A place called Gethsemane
appears in the gospels,
(Matthew 26:36,38 and Luke 22:39-71),
immediately after Passover meal, and
right before Messiahs arrest and subsequent crucifixion.
The Hebrew word for Passover
comes from the Hebrew verb
פָּסַח – pasach,
meaning: to pass over or to spare.
The Greek equivalent used in the New Testament to refer to the Passover is
G3957 – πάσχα – pascha
If you are new to this term pesach/Passover, it refers to the 1st of 7 Biblical Appointed Times given by the Lord to be celebrated annually.
(Posts on the 7 Feasts can be found listed on homepage.)
Pesach/Passover commemorates the Israelites’ deliverance from slavery in Egypt. The account can be found in Exodus 12 and tells of the sacrificial lamb that was killed and the meal that followed. This is where Adonai instructed the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb and mark their doorposts and lintel with its blood.
This act was to protect them from the final plague that struck Egypt, the death of the firstborn. The festival is celebrated on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan usually in the months of March and April in the Gregorian calendar. (In 2025 it is today April 12th).
This celebration marks the beginning of the week long annual Appointed Time of Unleavened Bread. It is a time of remembrance and gratitude for the Lords’ salvation and faithfulness, symbolizing redemption and deliverance. Messiah was the prophetic fulfillment of this appointed time, and in Hebrew they are called Moedim. He was the Passover/pesach lamb.
During this Passover/Pesach פָּ֫סַח season
our attention is once again drawn to the places
where Messiah spent His last hours.
One very well known location is
a place called Gethsemane.
The name Gethsemane
stems from an Aramaic phrase often translated
oil press;
highlighting that the area functioned as an olive orchard, where oil was extracted from olives.
The word is of Aramaic origin, from
גת שמנא – gath shemanim, meaning: oil press,
and the Hebrew equivalent is
גת שמנא –gath shemanim,
which directly translates to
oil press, gath and shemen.
Strongs# 1660 gath: Winepress
Original Word: גַּת
Transliteration: gath
Pronunciation: gath
Phonetic Spelling: gath
Meaning: a wine-press. From an unused root meaning to tread out grapes.
The Greek word G3025 (ληνός, lenos):
and refers to a winepress in the New Testament, used in contexts such as the parable of the wicked tenants in Matthew 21:33.
The Hebrew word gath refers to a winepress, which was a structure or device used for extracting juice from grapes during the winemaking process. In biblical times, winepresses were often hewn out of rock or constructed from stone.
Vineyards and wine production played a crucial role in the agricultural, economic and daily life of ancient Israel. The winepress was a symbol of abundance and blessing, as wine and was a staple in the diet and used in religious rituals. The process of treading grapes in a winepress was labor-intensive and often a communal activity. Winepresses are frequently mentioned in the Bible as metaphors for judgment and blessing, reflecting their dual role in both providing physical sustenance and spiritual symbolism.
The four cups of wine in the Passover Seder reflect the Lords four actions of redemption, as described in Exodus 6:6-7.
They stand for each of the four promises the Lord makes to His people.
The Cup of Sanctification
I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
The Cup of Deliverance
I will rescue you from their bondage.
The Cup of Redemption
I will redeem you with an outstretched arm.
The Cup of Praise
I will take you as My people.
(Described in more detail later in this post).
Strongs #8081 shemen: Oil
Original Word: שֶׁמֶן
Transliteration: shemen
Pronunciation: SHEH-men
Phonetic Spelling: (sheh’-men)
Definition: Oil, grease, liquid, richness, which is derived from an unused root meaning to shine or be oily. from shamen fat, oil.
NASB Translation
choice (1), fatness (2), fertile (2), fertile* (1), lavish (1), oil (176), oils (3), ointment (1), olive (6), wild* (1).
Corresponding Greek #1637 (elaion): Olive oil, used in similar contexts as shemen, for anointing and as a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
Also #5548 (chriō): To anoint, often used in the New Testament to describe the anointing of Yeshua/Jesus and believers with the Holy Spirit/Ruach haKodesh.
