THE MEANING OF THE ROD.

BY DR. SERANUS BOWEN.

Read before Massachusetts College Societas Rosicruciana, Monday,
March 7th, 1887.

The rod is so frequently used in the various ceremonies and degrees in Freemasonry that its origin and symbolic meaning becomes a matter of interest worthy of more than a passing thought. In the Lodge, not only do the Stewards and Deacons carry rods, but the baton of the Marshal as well as the truncheons of the Wardens are in reality simply shortened rods. In the Royal Arch Degree, the Principal Sojourner carries a rod, or staff, and in both Chapter and Council we have a representation of the miraculous rod of Aaron, while the Prelate of the Commandery carries a rod of peculiar form, frequently called a crozier, but more properly a pastoral staff. In some of the degrees the officer who represents a king carries a scepter, which is merely a shortened rod, as the emblem of his authority. The question that first arises is whether these various forms of rods have a common origin and signification.

It is probable that the earliest recorded symbolic use of the staff or rod is in the hieroglyphic inscriptions of ancient Egypt, where the figure of an upright man, with a staff, means chief, great, distinguished. The earliest Scriptural mention of the rod is in the thirteenth chapter of Genesis, in the account of the dealings of Jacob with Laban. But the first allusion to the rod, in the sense of a staff, is in Genesis xxxii, 10, where Jacob in his prayer says:— "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou has shewed unto thy servant: for with my staff I passed over this Jordan." Again, in Genesis xxxviii, 18, where Tamar demands a pledge from Judah, insisting upon his signet, bracelets, and staff, as the surest means of identification in time of need. The next Scriptural mention of the rod is, as a sceptre, in Genesis xlix, 10, where the dying Jacob, in blessing his sons says. "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come." In the Bible the word rod is used as the representative of several different Hebrew words, vary ing in meaning, as: chôtch, a shoot, maktêl, a twig; shébet, the baton of office; mattéh, a stick, especially for walking or smiting, as a wand or staff.

We have already seen that the rod was the usual symbol of power, certainly in Egypt; it does not, therefore, seem strange that the rods of Moses and Aaron should have been the visible means chosen by the Almighty as the instrument of his wonders in Egypt, at the ked Sea, and in the Wilderness.

The rod of Moses is first mentioned in the fourth chapter of Exodus, where, after Moses had expressed a doubt as to his reception. in Egypt, the Lord commanded him to cast his rod on the ground, and it became a serpent. In the seventeenth verse of the same chapter we read: "And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs." A little farther on, in the account of his starting for Egypt, we read: "And Moses took the rod of God in his hand."

In the miracles as described in the seventh and eighth chapters of Exodus, we find that it was the rod of Aaron that was used, while in those recorded in the ninth and tenth chapters it was the rod of Moses. In the seventeenth chapter of Exodus we read that the Lord commanded Moses to take the rod wherewith he smote the river, and smite the rock at Horeb, and water should come out of it, that the murmuring children of Israel might drink. Farther on, in the same chapter, we have the account of the battle with the people of Amalek, in which the Israelites under Joshua prevailed, because Moses upheld the "rod of God" in his outstretched hand.

In Numbers xvii, we find the account of the twelve rods, each one representing one of the twelve tribes of Israel, that of Aaron being for the tribe of Levi. We read that they were laid up in the Tabernacle of the Congregation before the testimony, and that "on the morrow, behold the rod of Aaron, for the house of Levi, was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds." Aaron's rod was thus miraculously caused to blossom and bring forth almonds, to show the choice of the Almighty for his priesthood, and that from henceforth those of the house of Levi were set apart, were "Holy to the Lord."

We have found that the rod, or staff, or sceptre is frequently mentioned in the Bible to denote authority, support, strength, and power. In the twenty-first chapter of Numbers we find that Moses, in obedience to the command of God, set up a brazen serpent on a staff as an emblem of faith.

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Among the frequent allusions to the rod in the Bible, we find in Numbers xxiv, 17: "I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh; there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel." In the beautiful expressions of faith and hope, in the twenty-third Psalms, we read: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." Again, in the one hundred and tenth Psalms :— "And the Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion; rule, thou, in the midst of thine enemies. The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." Revelations ii, 27: "And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as a vessel of a potter shall they be broken to shivers." In the sixth chapter of the Gospel of St. Mark, we read, in the account of Christ sending forth his disciples: "And com manded them that they should take nothing for their journey save a staff only."

