A staff that budded and bore fruit to signify divine election. Represents priestly authority and miraculous power.
(Hebrew: מַטֶּה אַהֲרֹן)
The Bible tells how, along with Moses's rod, Aaron's rod was endowed with miraculous power during the Plagues of Egypt that preceded the Exodus. Later, his rod miraculously sprouted blossoms and almonds to symbolize God's choice of Aaron and his tribe for holy service.
The flowering staff of Aaron in the biblical narrative may be an etiology of the asherah cultic object.
Aaron’s rod, originally associated with priestly and magical powers, may have been later transferred to Moses in various biblical accounts, demonstrating his authority and divine empowerment.
In Israelite culture, the rod (Hebrew: מַטֶּה maṭṭeh) was a natural symbol of authority, as the tool used by the shepherd to correct and guide his flock.
Moses initially carried his rod while tending his sheep, and later it became his symbol of authority over the Israelites.
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Rabbinic midrash described attributes of Aaron's rod beyond those in the Biblical text.
It is reported that the rod was made of sapphire, weighed forty seahs (a seah = 10.70 pounds), and bore the inscription דצ״ך עד״ש באח״ב (the initials of the Hebrew names of the Ten Plagues).[16]
God created it in the twilight of the sixth day of Creation,[17][18] and delivered it to Adam when the latter was driven from paradise. After it had passed through the hands of Shem, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob successively, it came into the possession of Joseph. On Joseph's death the Egyptian nobles stole some of his belongings, and, among them, Jethro appropriated the staff. Jethro planted the staff in his garden, when its marvelous virtue was revealed by the fact that nobody could withdraw it from the ground (compare "the sword in the stone"); even to touch it was fraught with danger to life. This was because the Ineffable Name of God was engraved upon it. When Moses entered Jethro's household he read the Name, and by means of it was able to draw up the rod, for which service Zipporah, Jethro's daughter, was given to him in marriage. Her father had sworn that she should become the wife of the man who should be able to master the miraculous rod and of no other.[19]
Aaron's rod, together with its blossoms and fruit, was preserved in the Ark. King Josiah, who foresaw the impending national catastrophe, concealed the Ark and the objects stored with it (Aaron's rod, a vial of manna, and the holy anointing oil).[20] The length of the rod can be determined by the size of the ark of the covenant as stated in Exodus 37:1. The length of the staff would be from 3.75 FT (2.5 cubits) to 4.65 FT because the ark had a length of 3.75 FT (2.5 cuts), a depth of 2.75 FT (1.5 cubits), and a height of 2.5 FT (1.5 cubits). Therefore, the largest length would be the hypotenuse length of 4.65 FT. Assuming, of course, that the cubit length is 18 inches. Their whereabouts will remain unknown until, in the Messianic age, the prophet Elijah shall reveal them.
One midrash goes a step further, and identifies them as being the same rod:
The rod with which Jacob crossed the Jordan (Genesis 32:11) is the same rod which was in Judah's hand (Genesis 38:18), which was in Moses's hand (Exodus 4:20), which was in Aaron's hand (Exodus 7:10), which was in David's hand (1 Samuel 17:40). which was in the hand of each king until the destruction of the Temple, when it was hidden. When the Messiah comes it will be given to him for a scepter in token of his authority over the nations.[21]
Hebrews 9:4 states that Aaron's rod was kept in the Ark of the Covenant.
The Staff of Moses
The Rod of Moses The Staff of God
mentioned in the Bible and Quran as a walking stick used by Moses. According to the Book of Exodus, the staff (Hebrew: מַטֶּה, romanized: maṭṭe, translated "rod" in the King James Bible) was used to produce water from a rock, was transformed into a snake and back, and was used at the parting of the Red Sea.[1] Whether the staff of Moses was the same as the staff used by his brother Aaron has been debated by rabbinical scholars.
The staff is first mentioned in the Exodus 4:2, when God appears to Moses in the burning bush. God asks what Moses has in his hand, and Moses answers, "a staff" ("a rod" in the King James Version). The staff is miraculously transformed into a snake and then back into a staff. The staff is thereafter referred to as the "rod of God" or "staff of God" (depending on the translation).
Moses and Aaron appear before the pharaoh, and Aaron's rod is transformed into a serpent. Pharaoh's sorcerers are also able to transform their rods into serpents, but Aaron's rod swallows their rods (Exodus 7:10–12). Aaron's rod is again used to turn the Nile blood-red. It is used several times on God's command to initiate the plagues of Egypt.
During the Exodus, Moses stretches his hand with the staff to part the Red Sea. While in the "wilderness" after leaving Egypt, Moses follows God's command to strike a rock with the rod to create a spring for the Israelites to drink from (Exodus 17:5–7). Moses does so, and water springs forth from the rock in the presence of the Elders of Israel.
Moses also uses the staff in the battle at Rephidim between the Israelites and the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8–16).[2] When he holds up his arms holding the "rod of God" the Israelites "prevail", when he drops his arms, their enemies gain the upper hand. Aaron and Hur help him to keep the staff raised until victory is achieved.
Finally, in Numbers 20:8, God tells Moses to get water for the Israelites from a rock by speaking to it. Moses, vexed by the Israelites' complaining, strikes the rock twice with the staff instead of speaking to it as God commanded. Because Moses did not obey God's command, implying a lack of faith, God punished him by not letting him enter the Promised Land, according to Numbers 20:12.
Battle with the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8–16) by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1860
The rod is said to have been created on the sixth day of creation and passed through the hands of the biblical patriarchs before being inherited by Moses.[4] A Midrash similar to the Arthurian legend of the sword in the stone recounts that the staff was planted in the garden of Moses’ father-in-law Jethro, and it was known that whoever could draw it from the ground would lead Israel out of Egypt.
Because Aaron's rod and Moses' rod had seemingly interchangeable powers, Rabbinical scholars debated whether the two were the same. According to the Midrash Yelammedenu (Yalḳ. on Ps. ex. § 869):
[T]he staff with which Jacob crossed the Jordan is identical with that which Judah gave to his daughter-in-law, Tamar (Gen. xxxii. 10, xxxviii. 18). It is likewise the holy rod with which Moses worked (Ex. iv. 20, 21), with which Aaron performed wonders before Pharaoh (Ex. vii. 10), and with which, finally, David slew the giant Goliath (I Sam. xvii. 40). David left it to his descendants, and the Davidic kings used it as a scepter until the destruction of the Temple, when it miraculously disappeared. When the Messiah comes it will be given to him for a scepter in token of his authority over the heathen.[4]
The Midrash states that the staff was in the possession of the Judean kings until Solomon's Temple was destroyed in 587 BCE, after which its whereabouts became unknown.
