Anybody else heard of the "staff" being used this way?
Years ago (maybe in the nineteen-sixties or early seventies) we had a man (I thought he was UPC) come to our ALJC church and teach/preach. It may have been one week night, maybe two. He was an older man with white hair and I think his name was Bro. Massey (not sure of the spelling). I think his first name was kinda different like Ulyses or something like that. I think this was the first time I heard of dividing up the Old Testament into the J, E, D, and P fragments or books. My memory is pretty hazy on this but I think he mentioned records/lore/stories preserved on some kind of physical media (ropes or staffs or something) and passed down from generation to generation. Where is Eld. Epley when you need him? He probably knows who I am talking about.
Anyway, I copied this from a book I read recently and wondered if anyone else has heard this application of a staff as used for a memorial.
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Testimony played a vital role in the everyday lives of God’s people during biblical times. As the children of Israel moved from Egypt to their promised land, God instructed them to set up memorials at various places where He supernaturally met their needs. These memorials stood as a visible testimony of the faithfulness of God even to future generations.
In Bible times, shepherds had a unique way of displaying their testimony. As part of their passage to manhood, each young shepherd was given his own staff. He used that staff not only to shepherd sheep, but also to chronicle the victories of his life. It became a symbol of his testimony carried in his hand.
Beginning at the bottom of the staff, the shepherd made carvings to remind him of pivotal moments in his life. Shepherds are by nature nomadic, moving from place to place in search of pasture land. For amusement, they passed the time at night telling stories around the fire. Their staffs became a central point for their conversations. Pointing to a particular carving on another’s staff, the staff’s owner would be asked to tell the story to which it related. Over and over the shepherds rehearsed their struggles and victories. Although always traveling and with surroundings always changing, one’s testimony remained consistent as a stabilizing force in a nomadic life. Not only did it provide fodder for storytelling, but it also served much more meaningful purposes. Two of these purposes are substantiated in scripture.
Our Testimony Prepares Us for Our Present Battle
In
1 Samuel 17 is found the story of a shepherd boy named David, sent by his father to a battlefield to deliver cheese to his brothers, a trip that would result in him delivering Israel from her Philistine enemies. When David arrived at the Israelite camp, all the soldiers were gripped with fear over a giant who screamed for someone to defend Israel and their God’s integrity. The odds were overwhelmingly against anyone defeating the giant who had been a warrior from his youth. Although every soldier was armed with weaponry, David had only a shepherd’s staff in hi hand. But that staff was a critical part of the weaponry he used to defeat the giant Philistine. As David volunteered to fight the enemy champion, the warriors of Israel mocked and scorned him, even though none of them were willing to fight. Finally, David was sent to King Saul.
At first, Saul chuckled at the thought of the young shepherd boy going against a champion like Goliath, but he had no other option. So he tried to equip David with his own armor but Saul’s armor didn’t fit the young man. Then David, with a shepherd’s staff in his hand, pointed to the carvings and began to tell the king of Israel a story.
“Once I was keeping my father’s sheep,” he began. “Do you see this mark on the bottom of my staff? This was the first victory God gave me. When a lion came to attack and destroy the sheep I was commissioned to protect, the Spirit of the Lord came upon me, enabling me to destroy him. But that’s not all! You se the second mark here, just above the first? Again, I was alone, protecting the sheep, when a bear came out of the woods. The bear seemed a lot larger than the lion but the same Spirit of the Lord came on me again, and I was able to kill the bear and deliver the sheep from his clutches. Now I stand here before you with an enemy that is larger than any I’ve faced before. But greater is He that is within me than the giant standing before me.”
In
1 Samuel 17:40, the first weapon mentioned in David’s arsenal was the staff in his hand. Why would a shepherd take his staff into battle? The answer is that he was expecting soon to carve out a new victory. There was no doubt in David’s mind that the faithful God of yesterday would also be the victorious God of today. The testimony chronicled on David’s staff was a important to the victory as were the stone and the sling.
The same is true of all of us. Our victories of yesterday birth in us a hope for the struggles we face today. As God encouraged Israel not to forget the miracles He performed, we, too, must clutch our testimony, refusing to relinquish it in the face of fear. The Spirit of God is still available today and God’s promises are as true as ever. God is able to “do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (
Ephesians 3:20).
Our Testimony Encourages Future Generations
While we may be able to see the power of our testimony in connection with our everyday lives, few of us realize the power of that testimony on future generations. Long after we have laid down our testimonial staff and gone to be with the Lord, future generations can pick up that staff and discover that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. By examining our life, they can prove that He is faithful to all generations, that He is the God “who is, and was, and is tom come” (
Revelation 1:8; paraphrased)
No place in scripture better illustrates this principle than does
Hebrews 11:21: “By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.” An old shepherd by that time, Jacob had known a mixture of heartache and victory and his staff was full of carvings that chronicled the events of his life. Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph knew nothing of their grandfather’s journey with God, for they had been raised in Egypt, away from extended family. Even their Egyptian names revealed that Joseph, as a captive in a foreign land, had put his former life behind him. But God had proven Himself faithful to Jacob and to Joseph and had reunited father and son. What Satan had devised for destruction, God used to sustain the nation of Israel.
Joseph had longed for a day when he would once again embrace his father. But also, deep inside Joseph was a desire for Jacob to bless his sons before the patriarch died. The link between Jacob’s life and the two grandsons who had grown up separated from their grandfather was the staff in Jacob’s hand. As scripture indicates, Jacob blessed the sons of Joseph, leaning on the top of his staff. As he stood feebly before them, the testimony of God’s faithfulness stabilized his trembling hands. Pointing to carving after carving on hid staff, Jacob shared stories of the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and the same God who had proven Himself faithful in his own life. Jacob’s staff gave them a history lesson while at the same time, it birthed within them a hope that God’s promises to their forefathers would come to pass in their lives. the promise that their great-great-grandfather Abraham had dreamed about would become a reality in their lives.
Your testimony not only enables you to win against the giants you face today, but it also stands as a beacon of light to future generations, assuring them that God is faithful and that He can be trusted. Not only is there hope of Heaven some day, but each battle we encounter carves out our short range hope. Step by step we walk in relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, carrying out His plan for our life and fulfilling purpose for which we were created;
from pages 117-121 of “Mentoring from the Mountaintop” by Rick Clendenen copyright 2006
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