Mount of Olives

Located on the eastern slopes of the Jerusalem mountains and set in relative isolation separated from the Temple Mount and the City of David by the Kidron Valley, the Mount of Olives is named after the olive trees that covered its grounds in Biblical times.

The hill, also called Mount Olivet, takes its name from the fact that it was once covered with olive trees.In the Old Testament, King David fled over the Mount of Olives to escape when his son Absalom rebelled (2 Samuel 15:30).After King Solomon turned away from God, he built pagan temples there for the gods of his foreign wives (1 Kings 11:7-8).Ezekiel had a vision of “the glory of the Lord” ascending from the city and stopping on the Mount of Olives (Ezekiel 11:23).Zechariah prophesied that in the final victory of the forces of good over the forces of evil, the Lord of hosts would “stand on the Mount of Olives” and the mount would be “split in two from east to west” (Zechariah 14:3-4).