Mackey's Encyclopædia quotes from Thynne's Antiquarian Discoveries the following allusion to the rod: "It did in all ages, and yet doth amongst all nations, and amongst all officers, signify correction and peace; for, by correction, follows peace; wherefore, the verge or rod was the ensign of him which had authority to reform evil in war or peace, and to see quiet and order observed amongst the people; for, therefore, beareth the king his sceptre. The Church hath her pastoral staff, and other magistrates which have the administration of justice or correction, as have the judges of the law, and the great officers of the prince's house have also a verge or staff assigned them." In the old heathen mythology, Esculapius, the god of medicine, is represented as carrying or leaning upon a staff or rod, which was entwined by a serpent.

It has been conjectured that the rod of Aaron, which, in its serpent state devoured the serpent rods of the Egyptian magicians, was the prototype of the caduceus, or wonder-working rod of Mercury. Indeed, it is not at all surprising that the fame of the marvels done by the rods of Moses and Aaron should have attracted much attention from the surrounding nations, and that these wonders should gradually have become so interwoven with their mythology. The divining by rods, which had become a common idolatrous practice among the Jews, and to which we find allusion made

in the fourth chapter of Hosea, probably had its origin in the supernatural attributes credited to the rods of Moses and Aaron.

Allusion has already been made to the signification of the rod in ancient Egypt, and even down to the present day, the Arab or Egyptian Sheik carries a long staff as an emblem or insignia of his authority, and he not infrequently uses it as an instrument of correction.

It is asserted that the rods used by the chiefs among the ancient Israelites were of the almond tree, to denote vigilance, that being the tree which flowers earlier than any other in this region. The use of staffs and rods by the ancient Israelites was as various as with any people of the present day. Men and animals were driven and corrected with them; fruit was beaten with them from the trees; aged men carried them for support, and travelers used them for assistance and defence.

The question has been asked whether the rod carried by the Principal Sojourner was intended to represent the rod of Mcses. When we consider the fact that he represents Zerubbabel, one of the princes or chiefs of the house of Judah, it would seem that the rod is the most appropriate symbol or emblem of his leadership, and does not especially allude to that of Moses.

The rod of Aaron, as represented in our Chapters and Councils, is usually as large as is convenient, on account of the size of the ark which is used. But the rod of Aaron, described in the Bible was, most undoubtedly, of sufficient size to be used as a staff for support in walking. If the ark used in our ceremonies were of the same dimensions as the Scriptural Ark of the Covenant, there would be no difficulty in placing such a staff within it.

When we come to study as to the reasons for placing it inside the ark, we find that it is, to say the least, doubtful whether Aaron's rod was ever so placed. There is no positive authority in the Old Testament for such a disposal of it. In the seventeenth chapter of Numbers, tenth verse, it says: "And the Lord said unto Moses, bring Aaron's rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not." Now, according to what appears to be the best authorities, this laying up of Aaron's rod "before the testimony" was at least 1470 years before Christ. Again, we find in the thirty-first chapter of Deuteronomy, twenty-sixth verse, the following record: "Take this Book of the Law, and put it in the

side of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee." Rev. Henry Hayman, B. D., of Oxford University, says that the original Hebrew is obscurely rendered in this passage, and that where the translation is given "in the side of the ark " it is quite clear that the original Hebrew means "beside it." In the first book of Kings, eighth chapter and ninth verse, we find the following positive statement : "There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt." It would certainly seem clear from this, that in the time of King Solomon, one thousand years before Christ, there was nothing in the ark but the two tables of stone, and if any other article had ever been placed there for safe-keeping, they had surely disappeared. The only Scriptural authority that can be found for placing the rod within the ark is in the ninth chapter and fourth verse of the Epistle to the Hebrews, which was probably written by St. Paul about A.D. 64, certainly more than 1500 years after the event, which it describes as follows: "Which had the golden censer and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid around about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant." It certainly seems that this account by St. Paul must have rested upon tradition rather than any more substantial authority.

The crozier or rod carried by the Prelate in the Commandery is the same as the "pastoral staff" which, from remote antiquity, has been used as the appropriate symbol of Episcopal authority. It is in the form of a shepherd's crook, and is pointed at the end as an emblem both of encouragement and correction. In the present Royal Arch system of England, three rods or wands, sometimes improperly called sceptres. are placed in a triangular form beneath a canopy in the East. They are surmounted respectively by a Crown, the All-Seeing Eye, and a Mitre, and refer to the regal, prophetical and sacerdotal offices.

From all this we are lead to conclude that the officers who bear rods in the various Masonic organizations, from the sceptre of the King, or the pastoral staff of the Prelate, to the baton of the Marshal, or rod of the Stewards, carry them as symbols of distinction or power, and that the authority for their use as such extends as far back into remote antiquity as does any custom of which we now have knowledge. Liberal Freemason.