The Hebrew word shemen primarily refers to oil, particularly olive oil, which was also a staple in ancient Israelite culture. It was and still is used in various contexts, including anointing, cooking, lighting lamps, and as a symbol of abundance and blessing. In the religious context, oil was used for anointing priests, kings, and sacred objects, signifying consecration and the presence of the Holy Spirit. In ancient Israel, olive oil was a valuable commodity, essential for daily life and religious practices. It was used in offerings and as a base for anointing oils and perfumes. Because olive oil production was a significant agricultural activity, and its abundance was often seen as a sign of the Heavenly Father’s blessing. The process of extracting oil from olives involved crushing and pressing, which is metaphorically significant in many biblical texts.
Rather than ‘a garden’ as we would imagine, the name Gethsemane reflects its more likely use as an olive press, indicating its connection to olive groves and because olive oil was a staple in the Mediterranean diet and economy, olive presses were common in areas with olive groves.
The Mount of Olives, where Gethsemane is located, was a significant site in Jewish tradition and prophecy.
The garden’s setting provided a secluded place for prayer and reflection, away from the bustling city of Jerusalem
and
we are told in Acts 1:12.
was a
“Sabbath day’s walk from the city.”
The pressing of grapes and olives correlates symbolically with the pressure Yeshua/Jesus felt the night before His crucifixion.
Many interpreters have pointed out the powerful parallel between the crushing and pressing of olives to produce oil,
the crushing and pressing of grapes to produce wine;
and Messiah experiencing
the crushing and pressing of intense sorrow and grief
before His ultimate sacrifice.
John notes in 18:1 that Jesus “went out with His disciples across the Kidron Valley” and entered a garden familiar to them.
This place of olive trees and oil press was known as a garden being located across the Kidron Valley on the
Mount of Olives (Hebrew Har ha-Zetim).
This was a ridge paralleling the eastern part of Jerusalem, and in reality is an olive orchard at the foot of the Mount of Olives.
In Matthew 26:38, Messiah reveals that His soul is
“consumed with sorrow to the point of death.”
This extreme pressure reflects how He willingly stepped into the role of the sacrificial Lamb, bearing the weight of humanity’s sins, John 1:29.
The prayerful agony in Gethsemane highlights His full humanity experiencing that stress and grief, while also highlighting His resolve to complete the Fathers plan of redemption.
In Luke 22:44 we are told that His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground, a profound picture that some modern medical experts link to extreme stress. This condition, known as hematidrosis, and although rare, it has been documented in medical literature, further showing both the historical and physiological reliability of the Gospel accounts.
Without doubt we can never fully comprehend Messiah’s agony in that garden but neither should we set it to the side; because it is the agony of the One True God and Man at the same time, coming face to face with sin. It was the event of the ages, which was Holiness meeting with that which is evil and out of harmony with everything that He is. We cannot learn about Gethsemane through personal experience. Gethsemane and Calvary represent something totally unique, they are the gateway the doorway into life for us. The door, the dalith, Whom Yeshua/Jesus said He was.
The door, the dalet/dalith, for the sheep.
Strong’s Hebrew: 1808. דָּלִיּוֹת (dalith) —
Door, Doorpost. Derived from the root דָּלַל (dalal),
which means “to hang” or “to be low.”
In John 10:9-16 Yeshua tells us that He is not only the shepherd of His sheep, but also the door of the sheep. In doing so, He is inviting us to be part of His sheepfold.
Because He had stated very clearly in John 18:37, that He came with the express purpose to die. So, it was not just the death He was about to endure on the cross that Yeshua/Jesus agonized over in Gethsemane. He knew He was the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, just as John the Baptist knew and declared it publicly as recorded in John 1:29.
Is it possible that His concern was that He might not get through this struggle as the incarnate son, understanding the human flesh side of His nature and physical being? He was surely confident of getting through it as the only begotten Son of God, satan could not reach Him spiritually, there He was untouchable. However satans assault was that Messiah would come through for us on His own as the son in His humanity. If Yeshua /Jesus had done that He could not have been our Savior. In Hebrews 9:11-15 we can read the record of His agony in light of his earlier wilderness temptations. In Luke 4:13, The devil departed for a more opportune time/season and in Gethsemane, satan came back with his temptations and accusations, but he was overthrown once again. It would seem that the final assault against the humanity of Yeshua/Jesus was in
a place called Gethsemane.
The agony in Gethsemane was the agony in fulfilling His destiny as the Savior of the world. The biblical accounts reveal all that it cost Him to make it possible for us to become sons of God; and the simplicity of our salvation was won on the foundation of His indescribable agony which should make us think more deeply into its meaning!
