mallows Summary and Overview

occurs only in Job 30:4 (R.V., "saltwort"). The word so rendered (malluah, from melah, "salt") most probably denotes the Atriplex halimus of Linnaeus, a species of sea purslane found on the shores of the Dead Sea, as also of the Mediterranean, and in salt marshes. It is a tall shrubby orach, growing to the height sometimes of 10 feet. Its buds and leaves, with those of other saline plants, are eaten by the poor in Israel.

#Job 30:4|

MAL'LOWS . Job 30:4. Several species of mallows grow in Bible lands and are eaten as potherbs by the poor. But it is believed that the Hebrew here denotes a plant of saline taste, or one that grows in salt places. The shrubby sea-oracle (Atriplex halimus), closely connected with the saltwort of our coasts, has both these qualifications, and is most generally agreed upon as the mallows of Job, although other plants have their advocates.

malluach. From melach, ("salt".) Therefore rather "saltwort," orache, Atriplex halimus, used as a salad; found in "waste and desolate wildernesses" (Job 30:4). The lowest, complains the patriarch, deride me; as the rude Bedouins of the desert, "who cut up saltwort among the bushes (or 'hedges'), and the broom roots (retem) for their meat." It is white, without thorns, growing near the sea, its leaves broader and smoother than the olive; it is used for hedges (Dioscorides). Four or five feet high, with thick branches, small purple flowers, sour tasting leaves; of the natural order Chenopodiaceae.