A green olive tree. — The parable is essentially the same, though a different symbol is chosen, as that of the vine of Isaiah 5:1; Jeremiah 2:21, or the fig-tree of Luke 13:6. The olive also was naturally a symbol of fertility and goodness, as in Psalms 52:8; Hosea 14:6; Zechariah 4:3; Zechariah 4:11. In the words “the Lord called thy name” we have the expression of the Divine purpose in the “calling and election” of Israel. This was what she was meant to be.
Fair, and of goodly fruit. — The words point, as before, to the ideal state of Israel. She had made no effort to attain that ideal, and therefore the thunderstorm of God’s wrath fell on it. The word for “tumult” is used in Ezekiel 1:24 for the sound of an army on its march, and is probably used as combining the literal or figurative meaning.