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person who knows better but who, for selfish motives, acts in bad faith. The story of
Achan bears out the attitude of treachery (Josh. 7:1). Joshua challenged Israel not to
follow the example of Achan: “Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit [
] a trespass
[
] in the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel?” (Josh.
22:20).
In 2 Chron. 29:19 the “faithlessness” was committed against God: “Moreover all the
vessels which king Ahaz in his reign did cast away in his transgression.…”
"
also
appears in Ezra 9:2: “… Yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this
trespass.”
TRIBE
A. Nouns.
(
6
, 4294), “staff; rod; shaft; branch; tribe.” This noun is a distinctively
Hebrew word. It occurs 251 times; the first usage is in Gen. 38:18: “And he said, What
pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is
in thine hand.” The word appears most frequently in Numbers and Joshua, generally with
the meaning “tribe” in these books.
The basic meaning of
is “staff.” The use of the “staff” was in shepherding.
Judah was a shepherd and gave his “staff” to his daughter-in-law, Tamar, as a pledge of
sending her a kid of the flock (Gen. 38:17-18). Moses was a shepherd when he saw the
vision of the burning bush and when the Lord turned his “staff” into a snake as a sign of
His presence and power with Moses’ mission (Exod. 4:2ff.). His “staff” figured
prominently throughout the wilderness journeys and was known as “the staff of God”
because of the miraculous power connected with it: “And Moses said unto Joshua,
Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: tomorrow I will stand on the top of
the hill with the rod of God in mine hand” (Exod. 17:9). The “staff” was also a token of
authority. The Egyptian magicians had “staffs” as symbols of their authority over the
magical realm by which they duplicated several miracles (Exod. 7:12). Aaron had a
“rod,” which alone sprouted and put forth buds, whereas eleven rods “from all their
leaders according to their father’s household” (Num. 17:2,
NASB
) did not put forth buds.
The “staff” further signifies authority or power over another nation: “For thou hast
broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in
the day of Midian” (Isa. 9:4). God gave to Assyria His “staff”; they received His
authority, divine permission, to wield the sword, to plunder, and to destroy: “O Assyrian,
the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him
against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge,
to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets”
(Isa. 10:5-6). The psalmist, in his expectation that the messianic rule included God’s
authority and judgment over the Gentiles, views the messianic rule as a strong “staff”:
“The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine
enemies” (Ps. 110:2). Similarly, the prophet Ezekiel said, “Fire is gone out of a
of her
branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong
to be a scepter to
rule” (Ezek. 19:14). The figurative usage of
occurs in the idiom
/
,
“staff of bread.” This poetic idiom refers to the food supply, and it is found mainly in