Job 30:4
Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
Original Language Analysis
עֲלֵי
H5921
עֲלֵי
Strong's:
H5921
Word #:
3 of 7
above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications
שִׂ֑יחַ
by the bushes
H7880
שִׂ֑יחַ
by the bushes
Strong's:
H7880
Word #:
4 of 7
a shoot (as if uttered or put forth), i.e., (generally) shrubbery
Historical Context
The Malluach (saltbush) and Retamim (broom tree) are both desert shrubs found in the Negev and surrounding wilderness areas. Ancient sources confirm these were famine foods, eaten only when all else failed. The broom tree provided minimal shade but had woody, nearly inedible roots—making Job's description all the more poignant.
Questions for Reflection
- How does Job's botanical precision force readers to confront the concrete reality of poverty?
- In what ways does our theology address (or ignore) the most economically marginalized?
- How does Jesus's voluntary poverty inform Christian response to those eating 'mallows and juniper roots' today?
Analysis & Commentary
Who cut up mallows by the bushes (הַקֹּטְפִים מַלּוּחַ עֲלֵי־שִׂיחַ)—The participle describes ongoing action: 'plucking' (קֹּטְפִים, qotfim) maluach (מַלּוּחַ, saltbush or orache), a bitter shrub eaten only in desperate hunger. These grew among siach (שִׂיחַ, bushes/scrub). And juniper roots for their meat (וְשֹׁרֶשׁ רְתָמִים לַחְמָם)—The roots of retamim (רְתָמִים, broom tree/juniper) became their 'bread' (לֶחֶם, lechem), an ironic reversal of staff-of-life imagery.
The detailed botanical description isn't ornamental—it shows outcasts surviving on plants even animals avoid. Elijah sheltered under a broom tree in suicidal despair (1 Kings 19:4); these people ate its roots. The passage confronts comfortable religion with extreme poverty's degrading reality. Jesus, who had 'no place to lay his head' (Matthew 8:20), identified with such radical dispossession.