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The Staff of Moses

Illustration of The Staff of Moses

The Staff of Moses is the rod that becomes the instrument of divine signs throughout the Exodus narrative - turning into a serpent, splitting the Red Sea, striking the rock for water, and raised in battle against Amalek. Jasher 77 describes how Moses obtained the staff from Reuel's garden, where it had been planted since the creation and none could pull it out until Moses came. This origin story connects the staff to primordial creation, making it an instrument prepared from the beginning for its eventual purpose. It functions as a physical extension of divine authority delegated to a human agent. Within the interconnected tradition preserved across the Book of Enoch, the Book of Jubilees, and the Book of Jasher, this concept resonates with broader patterns of divine order, human response, and cosmic consequence. The pseudepigraphal sources provide perspectives and details absent from other ancient texts, offering readers a more complete understanding of how ancient communities understood the relationship between heavenly realities and earthly experience. These expanded accounts invite sustained reflection on the enduring significance of this tradition within the larger framework of Second Temple Jewish thought and its influence on later religious imagination.

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Details

Category
Instrument of God
Associated With
Moses
Locations
Midian, Egypt, The Red Sea

Key Chapters

The Book of Jasher 77 Adikam Pharaoh Afflicts Israel more than ever. Moses is Released by Reuel, and Marries his Daughter Zipporah. Moses obtains possession of the Stick Je... 9 min read

Key Passages

Moses takes the staff

The Book of Jasher 77:39-51

And it was that whilst he prayed he looked opposite to him, and behold a sapphire stick was placed in the ground, which ...

A39nd it was that whilst he prayed he looked opposite to him, and behold a sapphire stick was placed in the ground, which was planted in the midst of the garden.

40 And he approached the stick and he looked, and behold the name of the Lord God of hosts was engraved thereon, written and developed upon the stick. 41 And he read it and stretched forth his hand and he plucked it like a forest tree from the thicket, and the stick was in his hand. 42 And this is the stick with which all the works of our God were performed, after he had created heaven and earth, and all the host of them, seas, rivers and all their fishes. 43 And when God had driven Adam from the garden of Eden, he took the stick in his hand and went and tilled the ground from which he was taken. 44 And the stick came down to Noah and was given to Shem and his descendants, until it came into the hand of Abraham the Hebrew. 45 And when Abraham had given all he had to his son Isaac, he also gave to him this stick. 46 And when Jacob had fled to Padan-aram, he took it into his hand, and when he returned to his father he had not left it behind him. 47 Also when he went down to Egypt he took it into his hand and gave it to Joseph, one portion above his brethren, for Jacob had taken it by force from his brother Esau. 48 And after the death of Joseph, the nobles of Egypt came into the house of Joseph, and the stick came into the hand of Reuel the Midianite, and when he went out of Egypt, he took it in his hand and planted it in his garden. 49 And all the mighty men of the Kinites tried to pluck it when they endeavored to get Zipporah his daughter, but they were unsuccessful. 50 So that stick remained planted in the garden of Reuel, until he came who had a right to it and took it. 51 And when Reuel saw the stick in the hand of Moses, he wondered at it, and he gave him his daughter Zipporah for a wife.

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Themes

Did You Know?

1

Jasher says the staff was planted in Reuel's garden at creation and none could pull it out.

2

It bears the divine name inscribed upon it according to some traditions.

3

The same staff turns to a serpent, parts the sea, strikes rock for water, and wins battles.

4

Moses' raising it during the Amalek battle connects physical gesture to spiritual power.

5

The staff demonstrates that divine authority can be channeled through physical objects.