Psalm 23/Notes/Phrasal.V. 4.107279
From Psalms: Layer by Layer
- The waw in שִׁבְטְךָ֥ וּ֝מִשְׁעַנְתֶּ֗ךָ (your rod and staff) is a waw of addition. A shepherd's crook could serve two functions: it could be used as a weapon to ward off beasts and as a walking stick on which the shepherd would lean as he walked.[1] Therefore, some scholars have interpreted the words שִׁבְטְךָ וּמִשְׁעַנְתֶּךָ ("rod and staff") as two names for a single tool.[2] However, we have followed the majority of scholars in regarding the rod and staff as two different tools.[3] Although a shepherd's crook could function as both a rod and a staff, the text gives no reason to assume they are one and the same object in this case. Both terms are used elsewhere in Scripture, outside of a pastoral context (e.g., Ps 2:9 - שֵׁבֶט as scepter), in ways that do not obviously refer to a shepherd's crook. Furthermore, the repetition of the second-person possessive pronoun ("your rod" and "your staff") and the presence of the third person plural pronoun ("they comfort") indicate two distinct tools.