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#45146 10/19/01 04:42 PM
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While searching for something else, I ran across the 23rd Psalm:


Title: Psalm 23
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
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.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

And I wondered why two words were used, "rod" and "staff" Why both? What was the difference?


#45147 10/19/01 05:06 PM
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The rod was the gat, the heater and the staff was the trusted lieutenants who carried out the boss's orders.

Or, conversely, there was an old English tradition of using two words to translate one if the sense of the word in the source language didn't quite match the sense of any one word in the target language.

Or, perhaps the two words meant totally different things to a Jacobian English speaker. The rod being a rod of authority and the staff a shepherd's crook. The Luther version gives Stecken (stick) und Stab (crosier) and the Segond ta houlette (walking-stick) et ton bāton (shepherd's crook). The Vulgate doesn't seem to match up at all near as I can tell, the 22nd nor the 24th neither.


#45148 10/19/01 05:09 PM
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It has to do with microbiology.

One is a rod-shaped bacterium, the other is a staff inflection.



TEd
#45149 10/19/01 05:49 PM
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Dear TEd: you are re-writing Scripture. Thy rod and thy Staph discomfort me greatly.And howcome He lets terrorists use them?


#45150 10/19/01 07:45 PM
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Hmm, that is an interesting question. I have rarely heard of either a rod or a staff as being objects of comfort. They are usually used as tools of punishment.

Maybe they represent strength, seeing as the person who usually holds both is usually responsible for taking care of the people below him.

Sort of representative of that thingy that kings hold. (so sorry folks, I have been working in French for the last four days and my brain is not working in English tonight.)


#45151 10/19/01 08:20 PM
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the person who usually holds both is usually responsible for taking care of the people below him.
IMHO, precisely right. Ties into, "The Lord is my shepherd". Are rod and staff a shepherd's tools?


#45152 10/19/01 08:56 PM
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bill, here's an interpretive link, which includes this:
Rod, a club used to fend off wild animals. Staff an instrument to keep sheep from wandering off.
http://www.crossmarks.com/habitsfaith/ps23.htm


#45153 10/19/01 09:23 PM
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Thanks for the link, tsuwm. The version "they protect me" makes good sense. The shepherd's crooks I have seen have a U-shaped end that can be used to catch sheep by neck to restrain it with out hurting it. It might be damaged trying to drive away a predator, for which a sturdy club would be needed. I wonder when sheep dogs were first used. I don't remember their being mentioned in the Bible.

I found a site that stated dogs were domesticated by 10,000 BC, and sheep by 8,000 BC. From the very beginning a domesticated dog could warn of approaching predator, which would be very valuable. I seem to remember reading somewhere that the use of dogs for herding sheep is comparatively recent.


#45154 10/19/01 09:31 PM
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I wonder when sheep dogs were first used.

I momentarily turn over the keyboard to my border collie, Flirt:
[Flirt] We border collies are well recognized as the finest-performing sheep-dogs. [/Flirt]


#45155 10/19/01 09:50 PM
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I found a site describing sheep dogs responding to voice commands of shepherd in 1576. It is marvelous to watch border collie sheep trials, to see owner able to have dog several hundred yards away bring in a designated sheep, and drive it into fold. Border collies are very bright, but very apt to get into mischief if the do not have sheep to work on. I would not advise anyone to try to have sheep without a Border Collie to drive them into fold for the night. One dog can do what a dozen humans cannot.
If you are a dog lover, you would enjoy tear-jerking tale "The Trials of Nop".


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