Did you know that the Hebrew word ‘Gethsemane’ means an olive press? (Gat Shmanim)
Olive presses were generally in caves. They had to be in a controlled environment. The olives didn’t respond well with too much or too little heat. There was a huge stone with a trough hewn into it, and another large and heavy circular stone that was rolled around inside of it. The immense pressure from the top stone would crush the olives and oil would run out of them. The olives were pressed several times until all that was left of them was the consistency of dust.
Where did Jesus choose to go on His final night before the crucifixion? He could have gone anywhere to pray. Literally anywhere. He chose a gethsemane. An olive press. What symbolism that entails.
Scripture does not say anything about a garden. It says He went to a place called Gethsemane. Most towns did not have an olive press on every corner. Chances are good that there was only one, and that place was called according to it’s function. Church tradition has put His final prayers in ‘The Garden of Gethsemane’, but none of the three gospels mention it as a garden. (Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22) There were likely olive trees near the olive press, and maybe that is where the tradition came from.
It says that Jesus went away from where the disciples were. He was a stone’s throw in distance. Somehow, they did not hear His anguished cries. They did not see the angel that appeared to Jesus and strengthened Him. They were able to sleep through it all. Maybe it was a supernatural sleep. Maybe it was because He was inside of a cave and they were not.
Jesus knew that night that the weight of the sin of the world would be laid on His shoulders and would crush the life out of Him. He knew that the blood would be spilled from His body in atonement for that sin. I do find it interesting that the Holy Spirit is symbolized in oil, as well. He said that if He did not go away, the Holy Spirit could not come. His body needed to be crushed so the oil of the Spirit could be poured out and do a new work.
It is just food for thought this season as we ponder the great price Jesus paid for our salvation.
Blessings to you,
~Gwen