Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJames Hastings Dictionary of the Bible: Rod
Subjects in this Topic:
ROD.—The rods, sticks, staves, and clubs carried or otherwise used by the Hebrews were probably as varied in size and shape as those in use among the inhabitants of Palestine at the present day, of which a minute description, with illustrations, is given by Baldensperger in PEFSt [Note: Quarterly Statement of the same.] , 1905, 35 ff. No hard-and-fast distinction can be made out between the matteh, the shçbet, and the maqqçl—all three rendered in EV [Note: English Version.] by ‘rod’ or ‘staff.’ The context must generally decide which of the two is the better rendering. For example, the twigs which Jacob peeled in the device recorded in Gen_30:37 ff. are true rods; but in Gen_32:10 the same word (maqqçl) is properly rendered ‘staff.’ On the other hand, Moses’ ‘rod’ (so EV [Note: English Version.] ) is rather his shepherd’s ‘staff’ (Exo_4:2 etc.).
For the rod as an instrument of punishment, shçbet is more frequently employed than matteh, as Pro_10:13; Pro_13:24; Pro_26:3, although both are not seldom employed in parallel lines (Isa_10:24; Isa_30:31 f. etc.). The former also denotes the shepherd’s club (described and figured in Hastings’ DB [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] iv. 291a, PEFSt [Note: Quarterly Statement of the same.] , 1905, 36), as in Psa_23:4, Lev_27:32 etc. (EV [Note: English Version.] ‘rod’). See also Sceptre.
A. R. S. Kennedy.