John Trapp on Job 30:4

Verſe 4. Who cut up Mallows by the buſhes] Pitiful poor fare they are glad of: not ſo good as that of the Baptiſt, Locuſts and wild Honey. Mat. 3. but Mallows, which, together with Aſphodelus, Heſiod mentioneth as poor folks fare. Tremellius rendreth it, Herbas è ſalſilagine cum ſtirpibus, ſalt, and bitter herbs and ſtalks a Brentius rendreth it, Nettles: Some take it for Samphire, which is a kind of Sea-mallows or Sea-purſlain. The Hebrew word comes from another, that ſignifieth ſalt; and ſounds like the Latine Malva, Ut famem qu[illegible: 1 letter] quo modo ſedarent. Merc. and the Engliſh Mallows. Courſe and homely Proviſion the wretches were glad to make uſe of, to appeaſe the cruel hunger that devoured them. And this hath been ſometimes the caſe of better men; as of thoſe Worthies, who wandered in deſarts, and in mountains, in dens and caves of the earth, Heb. 11.38. The Duke of Lorraine had proſcribed ſome thouſands of his Proteſtant ſubjects, who were thereby forced to ſeed upon leaves of trees and graſs of the fields, till the Senat of Straſbrough, overcome by the importunity of their Divines, took them in,Sculset. Annal. and relieved them, till they could be otherwiſe provided for. In the late Wars of Germany, people were found dead in the high-wayes with graſs in their mouths, periſhing for want of better food.

And Juniper roots for their meat] Theſe, though they ſurpaſs all other in bitterneſs, were their ordinary food. Our forefathers, as they coloured their bodies with Woad, (and were therefore called Picts) this was their fine clothes: ſo their food was barks of trees, and roots, ſay our Chroniclers. Is not the matter well amended with us? and ſhould we not ſerve the Lord with joyfulneſs in the abundance of all things, Deut. 28.47. Lavater thinks, That theſe poor people for a living digged up Juniper-roots, and ſold them to others for the uſe of perfuming.