402 ROD NOT EMPLOYED— REASONS 



To account for this absence of direct mention of the Rod 

 in the Bible various reasons have been adduced. 



The first : in the only two passages, Isaiah xix. 8, and 

 Habakkuk i. 15, where the word " angle " occurs, and in 

 Matthew xvii. 27, " cast a hook," and in Amos iv, 2, as con- 

 tended by Mr. Breslar, its use is certainly implied. The validity 

 of this claim remains a question (A) for Hebrew scholars, and 

 (B) for practical fishermen. 



From the point of view of the latter, the " casting," 

 " taking," etc., in the above passages can be and probably were 

 accompHshed by a hand-Hne (with or without a weight attached 

 to insure greater length of throw) almost as easily and as 

 effectually as if a Rod were employed. As a matter of fact, 

 for taking good-sized fish some of our professional sea-fishermen 

 prefer the hand-Hne to that of the Rod. 



The words in Matthew xvii. 27, " go thou to the sea and 

 cast a hook " do not either in the Greek or English strongly 

 suggest, much less necessarily imply, a Rod. To a professional 

 fisherman of the Sea of Tiberias like Peter, the more natural, 

 probably the only known method of casting would be by a 

 hand-Hne. 



Turning now to the Hebrew passages, Isaiah xix. 8, " The 

 fishers shall also lament, and all they that cast angle in the 

 Nile (A. v., brooks) shall mourn;" Habakkuk i. 15, "He 

 taketh up all of them with the angle, he catcheth them in his 

 net, and gathereth them in his drag;" Job xH. i, "Canst 

 thou draw out leviathan with a fish-hook ? " in aU these we 

 find the same Hebrew word hakkdh. 



The R.V. in the first two renders it " angle," and in Job 

 " fish-hook ; " in the Greek version ayKiarpov, which in the 

 Septuagint is the usual and in the New Testament (Matt. xvii. 

 27) the only word for hook, occurs in all three passages. 



Whence or from which word can the Rod be impHed, or 

 even in fairness claimed ? In Isaiah, it is answered, from the 



Jehovah from the Book of Esther." This is hardly helpful : let us grant 

 that the omission of a name from a short book hke Esther was an accident. 

 How can this be " like " the omission of all mention of or allusion to the Rod 

 in the vast literature of the Old and New Testaments and of the Talmud, 

 especially when we find in all three numerous passages dealing with fishing 

 and the tackle employed for fishing ? 



