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Pastoral Life—Shepherds (Endnotes)

1. Lot had a house in the city, but like the judges and important men, would go and sit in the gate of the city in his free time. It was in the gate that many important judgments and business deals were made, and the men of the gate were readily available to act as witnesses (Ruth 4:1-11). This is not equivalent to sitting in a doorway today, which would only block the entryway. The larger biblical cities had double gates, an inner and an outer, to better help with defense. The area between them was open and quite large, and the shadow of the walls provided welcomed shade. Boaz (Ruth 4:1), King David (1 Kings 22:10), Mordecai (Esther 2:19), the officials of Babylon (Jer. 39:3), and Daniel (Dan. 2:49), are all mentioned as sitting in the gate. Close

2. The rod of the biblical shepherd of David’s time would not have nails in it, and, although there would have been great similarities between them, there was no standard way that a rod looked, it was personal preference. Close

3. The Hebrew word translated “rod” (shebet) has a wide range of meanings, and could refer to the scepter of the king (Gen. 49:10; Ezek. 19:11), the short spear (2 Sam. 18:14), the pestle used to powder spices (Isa. 28:27), or a staff. The association between the scepter of the ruler and the people he ruled was the reason that the most frequent translation of shebet is “tribe” (Cp. Num. 4:18, 18:2, 32:33; Deut. 3:13; etc.) Close

4. The Hebrew word is misheneth, and refers to the ordinary walking staff, which the shepherd might modify for his special needs. Close

5. Our common saying that bread is the “staff of life” goes back to the early seventeenth century as an echo of Psalm 105:16 and others similar to it. The Hebrew word for staff in Psalm 105 is matteh, another Hebrew word for staff that is also translated many times as “tribe” (Cp. Exod. 31:2, 35:30; etc.). Close

6. I have personally witnessed a sling stone go more than 250 yards, and the slinger was neither a big man nor a slinger from his youth. Close