Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me (Psalm23:4).

The Lord said to Moses, “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. On the staff of Levi write Aaron’s name, for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe. Place them in the Tent of Meeting in front of the Testimony, where I meet with you. The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites” (Numbers 17:1-5).

This is a reprint of an earlier post that has for some reason “gone viral” in a small way on the Internet.

Early spring is the ideal time for finding hiking sticks in the Michigan woods.  And as the photo indicates, I’ve done that many times!  I think there are about 60 of them resting on our garage rafters where I put them to dry.  There are probably about 40 or so more in my shop and standing in various corners of the garage.  I used to carve or dress them with leather grips and thongs and sell them in craft stores.  April is ideal because the snow has laid everything flat in the woods, and there are still no big leaves on trees and bushes.  So spotting good straight sticks is easy. [Photo: A few of my sticks drying in the garage rafters -DO]

Once when I was on RBC’s Day of Discovery crew doing TV video shoots in Israel, I brought back a couple sticks as reminders of my time in the Holy Land, one of them of olive wood and the other cypress.  Getting them out of Israel was no problem, but when I got to customs in the US, I was told I had to take them to the agricultural check station for clearance.  The agricultural agent looked them over and then asked me what I was going to do with them.  “They are my rod and staff and they comfort me,” I spontaneously replied.  He chuckled, handed them back to me, and said, “Go ahead”!

On another trip I brought back a two-foot rod that our guide found when we were doing a shoot in the “Shepherds’ Fields” outside Bethlehem where it’s believed the angels announced to the shepherds the birth of Jesus.  These same fields were likely trod by David, Boaz, Naomi, and Ruth.  I’ve seen young Palestinians riding donkeys and using rods like that one to keep the beasts moving—much like Balaam tried to do (Numbers 22).  It’s actually made from the center spine of a date palm frond.  I treasure it.

Because collecting and making hiking sticks is a hobby, I’ve often thought about the frequent mention of rods and staffs in the Bible.  There are different words in the Hebrew Old Testament for the two kinds of shaft, but they are used interchangeably; so it’s difficult to determine what the difference is.  Eight times they are both used in the same passage—so there must have been a distinction between them that escapes us today.  As with the agricultural agent at the customs station, the biblical mention of both staves together that we’re most familiar with is the one in the 23^rd Psalm, where David speaks of them as giving him comfort.

Another significant account about the rod is that of Moses conversing with Jehovah, who was speaking from the burning bush (Exodus 4).  At the beginning of the narrative, Moses’ shepherding rod is merely a stick for human use, but after God does miracles with it and instructs Moses to use it to make clear to the Egyptian pharaoh holding the children of Israel in captivity that he must let them go free, it’s called “the rod of God.”  Pharaoh certainly came to know also that is was the rod of God! It was the delivering rod for Israel and a rod of blessing throughout the Exodus, but it was a punishing rod for Egypt.

Sadly, it was also the rod of judgment on Moses because in striking the rock with it and saying, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” God did not permit him to enter the Promised Land. There is a lot of speculation on why this was such an egregious sin that it would result in such a seemingly harsh consequence.  My viewpoint on it comes from the statement made by Moses, not necessarily by his act either of disobedience or a failed attempt to follow God’s directions.  He said, “must we bring you water.”  Well, Moses and Aaron were not the ones who brought them water: it was God. The result is that the people could come to think that Moses and Aaron had the power, not God and the rod God made miraculous.  That sort of presumptive power pattern has been rampant in the church through the centuries.  Leaders with a large human following often forget that their power is from God, not from themselves.  You and I could probably name a number of leaders like that whom God had to bench permanently for such arrogance.

Then there’s Aaron’s rod that budded miraculously to show that Aaron’s descendants were the legitimate priests of God for Israel. It was to be a reminder stick kept as a testimony in the Ark of the Covenant (Numbers 17 and Hebrews 9:4).  Hence a rod must be the shorter of the two.

When all the biblical references are considered, the following meaning comes from the rod and staff: as with a shepherd (figurative of Jesus) they are used to protect against enemies, to discipline, to guide, and to rescue.  It’s also fitting that a royal scepter is called a rod.  And a rod is frequently mentioned as a weapon. A staff is indicated as a ruler’s symbol of authority that stands between his feet—indicating that a staff is likely the longer of the two. The many references to leaning on one’s staff would be further indication that it was likely at least shoulder high.

What does not seem to appear in Scripture is the shepherd’s staff with a crook—the one we see in most Christmas pageants. Because a stick with a crook could be used to pull lambs and sheep out of dangerous places, it eventually did become a common shepherd’s tool in many parts of the world.  (The kind that has a reverse curve on the end is called a leg cleek.  It’s purpose is to grab the leg of a sheep below the knee where it is narrow, but not allow the hoof to slip through. )  (Source of photo here.)

