Job 6:6

by bite me 3 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  bite me

  I hope everyone had a wonderful christmas and will have a wonderful new year!

  I haven't visited this board for a few days... maybe a week or so. Holidays keeping me busy. :0)

  On reading the bible I was thinking about something that I came across (forgive me if has already been brought up) but on Job 6:6

  in a "normal" bible the verse reads "can flavorless food be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?"

  in the NWT it reads "...slimy juice of a marshmellow"

  what the heck does that mean? Please, anyone who has an answer for that I'd be greatful.
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  uninformed

  Job 6:6

  -

  Job 6:6

  Can that which hath no savour be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

  Can that which is unsavoury -

  Which is insipid, or without taste.

  Be eaten without salt -

  It is necessary to add salt in order to make it either palatable or wholesome. The literal truth of this no one can doubt, Insipid food cannot be relished, nor would it long sustain life. "The Orientals eat their bread often with mere salt, without any other addition except some dry and pounded summer-savory, which last is the common method at Aleppo." Russell’s Natural History of Aleppo, p. 27. It should be remembered, also, that the bread of the Orientals is commonly mere unleavened cakes; see Rosenmuller, Alte u. neue Morgenland, on Gen_18:6 . The idea of Job in this adage or proverb is, that there was a fitness and propriety in things. Certain things went together, and were necessary companions. One cannot be expected without the other; one is incomplete without the other. Insipid food requires salt in order to make it palatable and nutritious, and so it is proper that suffering and lamentation should be united.

  There was a reason for his complaints, as there was for adding salt to unsavory food. Much perplexity, however, has been felt in regard to this whole passage;

  Job_6:6-7 . Some have supposed that Job means to rebuke Eliphaz severely for his harangue on the necessity of patience, which he characterizes as insipid, impertinent, and disgusting to him; as being in fact as unpleasant to his soul as the white of an egg was to the taste. Dr. Good explains it as meaning, "Doth that which has nothing of seasoning, nothing of a pungent or irritating power within it, produce pungency or irritation? I too should be quiet and complain not, if I had nothing provocative or acrimonious; but alas! the food I am doomed to partake of is the very calamity which is most acute to my soul, that which I most loathe, and which is most grievous or trying to my palate." But the real sense of this first part of the verse is, I think, that which is expressed above - that insipid food requires proper condiment, and that in his sufferings there was a real ground for lamentation and complaint - as there was for making use of salt in that which is unsavory. I see no reason to think that he meant in this to reproach Eliphaz for an insipid and unmeaning address.

  Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? -

  Critics and commentators have been greatly divided about the meaning of this. The Septuagint renders it, e?? de´ ?a?´ e?st?´ ?e??µa e?? ???´µas? ?e?????eidekaiestigeumaenre¯masikenois ; is there any taste in vain words? Jerome (Vulgate), "can anyone taste that which being tasted produces death?" The Targums render it substantially as it is in our version. The Hebrew word rendered "white" ( ???ri^yr ) means properly spittle; 1Sa_21:13 . If applied to an egg, it means the white of it, as resembling spittle. The word rendered "egg" ( ??????challa^mu^th ) occurs nowhere else in the Scriptures. If it be regarded as derived from ???cha^lam , to sleep, or dream, it may denote somnolency or dreams, and then fatuity, folly, or a foolish speech, as resembling dreams; and many have supposed that Job meant to characterize the speech of Eliphaz as of this description.

  The word may mean, as it does in Syriac, a species of herb, the "purslain" (Gesenius), proverbial for its insipidity among the Arabs, Greeks, and Romans, but which was used as a salad; and the whole phrase here may denote purslain-broth, and hence, an insipid discourse. This is the interpretation of Gesenius. But the more common and more probable explanation is that of our common version, denoting the white of an egg. But what is the point of the remark as Job uses it? That it is a proverbial expression, is apparent; but in what way Job meant to apply it, is not so clear. The Jews say that he meant to apply it to the speech of Eliphaz as being insipid and dull, without anything to penetrate the heart or to enliven the fancy; a speech as disagreeable to the mind as the white of an egg was insipid to the taste. Rosenmuller supposes that he refers to his afflictions as being as unpleasant to bear as the white of an egg was to the taste. It seems to me that the sense of all the proverbs used here is about the same, and that they mean, "there is a reason for everything which occurs. The ass brays and the ox lows only when destitute of food. That which is insipid is unpleasant, and the white of an egg is loathsome. So with my afflictions. They produce loathing and disgust, My very food

  Job_6:7 is disagreeable, and everything seems tasteless as the most insipid food would. Hence the language which I have used - language spoken not without reason, and expressive of this state of the soul."