The cross of Messiah/Christ was a triumph for Him, both as the son of man and the son of God. It was not only a sign that He had triumphed but that he had triumphed to save the human race. Because of what He went through, every human being has been provided with a way of access into the very presence of the Heavenly Father.
The cross of Messiah is the revealed truth of our Heavenly Fathers judgment on sin. We should never think of the cross of Yeshua/Jesus as a martyr’s death because on the contrary, it was the supreme triumph of all time and it shook hells foundations. There is nothing in time and eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable than what Yeshua/Jesus accomplished on that cross. He made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a right standing relationship with YHVH. He made redemption the foundation of human life, that is, He made a way for every person to have fellowship with our Heavenly Father and to become His children in a loving relationship of true family. His mission, HIs destiny was hidden until it was finished and why the word tells us in 1Cor. 2:8 that if satan had realized beforehand, he would never have crucified the Lord of Glory. It was the mystery of the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, hidden, but now revealed. Ephesians 3.
The cross was not something that happened to Him, it wasn’t something The Father didn’t know about, He came to die, the cross was His purpose in coming.
How many times did He walk past the lines of people, crucified by the Romans along the road to Jerusalem, knowing one day He would also be hung on a stake? 
He is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world – the redemption plan was always set in place from the very beginning. Rev. 13:8.
The incarnation of Messiah would have no meaning without the cross. We should be mindful of not separating that YHVH was manifested in the flesh …from, He made Him to be sin for us.
1Tim. 3:16 and 2 Cor. 5:21.
The purpose of the incarnation was redemption. Our Heavenly Father came in the flesh to take sin away not to accomplish something for Himself. The cross is the central event in time and eternity and the answer to the problems of both. The cross is not the cross of a man, but the cross of the King of the Universe, and it can never be fully comprehended through human experience; because the cross is Him exhibiting His nature. It’s the gate, the door, through which any and every individual can enter into oneness with Him, but it is not a gate we pass right through, it’s one where we abide in the life/chaim that is found there.
The heart of salvation is the cross of Christ. The reason salvation is so easy to obtain is that is cost Him so very much. After a place called Gethsemane, the cross was the place where the One True God and sinful man collided, and where the way to eternal life with Him was opened; and His heart absorbed all the agony of that collision. The reason that He was able to do this at all, began with Abram and the covenant that the Father and Messiah made themselves; Genesis 15:17. It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, look, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.
It was not Abram who walked between the parts of the sacrificed animals. It was not Abram who made the covenant with God, or Abrams life would have had to pay the price for the broken covenant. Our Heavenly Father made it with Himself, so when the penalty had to be paid, it was He Himself Who was legally bound to pay with His own life. This life that had to be sacrificed, came in the form of His only begotten Son; Who as the sinless Lamb of God was the perfect offering, Whose blood covered all sin for all time. No more blood sacrifice has ever been and will not ever be needed…
It is finished and we are redeemed.
Every last will and testament/covenant cannot be ratified or fulfilled until the death of the one who made the will. With Messiah s death all the promises of the covenant /testament/will have come into being. And because He rose again in resurrection life, the new-renewed and better covenant is now in effect …eternally. We need a greater understanding of what went before for thousands of years, in order to fully appreciate what we have now been given through the promises of Messiahs victory over sin, death, hell and the grave.
The place called Gethsemane is a reminder of the wine press, the crushing of the grapes, and the part of the Seder Passover meal that includes the 4 cups of wine. This was the custom in Messiahs day and all followed the annual moedim.
For those new to this explanation, below is a brief overview of the 4 cups and their relationship to the 4 promises mentioned previously from Exodus 6:6-7.
Four cups of wine are poured during the course of the Seder.
The first cup is the cup of sanctification.
When drinking the cup of sanctification those at the meal recite, “I will bring you out from Egypt.” Because the children of Israel were enslaved in Egypt for 400 years, many had become bitter, having begun as guests but with time they became slaves and the yoke of slavery was burdensome and heavy. During Passover, we remember how our Heavenly Father brought the children of Israel out from slavery and made them into a great nation with a purpose and calling—to be a light to the nations (Isaiah 42:6, Isaiah 49:6, Acts 13:47) and to bring Messiah Yeshua/ Jesus into the world. Without the Jewish people, without Passover, we would not have the Messiah. When drinking the cup of sanctification, we remember YHVH bringing Israel out of slavery and the miracle that the Messiah came through the line of David.
