Romans 11:16–24 elaborates the image in a similarly extended way, this time to picture the relationship of the salvation of Gentiles to the Jewish religion. The unbelief of the Jews is likened to branches that are broken from an olive tree. Gentile belief is portrayed as branches grafted onto the existing tree. Jews who come to belief will likewise be grafted onto the tree.
We may note, finally, Jesus’ parable in which he pictures a mustard plant that becomes a tree, “so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches” (Mt 13:32; cf. Mk 4:32; Lk 13:19). The fantastic size of the mustard “tree” is offered as a picture of the expansive promise of the kingdom of heaven.