It was used fig. as a sign of abundance: Asher will “dip his foot in oil” (Deut 33:24). In his affliction Job remembered better days when “the rock poured out for me streams of oil” (Job 29:6). The words of a deceitful friend are “softer than oil” (Ps 55:21), the speech of a loose woman “smoother than oil” (Prov 5:3). There was a warning against love of wine and oil (21:17). The question was raised whether “rivers of oil” would be a pleasing offering to God (Mic 6:7).

Bibliography R. J. Forbes, Studies in Ancient Technology, III (1955), 101-104; M. S. and J. L. Miller, Encyclopedia of Bible Life (1955), 211, 212; G. E. Wright, Biblical Archaeology (1957), 180; M. Noth, The Old Testament World (1966), 98, 163, 164.