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Bible Encyclopedias
Staff
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (usually מִטֶּה, מִקֵּל, or שֶׁבֶט; άβδος; all designating a stick). The use of rods and staffs was as various with the ancient Israelites as with us. Men and animals were goaded with them (Exodus 21:20 [comp. Sirach 33, 27]; Numbers 22:27; 1 Samuel 17:43; 2 Samuel 7:14; Proverbs 10:13; Proverbs 13:24; Isaiah 9:3), (See BASTINADO); fruit was beaten with them from the trees (Judges 6:11; Ruth 2:17; Isaiah 28:27), especially olives (q.v.). Old and infirm people carried them as supports or for defense (Exodus 21:19; Zechariah 8:4 [see the monograph of Canz, De Pedo Servatoris, Tub. 1750]), also travelers (Genesis 32:10; Exodus 12:11; 2 Kings 4:29; Matthew 10:10; Mark 6:8). (See WALK). A baton, like a ring, was often a sign of rank (Genesis 38:18; Genesis 38:25; comp. Herod. 1, 19; Bonomi, Nineveh, p. 197); sometimes inscribed with the owner's name (Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt. 2, 347); and especially a badge of office (Exodus 4:2 sq.; exe 7:9 sq.; Numbers 20:8; Numbers 21:18; Judges 5:14; 1 Samuel 14:27; Psalms 110:2; Micah 7:14). (See SCEPTER). The shepherd carried a staff, which he used not only as a support in climbing hills, but for the purpose of beating bushes and low brushwood in which the flocks strayed, and where, snakes and other reptiles abounded. It may also have been used for correcting the shepherd dogs and keeping them in subjection (Van Lennep, Bible Lands, p. 188). (See SHEPHERD).
In Hebrews 11:21 it is cited as an example of faith that the dying Jacob "worshipped [leaning] upon the top of his staff" (προσεκύνησεν ἐπὶ τὸ ἄκρον τῆς άβδου αὑτοῦ ), a statement which Romanists have sometimes appealed to as sanctioning the worship of images, on the pretense that the patriarch's staff bore a carved head (after the Vulg. adoravit fastigium baculi sui). These words are simply quoted from the Sept. at Genesis 47:31, where the Greek translator has mistaken מַטָּה, bed, for מִטֶּה, staff, as is obvious from the parallel passage (49:33). The phrase merely indicates a reverential posture such as David assumed (1 Kings 1:47). See Zeibich, De Jacobo ad Caput Scipionis Adorante (Ger. 1783). (See JACOB).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Staff'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/s/staff.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