The 2nd cup reminds us of our deliverance from sin and death, that both Jew and Gentile, are under God’s judgment unless they accept salvation, that is, substitutionary atonement, through Yeshua/Jesus the Messiah Romans 5:9, 1 Cor. 15:1-5, John 14:6. The children of Israel could not just rely on their position as Israelites. They had to respond to the method that our Heavenly Father chose, which was the slaying of the Pesach/Passover lamb .We should humbly remember that just as the children of Israel escaped Egypt in haste, so our time on earth is fleeting – each moment is precious.
The third cup of the Passover/Pesach Seder is The Cup of Redemption and is the first cup to be drunk after the meal. It is believed that it is the Cup of Redemption that Yeshua/Jesus instructed the disciples to partake of in the last supper, as both accounts in Matthew 26:27 and Luke 22:19 describe the cup being taken after the meal. Luke’s account in 22:15 even refers to the last meal Yeshua/Jesus had with his disciples as Passover. In this verse specifically, Messiah tells His disciples:
“I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”
The Cup of Redemption traditionally signifies the slaying of the Passover lamb that spared the Israelites from the 10th plague of the slaying of the first born. This cup traditionally remembers how the Lord redeems Israel with an outstretched arm. It is very significant when Messiah tells His disciples that the wine in this cup is
My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.
As the blood of the Passover Lamb covered the believing Israelites and Egyptians back in Egypt, so the Blood of Messiah covers Jewish and Gentile believers today.
The 4th cup of the Seder is the Cup of Praise. When drinking this cup, there is singing and rejoicing that Israel was made into a nation at Sinai. The leader of the Seder says that the Lord has remembered them; and to this day, our Heavenly Father has remembered the everlasting covenant that He made with Abraham in Genesis 17:7. Traditionally the song called in Hebrew Dayenu, meaning: “it would have been enough” is sung together with psalms of praise. In the song Dayenu, the words thank our Heavenly Father for delivering us from the Egyptians, bringing them through the Sea of Reeds, and bringing them forth as Am Yisrael, the people of Israel. There is a hope when drinking this 4th cup, that our Heavenly Father will forgive, restore the Jewish people, bring them back to the Land of Israel and that the Messiah will return.
Messiah sanctifies us – “And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth” John 17:19.
Messiah delivers us – “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” John 8:32.
Messiah redeems us – “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” Galatians 4:4-5.
Messiah is our joy /praise – “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full” John 15:11.
Three things we can learn:
Dependence on Prayer:
Obedience to God’s Will:
and Vigilance:
A place called Gethsemane underscores the necessity of profound, earnest prayer during times of crisis. Messiah’s willingness to endure unimaginable stress prior to bearing sin for the world, emphasizes total submission to divine plans. The disciples’ weakness in staying awake, warns believers about spiritual alertness and the ease of complacency.
A place called Gethsemane continues to serve as a powerful reminder that sincere prayer, unwavering submission to God, and triumph over human weakness are central to a life rooted in truth and devotion.
The Passover/Pesach is truly our moment to remember that we have passed over from death to life, and to never to take lightly, or for granted, the power of the cross and His sacrificial atoning death and resurrection.
Other posts on this, Pesach /Passover and week of Unleavened Bread can be found in the archives. Some links below for those new to the site.
https://www.minimannamoments.com/palm-sunday-nisan-the-appointed-time-of-the-lamb/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/not-passing-over-passover-week/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/unleavened-bread-matzot-week/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/first-fruits/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/a-lot-can-happen-in-a-week/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/even-more-can-happen-in-and-around-the-same-week/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/midweek-mannabite-secrets-of-the-seder-plate/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/unleavened-bread-matzot-week/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/more-than-one-palm/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/sonset-sunrise-sunset-sonrise-apocalypse-of-the-tamid/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/13-for-supper-and-only-4-cups/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/pesach-emunah-for-his-am-segulah/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/pesach-emunah-for-his-am-segulah-part-2/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/afikomen-mysterious-and-hidden/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/where-was-keifa-the-week-of-chag-hamatzot/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/revealing-the-overcoming-resheet-of-bikkurim/
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