What a beautiful representation these instruments are of our Shepherd and Savior.  He cares for us, protects us, and guides us as with His staff.  He disciplines us with His rod.  Not only that, He is our Lord, the King of kings and has the sole right to carry the ruling scepter as the monarch of the coming Kingdom.  Jesus is our loving Shepherd who will become our eternal ruling Lord.

So why not go out this coming month and cut yourself a good walking stick, and keep it by your door to remind yourself to get outdoors and enjoy His creation, and to remind you of Creator Jesus’ loving care and His redemption of all the earth over which He will reign—perhaps soon! [Photo: Some of my finished sticks: L to R---sassafras, oak, hickory, yucca, and date palm frond spine ---DO.  Click on photos to see larger size.]

The LORD. . . sends forth springs in the valleys ; they flow between the mountains ; they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell ; they lift up their voices among the branches. He waters the mountains from His upper chambers ; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of His works. He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the labor of man, so that he may bring forth food from the earth, and wine which makes man’s heart glad, so that he may make his face glisten with oil, and food which sustains man’s heart. The trees of the LORD drink their fill, the cedars of Lebanon which He planted, where the birds build their nests, and the stork, whose home is the fir trees. The high mountains are for the wild goats ; the cliffs are a refuge for the [rock badgers]. He made the moon for the seasons ; the sun knows the place of its setting. You appoint darkness and it becomes night, in which all the beasts of the forest prowl about. The young lions roar after their prey and seek their food from God. When the sun rises they withdraw and lie down in their dens. Man goes forth to his work and to his labor until evening.  O LORD, how many are Your works ! In wisdom You have made them all ; the earth is full of Your possessions (Psalm 104:10-24).

If I had my druthers, I’d live in a house with a large back deck that overlooks a wooded marsh with some open water.  I could spend my waning years taking in the cycle of seasons and observing the wildlife that often makes marshes such a dynamic—and dramatic—ecosystem.

I get a bit of that experience when I bring a sling chair, my binoculars, and my camera to take in the wonderful wildness of a large marsh hardly a half mile from the RBC building, a preserved wetland surrounded by hotels, factories, office buildings, Costco, Staples, Target, and Dick’s Sporting Goods [The link above is to Google Maps.  RBC is the white-roofed building north and east of I96 and Kraft]. Most of these buildings went up after the Clean Water Act, hence saving the marsh.  Now many of the establishments around it actually celebrate it—some with groomed overlooks that had to cost thousands of dollars.

Typical players there are tree swallows, red-winged blackbirds, mallards, geese (by far the noisiest members of the cast), blue herons, swans, and all the typical backyard birds of this area.  It is a virtual bird metropolis.  Saving that urban natural area has turned it into a treasure, and an easy-to-reach spot where this grandpa can take his grandchildren to see wildlife close-up. [Photo source]

Dr. Cal DeWitt, former professor of ecological studies at the University of Wisconsin and former director of the Au Sable Institute for Environmental Studies, is a good friend—and he [the lucky duck!] lives on a huge marsh: the Waubesa Wetlands.  Once when he was campaigning for wetlands conservation and restoration in his township, he came across a couple farmers who told him they didn’t see much value in preserving their wetlands.  Dr. DeWitt knew they were both avid pike fisherman.  As an ecologist, when he explained to them that pike fingerlings depended upon wetlands for their survival, he won their support.

The truth, however,  is that all natural systems are important in God’s scheme of things—the value of most of them not so quickly grasped.  That God would care for a sparrow, the humblest and least attractive of birds, ought to be a sign to us that we should not see anything in nature’s community as being valueless or unnecessary.  All things in nature are interrelated—a fact well put by John Muir: “When we try to pick out anything by itself we find that it is bound fast by a thousand invisible cords that cannot be broken to everything in the universe. ” Unspoiled wilderness provides us with the best of laboratories in which to learn about these connections.  That fact may well have been what Henry David Thoreau had in mind when he said “in wildness is the salvation of the earth.”

Modern science often gives us the impression that we really understand the complexity of wild nature.  The truth, however, was stated well by another ecologist: Frank Egler: “[Wilderness ecosystems] are not only more complex than we think, they are more complex than we can think.”  It’s in part because of such complex interconnectedness that our planet’s wild areas make us humble—which is the right attitude to have in the presence of our Creator and His priceless handiwork.  Maybe we are finally learning how foolish it is to destroy or drastically alter the systems God has put in place for His creatures—creatures that may not mean much to us, yet ones He cherishes and delights in.  “The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made” (Psalm 145:9).

Do we have compassion on all He has made—and are we seeking to do good toward all He has made?

This year I’ve decided to learn more about the life cycles of the trees in the area, and spring is the ideal time to do that. As is virtually always the case, what I’ve learned is amazing. In today’s “Ambling” entry, I share (as illustrated by my photos) what I recently discovered about how the conifers (evergreens) reproduce.