BROOM TREE

[Heb., roʹthem].

The broom tree is in reality a desert shrub of the pea family. The corresponding Arabic name (ratam) aids in identifying the plant and shows the Authorized Version translation of “juniper tree” to be incorrect.

This bush is one of the most abundant plants of the Judean wilderness, the Sinai Peninsula, as well as the rest of Arabia, and is found in ravines, rocky places, on hillsides, and even in open sand stretches of desert areas, where its roots sink deep to draw up moisture. It grows from three to twelve feet (.9 to 3.7 meters) in height, with numerous thin, rodlike branches and narrow straight leaves. When blossoming, the small clusters of delicate flowers, ranging in color from white to pink, make a lovely sight as they carpet the otherwise barren hillsides. The Hebrew name for the plant (roʹthem) comes from a root word meaning “to bind,” and, according to Pliny (of the first century C.E.), its pliant branches were used for binding and even for basket weaving.

When Elijah fled into the wilderness to escape Jezebel’s wrath, the record at 1 Kings 19:4, 5 says, he “sat down under a certain broom tree” and then slept there. While the smaller broom trees would provide very scant shade from the burning sun of the wilderness, one of good size could give welcome relief. This desert bush also served as fuel. The wood of the broom tree makes excellent charcoal, which burns with an intense heat, and it is highly valued till this day in Arabic lands.

Because the roots of the broom tree are bitter and nauseous, some have suggested that the reference by Job (30:4) to these as being used for food by persons starving in barren desolation perhaps refers to an edible parasitic plant (called Cynomorium coccineum) that grows like a fungus on these roots. While this may be the case, it is also possible that another variety of this plant existed in Job’s day (some three thousand years ago) rather than just the present white broom tree (Retama raetam) that now grows. Then, too, it should be remembered that a poisonous variety of plant can successfully be treated in such a way as to make it safe for food, as is the cassava plant eaten by the Indians of the Caribbean and of South America.