Mallow and racism

Who pluck mallow by the bushes,

And broom tree roots for their food. (Job 30:4)

The word “mallow” only appears once in the Bible, in this quote from the book of Job, to refer to an edible plant near to desert regions. In Hebrew the term for it is malluakh, which means “salty”, as it is derived from the word for salt, melakh. It is a herbaceous plant which, according to the Talmud, was eaten by the Jews who worked in the rebuilding of the temple in 520 to 515 BC (Kiddushim, III, fol. 66a).

There were several types of mallow in Israel, some of which are edible and rich in vitamins and medicinal properties. They include Malva aegyptia, M. neglecta, M. nicaeensis, M. sylvestris, etc. However, none of these has a salty taste, contrary to what is clearly suggested by his Hebrew name.

This led botanists and translators of the book of Job to believe that the reference in this verse is probably not to mallow but to saltwort or salt bush, which is how it is translated in some versions. It is an edible forage plant with salty leaves, belonging to the Chenopodiaceae family, of European origin but widely distributed throughout the Mediterranean basin and it is abundant in the Holy Land. Being such a common plant, it has received many different popular names, such as lavender, saltwort, marsh mallow, sea purslane, etc. It still forms part of the diet of the Bedouins in the desert, just as the Biblical text indicates here, where we read of young boys who, in the absence of better food, ended up eating the leaves of this plant, and chewing on the roots.

Who were these children who, as the text describes, humiliated Job, laughed at him and had lost all respect for him? It seems that they were outlaws, thieves who lived in the desert after having been driven out of the cities. This respectable patriarch had fallen so low that even these individuals were mocking him and spitting in his face. It seemed that Job could do nothing to defend his honour in the face of this heartless rabble that were picking on him in this way. It would seem that these people were native to the desert, not Semitic people but belonging to another ethnic group and social class towards whom he had shown disrespect and whom he had illtreated in the past. This was Job’s sin: racism.

The great Biblical patriarch, an upright, honourable man who feared God, had religious and racial prejudice. He was like a benevolent and generous king, towards his own people, but he despised and illtreated people who belonged to other ethnic groups. But now these people were turning on him.

Job had to learn, when he hit rock bottom, that the love of God is universal and encompasses every race and ethnic group. At last he understood, in the midst of his utter humiliation, that the Creator “made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth”, and that pride, racism and xenophobia have no place in the heart of a child of the Almighty God.