A branch (as extending ); figuratively, a tribe ; also a rod , whether for chastising (figuratively, correction ), ruling (a sceptre ), throwing (a lance ), or walking (a staff ; figuratively, a support of life, e.g. bread)
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מַטֶּה (matteh) is a Hebrew noun for a staff or rod and, in many passages, a tribe. Exodus uses it for the staff associated with Moses and Aaron, while Numbers frequently uses it for Israel's tribal organization.
Reader summary
Full entry for מַטֶּה (H4294) · Open the biblical lexicon
מַטֶּה (matteh) is a Hebrew noun for a staff or rod and, in many passages, a tribe. Exodus uses it for the staff associated with Moses and Aaron, while Numbers frequently uses it for Israel's tribal organization.
The BSB source-word alignment has 252 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include from the tribe (39), of the tribe (36), . . . (28), to the tribe (12), the tribe (11).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 38:18. Its strongest book concentrations include Numbers (111), Joshua (59), Exodus (27), 1 Chronicles (23).
מַטֶּה (matteh) is a Hebrew noun for a staff or rod and, in many passages, a tribe. Exodus uses it for the staff associated with Moses and Aaron, while Numbers frequently uses it for Israel's tribal organization. The sense must be selected from context. The related H7626 שֵׁבֶט also carries rod and tribe senses, but its passages are not direct H4294 evidence.
Exodus 4:20 calls the object in Moses' hand the staff of God after the signs and commission at the bush. Exodus 14:16 instructs Moses to lift the staff and stretch out his hand over the sea. The narratives make the staff part of commanded sign-actions; they do not teach that any ordinary ministry object becomes a divine instrument merely because a commissioned person holds it.
Exodus 17:9 says Moses will stand on the hill with the staff of God in his hand. The following verses report that Israel prevails when Moses' hand is raised and falters when it lowers. The text supports dependence on the Lord and the assistance of Aaron and Hur, but it does not explicitly state that the staff itself mechanically determines the battle or that the scene institutes a universal intercession posture.
Numbers 17:8 reports Aaron's staff sprouting, budding, blossoming, and producing almonds as the Lord resolves the dispute over priestly leadership. Hebrews 9:4 later mentions Aaron's staff that budded. Calling it a resurrection sign may be useful homiletical analogy, but neither passage explicitly identifies the rod as a prophecy of resurrection. Numbers 20:8-12 also warns against treating the staff as magical: Moses takes it as commanded, but his subsequent action and failure to uphold the Lord's holiness bring judgment.
The local artifact counts about 252 H4294 occurrences. Staff uses dominate key exodus and wilderness narratives, while tribe uses organize Israel in Numbers and later texts. Other Hebrew rod and staff nouns must remain distinct.
And Moses took the staff of God in his hand.
The staff belongs to the sign-bearing commission in the surrounding narrative. Its theological role comes from the Lord's commands and actions rather than power inherent in the object.
And as for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it.
Moses is commanded to use the staff within the sea-crossing sign. The Lord's agency remains explicit throughout the chapter.
Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with the staff of God in my hand.
The staff appears in Moses' announced posture before the battle. Verses 11-12 focus on his raised hands and the support of Aaron and Hur, not on a magical property of the staff.
And one man from each tribe, the head of each family, must be there with you.
Matteh denotes a tribe in the census organization. The passage establishes representative leadership and household structure without proving an etymological branch-of-a-family-tree theory.
Aaron's staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, put forth buds, blossomed, and produced almonds.
The sign identifies the priestly house chosen by the Lord and answers the people's complaints. Hebrews 9:4 later recalls the budded staff among remembered sanctuary objects.
Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron are to assemble the congregation.
The staff appears in a command that also requires speaking to the rock. Moses' failure in the following action cautions against isolating the object from exact obedience to the Lord's word.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Branch extending into rod: physical support becomes symbol of authority, correction, and tribal identity.
Branch extending into rod: physical support becomes symbol of authority, correction, and tribal identity.
a branch (as extending); figuratively, a tribe; also a rod, whether for chastising (figuratively, correction), ruling (a sceptre), throwing (a lance), or walking (a staff; figuratively, a support of life, e.g. bread) BDB: staff Usage: rod, staff, tribe.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 252 lexical occurrence verses.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Matteh helps teachers keep divine agency, appointed signs, leadership, and tribal organization in their textual proportions. Moses' staff is important because the Lord commands actions involving it; it is not a model for declaring any ordinary tool a sacred instrument. Rephidim highlights Moses' raised hands, dependence, and the support of Aaron and Hur without making the rod a battle mechanism.
Aaron's budding staff visibly resolves a priestly dispute and is later recalled in Hebrews, but resurrection language should be presented as analogy rather than the passage's explicit interpretation. The frequent tribe sense also matters: H4294 often identifies an organizational unit of Israel rather than a physical object. Lexical discipline requires separating H4294 from H7626 in Psalm 2, Psalm 23, Proverbs, and many prophetic rod passages, and from H4938, the staff in Psalm 23.
Those parallels may enrich a broader rod theme only after their distinct identities are named.
Exod.4.20
Matteh and H7626 shebet both can mean rod and tribe, but they are separate lexical identities. Traditional derivation from H5186 may explain extension or stretching, yet the transition between staff and tribe senses should not be asserted through an unproven family-branch story. Context reliably identifies the intended sense.
Hebrews 9:4 explicitly mentions Aaron's budded staff. Revelation's rod-of-iron citations come through Psalm 2's H7626 rather than H4294, so they belong to a broader rod theme, not a direct H4294 trajectory. The Good Shepherd and Psalm 23 connection likewise uses other Hebrew staff vocabulary.
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