the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Staff
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or The word ῥάβδος is translated ‘sceptre’ in Hebrews 1:8 and ‘rod’ in Hebrews 9:4, 1 Corinthians 4:21, Revelation 2:27, etc. In Hebrews 11:21, ‘Jacob … worshipped [leaning] upon the top of his staff.’ The reference is to the act of the patriarch when he received the solemn oath of Joseph, that he would bury him with his fathers (‘Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head,’ Genesis 47:31). In Hebrews the words are an exact quotation from the Septuagint . The difference of translation has arisen from the different ways of vocalizing מטּה. The Septuagint read it as מַטָּה, ‘staff,’ and the Massoretes as מִטָּה, ‘bed.’ The question is, Which is the more likely to be right? The date of the Septuagint is uncertain (see Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) , article ‘Septuagint’), and the rise of the Massoretic system of vocalization is even more obscure (see Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) iv. 730a). It is not improbable that the Septuagint gives an earlier and more correct interpretation. The phrase ‘bed’s head’ is both curious and difficult. It suggests ideas which are associated with an early Victorian ‘four-poster,’ and are quite out of place in relation to a bed in the East (see Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) , article ‘Bed’). Usually the bed was laid on the floor or on a low platform, but sometimes a slight portable frame was used (2 Samuel 3:31). There is a reference to the head of a bed in 1 Samuel 19:13, The bed’s head may simply mean the place where the pillow was laid. Dillmann and Driver (Comm. on Genesis) accept the reading of the Massoretic text. To get over the difficulty, Cheyne (Encyclopaedia Biblica , article ‘Staff’) suggests that ראש, ‘head,’ should be read as צָרָשׂ, ‘couch.’ There is no difficulty of interpretation if the Septuagint is followed: Jacob may have stood up to receive the oath of Joseph. Equally it may be said that there is no difficulty if the bed or couch had an end which might be called its ‘head,’ and that Jacob leaned upon it. It is impossible to decide whether ‘staff’ or ‘bed’ is right, but the fact that the Septuagint is the oldest commentary on the Hebrew Bible makes its reading the more probable.
Literature.-Comm. on Genesis by A. Dillmann (1897), S. R. Driver (Westminster Com., 1904), and J. Skinner (International Critical Commentary , 1910) in loc.; F. Rendall, Com. on Hebrews, 1883; Encyclopaedia Biblica , article ‘Staff’; Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) , articles ‘Bed,’ ‘Rod,’ ‘Sceptre’; Smith’s Dict. of the Bible , article ‘Staff’; C Geikie, Hours with tits Bible, new ed. vi. [1884] 28n.
John Reid.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Staff'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/s/staff.html. 1906-1918.
