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Rod And Staff
Brian Mashburn
March 18, 2012
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Two Kinds of Comfort
The Middle Eastern shepherd had two important tools with which to do his job. He had a rod and he had a staff.
The rod was usually a specially picked out piece of heavy wood, a sort of knobby thickness on one end, and a sort of hand hold carved on the other.
The shepherd used this to discipline his sheep when they misbehaved, or when they were headed into danger or isolation, to get them to behave and stay with the flock under his care.
The staff is most familiar to us today as a shepherd's tool, long and straight with a crook in one end. It was used to pull individual sheep to the shepherd, to pick up young lambs and deliver them to their mothers, or to rescue lambs that found them tangled up in briars or thorns.
When David speaks of God as his shepherd, and then says, "your rod and your staff, they comfort me," (Psalm 23:4) he is speaking of both God's stern discipline and God's kind care.
For true comfort, you need both from God. This is why Paul would later say, "Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God." (Romans 11:22)
So today, let us worship our God who wields both the rod and the staff for our good.