Maqqel is a shoot or twig of a bush ( Jeremiah 1:11 ) and then a staff used by someone walking across country or tending sheep (Genesis 32:11; 1 Samuel 17:40 ). It came to be listed as a weapon of war (Ezekiel 39:9 ). Shebet is a rod or staff used in agriculture (Isaiah 28:27 ), herding flocks (Psalm 23:4 ), in punishing people (Exodus 21:20; Proverbs 22:15; Micah 5:1 ), symbolizing authority of office (Numbers 24:17; Isaiah 14:5 ). From the last usage, the word came to mean, “tribe” ((Exodus 24:4 ). The shepherd's staff came to be adopted as a weapon (2 Samuel 23:21; Isaiah 10:5 ,Isaiah 10:5,10:15 ,Isaiah 10:15,10:24 ).
T otha ch appears only in Job 41:29 , and its meaning is not certain: KJV, “darts”; NAS, NIV, NRSV, “club(s).”
In the New Testament xulon is wood (1 Corinthians 3:12 ) and objects made of wood such as fetters (Acts 16:24 ). It can designate a wooden weapon (Matthew 26:47 ). Xulon also designates the wooden cross (1 Peter 2:24 ).