Endnote 13 – Why Moses Could Not Enter The Promised Land

Note that the source is P, which replaces Moses’ rod with Aaron’s. Admittedly, Moses splits the sea with his rod in Exodus 14:16, which most assign to P. Apparently, we must either attribute the words “raise your rod” to the editor who combined P with JE or conclude that in P Moses uses his rod once only, for the supreme miracle during the Exodus. Note also that in its first two appearances the staff is simply called “the rod.” No owner is specified, merely its location in the Tabernacle. But in the rod’s third appearance, Moses strikes “with his rod” (bmthw); here the pronoun seems to refer to Moses himself. This is a problem. Either the staff is called Moses’ because he now holds it, or else an editor or a later scribe added the letter waw to make it seem the rod was Moses’, as in Exodus 17:1–7. In the latter scenario, which I consider more likely, the original reading was bmth, “with the rod.” The Septuagint has “with the rod,” but this could reflect either bmth or bmthw.