The Biblical Staff
A staff, in the Bible, is a symbol of authority. A staff will blossom as a sign, or as in the well-known case with Pharaoh, turn into a serpent.
Sometimes, the staff serves a more complex role. In Numbers 17 we find hints of such a multi-faceted purpose:
17 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write the name of each man on his staff. 3 On the staff of Levi write Aaron’s name, for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe. 4 Place them in the tent of meeting in front of the ark of the covenant law, where I meet with you. 5 The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites.”
6 So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their leaders gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and Aaron’s staff was among them. 7 Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the covenant law.
8 The next day Moses entered the tent and saw that Aaron’s staff, which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds. 9 Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the Lord’s presence to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each of the leaders took his own staff.
10 The Lord said to Moses, “Put back Aaron’s staff in front of the ark of the covenant law, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die.” 11 Moses did just as the Lord commanded him.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%2017&version=NIV
The staff is, in this example, showing favor, demonstrating authority, discouraging rebellion, and also acting as a symbol of life. Additionally, it is showing the ability to bear fruit and so the concept of food is not distant.
There is another context that has entered into common speech where bread is likened to the “staff of life”. The phraseology appears in the Bible:
Ezekiel 14:13
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%2017&version=NIV
Son of man, when the land sins against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out my hand on it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine on it, and will cut off man and beast from it:
Here the idea of life and grain and food appear. The Biblical idea then, of having a staff, intimately concerns the concepts of having increase and abundance.
There are often confusions about the significance of the staff in other analysis, however. Take this for example:
We’re not supposed to be into magic. Pharaoh believed in magic, so it was OK for Moses to act magical as he “worked miracles” with his staff. On the way out of Egypt, the Israelites were still, culturally, thinking like Egyptians, as emphasized by the story of the golden calf. So, early in the exodus story, it makes sense for Moses to use the staff as a magic wand.
Later, though, after the Israelites have been cleansed of their beliefs in magic and after they’ve witnessed unmistakable evidence of God’s direct intervention in the world, they no longer need to see Moses wave a magic wand. In fact, he should not do so. It’s one thing to act like a wizard before Pharaoh, but another to act like a wizard before the Israelites after they’ve begun to mature. The risks are that Moses could set himself up as more than a prophet — being seen as a wizard, and that the staff could be seen as having magic power inherent in itself, becoming, as it were, an idol.
I, for one, am much more comfortable with the idea that Moses staff was nothing but a piece of wood that happened to be in his hand when God first inquired about it, and that it’s only value is as a relic, a reminder of the exodus, with no inherent magic to it. But, many of the authors of our midrash took a different tack that may accomplish the same goal. They made the staff one of a kind, created on the eve of the first Sabbath. There is and will be no other staff like it. Yes, that staff had miraculous properties, but abusing it was fatal, and besides, it was lost long ago. In sum, any staff you may find today is just a tree branch, like mine.
https://agudasachimic.org/2022/07/14/the-staff-of-moses/
While it is true that no one should worship a staff, the reason Moses got into trouble with regard to the staff the second time was because, and this is crucial, he did not have authority to hit the rock more than once. Hitting it twice was disobedience where his authority was concerned. Nothing more, nothing less.
The Bible is absolutely full of magic, and a believer is certainly encouraged to believe in the miraculous which courts the magical. A believer is not, however, to be disobedient and start performing sorcery.
Finally, a tree, in and of itself, is nothing short of magic. The poet Joyce Kilmer may have said it best:
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/12744/trees
When seen in this light, a “tree branch” has and never will be simply a “tree branch”.
A higher authority is present for verification of that claim:
John 15:5:
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2015%3A5&version=NIV
Surely then, we are all a little more than “ordinary tree branches”.