  Little thought from a different translation

  Brant
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  Justitia Themis

  I believe it is referring to the healing properties of the mallow plant.

  http://books.google.com/books?id=cL2WWTCsWQIC&pg=PA227&lpg=PA227&dq=slimy+juice+of+a+marshmallow&source=web&ots=7kfhFhO6p9&sig=VHo8YNGz7griz0a2jgfxaZbPgGU

  http://www.planetbotanic.ca/fact_sheets/marshmallow_fs.htm

  Scientific Name: Althaea officinalis

  Part Used: Root

  In a word: Skin soother

  Uses: Irritated Skin

  If you are thinking that I am about to suggest applying marshmallows to your irritated skin, you are right. It is a little-known fact that marshmallows, now made of sugar and gums, were once made from a plant called the marshmallow plant. Marshmallows are an old-time confection, and their main ingredient originally was a mallow plant that is inclined to grow – guess where – in the marsh. Its roots contain a large quantity of a very slimy substance called mucilage. Several centuries ago, a very chic dessert called pate de guimauve was made by grinding the root and adding the resulting powder to beaten egg whites and sugar. The end result, served at many a royal dinner, was also known as marsh-mellows. In time, the ground marshmallow root in the confection was replaced by animal gels and gums. Today, there is hardly a natural ingredient in those sticky sweets found at the grocery store, but this wasn’t always the case.

  Though we no longer use marshmallow root in candy making, herbalists have always used and continue to use marshmallow to sooth irritated tissue, whether inside or outside the body. The plant is native to Europe, but it can now be found growing in most moist spots worldwide.

  ---

  If you have a wound that won’t heal, a wound that you want to heal quickly, or a patch of skin that is giving you a problem, laying some marshmallow on it will get the healing process going.

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  The marshmallow belongs to a very slimy group of plants, the mallow family, which includes okra, cotton, hibiscus, and hollyhock. The common denominator with these plants is their production of a viscous slime. If you have ever eaten okra, or bindi as it is called in Indian cuisine, you are familiar with the substance in question. One thousand species of mallows have been discovered around the globe, and all have this slimy quality to a greater or lesser degree.

  The mucilage in mallow plants is a complex sugar composed of a number of polysaccharides. One of these is made up of 1-rhmanose, d-galactose, d-galacturonic acid, and d-glucuronic acid. The structure of the polysaccharides contained in marshmallow is such that they cannot be digested by the human body. Beyond polysaccharides, the root contains pectin, asparagine, and tannins.

  Marshmallow is the most famous of the mallow family for soothing irritated tissues. The indigestible nature of its mucilage means that when you are taking marshmallow for internal irritations, the slime will slither its way down the entire digestive tract, soothing as it goes and guaranteeing relief from top to bottom.

  The leaves of the marshmallow plant as well as the root are used as medicine. Marshmallow leaves are of a slightly different chemical makeup. They contain the same mucilage as the roots, but they also come packing flavonoids including kaempferol, quercetin, and diosmetin glucosides; additionally, the leaves contain the coumarin scopoletin and phenolic acids including syringic acid, caffeic acid, salicylic acid, and vanillic acid.

  We aren’t’ really accustomed to putting many slimy things in our mouths, and as such, vegetables like okra have a limited following. Though our palates may have a problem with the consistency, our tissues love the stuff. The internal uses of marshmallow include healing irritated respiratory, digestive, and urinary systems, where it acts as a soothing anti-inflammatory. Here, however, our concern is the skin.

  When it comes to the skin, marshmallow has been used to treat abscesses, boils, varicose veins, ulcers, inflammations of the mouth and throat, inflamed hemorrhoids, wounds, burns, scalds, and bedsores. One of the most famous uses for marshmallow is in "drawing creme," so-called because when a paste of marshmallow and slippery elm is applied to a splinter, thorn, or even a bee stinger, the cream will almost miraculously draw out the offending item and speed the
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  BluesBrother

  Just to add in what the WTS have to say about it :-

  *

  it-2p.345Marshmallow***

  MARSHMALLOW

  [Heb., chal·la·muth´].

  "A perennial plant that is closely related to the hollyhock. The woody stems of the marshmallow (Althaea officinalis) measure up to 1.8 m (6 ft) in height. The plant’s large, wide leaves are notched and terminate in a sharp point. Both the stems and the leaves are covered with soft downy hair. The pale-pink, five-petal flowers are about 5 cm (2 in.) across. In times of famine, the marshmallow’s white carrotlike root has been used for food. The sole Scriptural reference to the marshmallow alludes to its tastelessness.—Job 6:6.

  The Hebrew term chal·la·muth´, found only at Job 6:6, has been variously rendered "egg" (AS, KJ), "purslain" (AT), and, as defined in a Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon by L. Koehler and W. Baumgartner, "marsh-mallow" (Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros, Leiden, 1958, p. 304)."