Mallows
“From a root meaning 'salt'”
Summary
Mallows refers to a salt-loving plant eaten by the desperately poor in biblical times, most likely the sea orache (Atriplex halimus).
☩Identification
The Hebrew word malluach derives from melach meaning 'salt,' suggesting a plant with a saline character. While the Authorized Version renders it 'mallows,' modern scholarship and the Revised Version favor 'salt-wort.' The most probable identification is Atriplex halimus, the sea orache or shrubby orache, which belongs to the family Chenopodiaceae and grows abundantly along Mediterranean coasts and in salt marshes. This plant also flourishes on the shores of the Dead Sea, where it can reach heights of ten feet—more than double its Mediterranean size.
☩Biblical Context
The plant appears only in Job's lament, where he complains of being mocked by the lowliest of people—those so destitute that they 'cut up mallows by the bushes for their meat.' The passage emphasizes the extreme poverty of these individuals, who had to subsist on wild plants with sour, barely edible leaves. The mallows formed a dense mass of thin twigs, and though its thick, sour-tasting leaves could be eaten in desperation, they provided miserable sustenance. Various species of Atriplex, Salsola, and other salt-tolerant plants have been eaten by the poor throughout history in the arid regions of the Near East.
Related Verses1 mention
Job· 1 verse
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Mallows," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. V (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.George Morrish, "Mallows," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 3.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Mallows," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).