Graft

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Psalm 128:3 Romans 11:17-24

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Romans 11:17-24

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(ἐγκεντρίζω , to prick in or spur on,  Wisdom of Solomon 16:11; hence to insert by an incision,  Romans 11:23, A.V. "graff in"), the process of inoculating fruit-trees, often resorted to in order to preserve the quality of the fruit; bytaking shoots or buds from approved trees and inserting.them on others, where; with proper precautions, they continue to grow ( Romans 11:17-24). By this process particular sorts of fruit may be kept from degenerating, which they are very apt to do when raised from the seed; for the grafts, though they receive their nourishment from the stocks, always produce fruit of the same sort as the tree from which they were taken. This process is peculiarly appropriate to the olive-tree (Stuart, Comment. ad loc.). An insect of the gnat species is said to breed in the male fig-tree, and, being covered with the pollen of the male flowers, impregnates with it the stigma of the female tree. The flowers of the palm-tree yield fruit only on the female tree, when its stigmata have been fecundated by pollen from the male; and as it is precarious to leave this process to be effected by insects or the wind, it is commonly done by manual labor. See Fig. The Hebrews appear to have pinched off the blossoms of the fruit-trees during the three first years of their growth, in order to improve their fruitfulness ( Numbers 18:12-13). (See Tree).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

graft ( ἐγκεντρίζω , egkentrı́zō  ; the Revised Version (British and American) "graft"; the King James Version, "graff"): The word occurs 6 times in   Romans 11 . Paul assumed that those living about Rome were familiar with the process of grafting olive trees, for olive culture had been adopted by the Greeks and Romans in Paul's time. The wild olive trees (Arabic colloquial, zeitûn berri ) are cut back, slits made on the freshly sawed branch ends, and two or three grafts from a cultivated olive (Arabic colloquial, zeitûn jouwi ) are inserted in such a way that the bark of the scion and of the branch coincide. The exposed ends are smeared with mud made from clay, and then bound with cloth or date straw, which is held by thongs made from the bark of young mulberry branches. The fruit thus obtained is good. Wild olives cannot be made cultivated olives by engrafting, as Paul implies (  Romans 11:24 ), but a wild olive branch thus grafted would thrive. So Gentiles would flourish spiritually when grafted into the fullness of God's mercy, first revealed to the world through Israel.