Lachish oil press

The oil press on display at Lachish has a surprising application for Bible teaching. The Hebrew  words for oil (“shemen”) and press (“gat”) meant that a place to turn olives into olive oil was a  “gat-shemen,” or “Gethsemane.” When farmers brought their olives to the press, the process was  two-fold. First, the olives were cracked. In this video, a millstone stands ready to be rolled over  harvested olives. The first oil to be produced in this process would be the most valuable, and the  clearest. In the second step, bags of cracked olives would be stacked underneath a press. The  press included a large beam, on which several heavy weights would be hung. In this example,  several rocks with holes drilled into them were once used for this purpose. As the heavy stones  pulled the beam down, the bags of olives were compressed. The press might be left in that  condition overnight, squeezing every drop of oil out of the bags. The symbolism of Jesus praying  in such a place is powerful. Luke even describes Jesus praying in such agony, he appeared to be  sweating blood.