Jeremiah Prophesies Against The People (Jeremiah 11:16-17).
Israel had been officially named by YHWH as Zayith-ra‘anan-yephe-peri-to'ar (an olive tree green, beautiful and with luscious fruit) when He had called them by that Name as His elect people. But such had been their behaviour that He was now setting fire to it and breaking off its branches, bringing evil on them because of their own evil behaviour. This description of Israel as the olive tree with its branches being broken off would be taken up by Paul in Romans 11:15-28.
“YHWH called your name, ‘A green olive-tree,
Beautiful with goodly fruit.'
With the noise of a great tumult he has kindled fire on it,
And the branches of it are broken.”
We must not underestimate the significance of this description. There are only a few examples in Scripture when it was said, ‘YHWH called your name --', and in all such cases it was at a moment of huge importance in His scheme of things. In Genesis 5:2, ‘YHWH called their name Man (Adam)' which was the indication of a unique creation. In Genesis 35:10 (compare Jeremiah 32:28) ‘YHWH called his name Israel --', an indication that Jacob was especially and uniquely set apart for YHWH in His purposes under his new name. In Jeremiah 20:3 Jeremiah in effect says of the evil Pashur, ‘YHWH has --- called your name Magor-missa-bib (terror on every side)' as an indication of the judgment coming on his house, and on Judah. Here YHWH had called Judah/Israel's name, Zayith-ra‘anan-yephe-peri-to'ar (an olive tree green, beautiful and with luscious fruit), presumably seen as the name given from Sinai onwards, when they were ‘planted' (Jeremiah 11:17). Thus YHWH is seen as having given to Israel from its defining moment the name, ‘Green, beautiful, olive tree with luscious fruit'. While therefore we may think especially of the vine as the symbol of Israel's special status, in that that idea is often referred to Israel, YHWH from the beginning saw them especially as ‘the Olive Tree', which may well be why Paul chose it as his symbol of Israel in Romans 11:17-28.
The olive tree was very suitable for the purpose. It was famous for its beauty and its leafy branches (Hosea 14:6), and was seen as providing valuable commodities, being the source of oil for lighting, cooking, eating, medicinal purposes, and general anointing, as well as being a major source of exports (compare Hosea 12:1). It was a tree at the heart of their very lives. This description thus showed YHWH's initial high view of Israel. The ‘goodly fruit' may be seen as indicating the fulfilling of works in accordance with the covenant, as an Israel obedient to YHWH, or as indicating the multiplying of Israel by a multiplicity of births until they were ‘as the sand by the seashore'.
But the point being made is that that beautiful tree with its spreading branches and abundance of fruit would sadly soon be caught up in the tumult of invading forces, with its trunk set alight and its branches broken off. Judah would produce no more fruit and blessing for the world for a long time to come.
“For YHWH of hosts, who planted you,
Has pronounced evil against you,
Because of the evil of the house of Israel,
And of the house of Judah,
Which they have wrought for themselves in provoking me to anger,
By offering incense to Baal.”
For YHWH, Who is over all the hosts of heaven and earth, was the One Who had planted them as a fruitful olive tree (and as a flourishing vine - Jeremiah 2:21). But now He was pronouncing evil against them because of the evil of which they were guilty. None of either Israel or Judah would be safe, for they had wrought evil in that they had provoked YHWH to anger by offering incense to Baal. For they still crept into their mountain sanctuaries, and made their offerings, even in the time of Josiah when it would often be in sanctuaries known only to those in the know. For many would be natural rock formations, and the altar of incense would be a rock. But those who knew of them saw them as wholly sacred. By the time of Jehoiakim, of course, such secrecy would no longer be required.