Rod (Hastings' Dictionary)

The rod or staff in the hand k the chief emblem of Oriental travel. Thus Jacob setting out for Paddan-aram left everything behind him except his makkel (Gn 32'"), the Israel- ites kept the first Passover feast 7nakkil in hand (Ex I2''), and Elisha sent his misKencih, the com- ]ianion of his journeys, on before, as if it had been a li\ ing friend, to represent him in the chamber of death (2 K 4™).

Tlie modern Syrian peasant when on a journey carries a staff slightly longer than that used in Europe. He invariably holds it by the thin end, with the hand an inch or two down and the thumb often resting on the top.

Such a manner of grasping the stick is suggestive of de- fence ; and by the way in which he raises himself by means of it in the steep and rough mountain path, and pushes himself along when travelling on the dusty road of the hot plain, it is evident that the walking-stick is also meant to be a support on the journey. Protection from danger and some- thing to lean upon, — such are the two original meanings of the rod or staff.

In EV the word matteh, used literally, is trans- lated 'rod' when referrin"; to the rod of Moses (Ex 4' and oft.), of Aaron (Ex V- '» and oft.), of the heads of the tribes (Nu IT', '"), of Jonathan (1 S 14"- •"), and is tr. ' st.-ill" in Gn ,38'"- ^, Is 10"- "-* 28=^ (as a kind of Jlail) 30^- (for punUhment), Hab 3". of office. Tlie Ileb. word is tran-^Iated 'sceptre' in Gn 49'", Nu 24", Ps 45«, Is 14», Ezk 19"- 'S Am !»• », Zee 10", and in RV of Ps 125». See SCEPTRE.

These meanings of power, authority, punish- ment, or correction are exemplified in 2 S 7", Job 9" 219 37" (AVm), Ps 2', Is 11*. In Is 11' the expression ' a rod (n::h, of which the only other occurrence is Pr 14', where see Toy's note) out of the stem of Jesse ' is more appropriately rendered in RV 'a shoot out of the stock of Jesse,' where the figure is that of a cut-down stump, which will put forth a single flouri.shing ' rod.' Compare, for the figure, .

ina in Ezk 19"- '-• '*'^ (blooming up into a shcbct, sceptre of rule). Along with his ' rod ' or club [shebet) the shepherd had also his 'staff' (misKeneth), which was a straight pole about 6 ft. in length. Its service was for mountain climbing, for striking trouble- some goats and sheep, beating leaves from branches be3-ond the reach of his floi k, and especially for leaning upon.

As he stood clas])ing the top of his stick with both hands, and leaning Ids head against it, liis conspicuous and well, known figure gave confidence to the sheep grazing around him among the rocks and bushes of the wilderness. The misKencth is essentially something to lean upon. Thus it is the word used for Eli.slia's stali" (2 K 4»9), and it indicates the untrustwortliiness of Egypt as a reed of cane for Israel to lean upon (Is 36°), in- 1. Shepherd's rod or. rather, club {shebet). 2.

Shepherd's stufT (i/iiA7('cH«fA). 3. Common stAfT {tnatfeh, makfcel, or misk'eneth). In the Heb. mafieh is coupled ■with shebet in Is 9 (of taskmaster; lig. of oppressor; of. K)-"* 14°) 10'» 28'-'' m". and with niakk-l in Jer 48" in such a way as to imply that the terms were practically interchangeable under ordinary circumstances. It is in tlie primitive usage of the shepherd's life that a distinction is found between the 'rod' and the 'staff.'

The shepherd carries both, but for different purposes. In Ps 23'' the ' rod ' (xhrhet) is ft club about 2^ ft. long, made from an oak sapling, the bulging head being shaped out of the stem at the beginningof the root.* The sheiiherd's ihlbet, frequently with large-headed nails driven into the knob, is his weapon against men and animals when in the wilderness with his flock.

It k worn either suspended by a thong from the waistband or inserted in a special sheath or pocket in the outer cloak ; cf. Lv 27'^ and Mic 7', Ezk 20" (last two tig.) The shcbct wafl, further, the staff of authority (not necessarily of a king), Jg 5' and perhaps Gn 49'°.

It is seen in the sculptures of Assyrian and Egyptian kings, and was the original of the military mace and the baton and truncheon •Thla manufacture of the ghfbeX from a youn(f trfte might (UKKot that \a the metuphorical use of thlbtt (Arab. »ai()i 'tribe,' the reference is to various seedling with a common origin— the tritica of tlie children of Israel. It l« to be noted, however, that maUeh is equally 083 t.)

used for 'tribe,' and pooibly the original reference In both cases is to a company led by a chief with a tajf. 8«e, further, on the rclaliun between Mbti and ma^th, Driyer In Jaum. Philol. xl. (1882) nsi. stead of upon the strength of God. In Nu 21" the mish'eneth is used by the nobles in digging a well (see Lawgiver) ; the angel who apjieared to Manoah carried a viiaKeneth (Jg 6-') ; in Zee 8' tlie misKeneth is characteristic of old age.

' He that leaneth upon a staff (iSb3 p'lno, B Kparwv (TicirrdXT)?) of 2 S 3^ should probably be ' he that handleth the spindle' (see Driver, ad loc), (i the text be correct, which H. P. Smith (Sam. ad loc. ) doubts. The references to makkel are generally to the ordinary staff* for a journey [in Hos 4''^ 'their staff' declareth unto them,' there is reference to the practice of rhabdomancy], at once protec- tive and supporting.

Examples are Jacob s staff (Gn 32'"), the staff of the Passover feast (Ex 12"), Balaam's staff(Nu 22"), with which he could supjiort himself by resting the end of it on the front of the broad Oriental saddle ; also probably the staff in David's hand when he went out to meet (ioliath ( 1 S 17*°), for being then on a jouniey he would have laid aside the more cumbrous sheplierd equipment.

In NT /idfiSoi has the twofold meaning of a staff for a journey (Mt lO'", Mk 6", Lk 9^ He 11") and a rod for chastisement (1 Co 4'^' [cf. the verb in 2 Co 11»>], Rev 2-'' 12' 19">). G. M. MaCKIE. RODANIM, reading of MT in 1 Ch 1' for the Dodanim of Gn 10, answering to the 'PiSiot of the LXX in both passages. See DoDANlM. This Is also the word used Id On SO""- of Ui» sticki employed bj Jacob to his cattle-breeding artifloea. 292 ROE ROMAX