Juniper

Is found in the English Bible, 1Ki 19:4,5 ; Job 30:4 ; Psa 120:4 . The Hebrew word, however, signifies the plant Genista, or Spanish broom, which is common in the desert regions of Arabia, and has yellowish blossoms and a bitter root.\par

Juniper. 1Ki 19:4-5; Job 30:4; Psa 120:4. A sort of broom, Genista monosperma, Genista raetam of Forskal, answering to the Arabic rethem. It is very abundant in the desert of Sinai, and affords shade and protection, in both heat and storm, to travellers. The rethem is a leguminous plant, and bears a white flower. It is found also in Spain. It is an erect shrub, with no main trunk, but many wand-like, slender branches, and is sometimes twelve feet high. Its use is very great in stopping the sand. -- Editor).

rothem, the Spanish broom, Genista monosperma, white blossoming (1Ki 19:4-6; Job 30:4; Psa 120:4). Abundant in the desert of Sinai. The bushy shrub, eight or ten feet high, shaded Elijah from the heat. The Bedouins still make charcoal of the wood, as the psalmist describes. The eating of its bitter roots for food is Job’s illustration of the degradation and famine to which the outcasts he describes were reduced.

Juniper. Unquestionably, the original intends the rçlem (Rçtama r¿tam), a shrub of the broom family, attaining a height of about 12 feet. Under its shade travellers are glad to creep on a sultry day for a noontime nap, and thus Elijah lay and slept after his long journey. 1Ki 19:4-5.

rothem. This is supposed to refer, not to the juniper (see HEATH), but to the Arabic ratam, the Retama raetam, a ’broom’ that grows twelve feet high, under which a person could sit for shelter. 1Ki 19:4-5. In Job 30:4 reference is made to its roots being used for food by the poor. Its roots were also burnt for charcoal, and Psa 120:4 says that sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of juniper were to be applied to a false tongue.

By: Emil G. Hirsch, I. M. Casanowicz

The traditional rendering of "rotem" in I Kings xix. 4, 5; Ps. cxx. 4; and Job xxx. 4, adopted by Aquila and the Vulgate, and followed by the English versions; while the Septuagint seem to have been at a loss regarding the exact meaning of the Hebrew term, and either transcribe it by ῥαθμέν, or render it by the general term φυτὸν ἐρημικόν, or ξῦλον. As "rotem" is unquestionably identical with the Arabic "ratam," which means "broom" (comp. Löw, "Aramäische Pfianzennamen," p. 366), it must likewise be intended for some species of that shrub, probably the Genista rœtam (Forskal, "Flor. Eg.-Arab." lvi.), which is indigenous to the Sinaitic peninsula and to Arabia Petra, and is the most conspicuous shrub in the desert south of Palestine. Rising to a height of ten to twelve feet, and growing in clustered bushes, the broom affords a grateful shade in the desert, which fact is referred to in I Kings (comp. Vergil, "Georgics," ii. 434); while the allusion in Ps. cxx. 4 agrees with the fact that the coals of the broom burn a long time and emit an intense heat.

More difficult is the passage in Job, where the roots of the rotem are spoken of as "meat"; for, while the leaves and fruit of the broom are a favorite food of goats, the roots are inedible. It may be that the allusion is merely intended to depict extreme distress, unless for ("their meat") is to be read ("to warm themselves"; so R. V. margin; comp. Isa. xlvii. 14. "Rithmah," a place-namederived from "rotem," is mentioned in Num. xxxiii. 18.

The juniper proper, Juniperus Sabina, or savin, is assumed to be intended by "'ar'ar" (Jer. xvii. 6, xlviii. 6 [A. V. "heath"; R. V. margin, "tamarisk"]), as that is the meaning of the identical term in Arabic. This tree grows to a height of ten to fifteen feet, and abounds in the rocks of Arabia Petra.

Bibliography:

Balfour, Plants of the Bible, p. 50;

Robinson, Researches, 1838, i. 203, 299; ii. 506;

Tristram, Nat. Hist. pp. 358-359, London, 1867.

JUNIPER (rôthem) is undoubtedly the Arab. [Note: Arabic.] ratam, a species of broom very common in desert places in Palestine and Sinai. This broom (Retama retem) is in many such places the only possible shade; it sometimes attains a height of 7 to 8 feet (1Ki 19:5). The root is still burned to furnish charcoal (Psa 120:4). In Job 30:4 mention is made of the roots being cut up for food. As they are bitter and nauseous and contain very little nourishment, this vividly pictures the severity of the famine in the wilderness.

E. W. G. Masterman.

jōō´ni-pẽr (רתם, rōthem; ῥαθμέν, rhathmén, 1Ki 19:4 f, margin “broom”; Psa 120:4, m “broom”; Job 30:4 translated “broom”): This is quite certainly the Arabic ratam (Retama retem, Natural Order, Leguminosae), a variety of broom which is one of the most characteristic shrubs of the deserts of Southern Palestine and southward to Egypt. Though the shade it affords is but scanty, in the absence of other shrubs it is frequently used by desert travelers as a refuge from the sun’s scorching rays (compare 1Ki 19:4). The root yields good charcoal, giving out much heat (Psa 120:4). For people to be reduced to chew it for nourishment betokens the lowest depth of starvation (Job 30:4). Indeed so hopeless is this root as a source of food that many commentators believe that the accepted text is in error, and by altering a single letter, substituting the Hebrew letter, cheth, ()ח for he ()ה, they get a reading, which has been adopted in the Revised Version margin, “to warm them” instead of “their meat,” which certainly is much more probable.

1Ki 19:4 (c) This is a tree which probably represents a defeated spirit, a disappointed life, and a depressed soul. We should always have an axe handy to cut down the juniper tree.

Job 30:4 (c) This indicates that these disappointed and depressed people were feeding on their miseries.

See Broom

The plant referred to in Jeremiah 17:6 and 48:6 is likely a type of juniper, possibly the Phoenician juniper (Juniperus phoenicea) or the savin juniper (Juniperus sabina).

• Juniperus phoenicea grows in rocky, dry regions of Arabia and the Mediterranean.

• Juniperus sabina is more common in the deserts and rocky highlands of Syria and Palestine.

Both are hardy, drought-resistant shrubs or small trees that grow in barren places. This fits with the biblical image of a person who does not trust in the Lord and lives in dry, uninhabited lands. These references in Jeremiah may describe what is sometimes called the brown-berried cedar or sharp cedar, which are traditional names for certain types of juniper. In the King James Version, it is translated as “heath.”

The King James Version incorrectly translated the Hebrew word for "broom" (a desert shrub) as "juniper" in several places (1 Kings 19:4–5; Job 30:4; Psalm 120:4).

See Broom.

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