Difference between revisions of "Juniper"

<p> '''''Rothem''''' , the Spanish broom, '''''Genista Monosperma''''' , white blossoming (&nbsp;1 Kings 19:4-6; &nbsp;Job 30:4; &nbsp;Psalms 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. </p>

<p> <i> rothem. </i> This is supposed to refer, not to the juniper (see [[Heath]] but to the Arabic <i> ratam, </i> the <i> Retama raetam, </i> a 'broom' that grows twelve feet high, under which a person could sit for shelter. &nbsp;1 Kings 19:4,5 . In &nbsp;Job 30:4 reference is made to its roots being used for food by the poor. Its roots were also burnt for charcoal, and &nbsp; Psalm 120:4 says that sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of juniper were to be applied to a false tongue. </p>

<p> '''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. &nbsp;1 Kings 19:4-5. </p>

<p> ''''' jōō´ni ''''' - ''''' pẽr ''''' ( רתם , <i> ''''' rōthem ''''' </i> ; ῥαθμέν , <i> ''''' rhathmén ''''' </i> , &nbsp; 1 Kings 19:4 f, margin "broom"; &nbsp; Psalm 120:4 , m "broom"; &nbsp;Job 30:4 translated "broom"): This is quite certainly the Arabic <i> ''''' ratam ''''' </i> ( <i> ''''' Retama ''''' </i> <i> ''''' retem ''''' </i> , Natural Order, <i> ''''' Leguminosae ''''' </i> ), 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 &nbsp;1 Kings 19:4 ). The root yields good charcoal, giving out much heat (&nbsp;Psalm 120:4 ). For people to be reduced to chew it for nourishment betokens the lowest depth of starvation (&nbsp;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. </p>