Ezekiel 19:11. She had strong rods for the scepters of them that bare rule.
Scepters were originally nothing but simple rods cut from the branches of trees, and more or less ornamented. They were in later times more elaborately made, and sometimes, instead of wood, the material was gold (Esther 5:2). The opinion that the scepter originated with the shepherd’s staff; because the first kings were mostly nomad princes, though entertained by some eminent authorities, is rejected by others equally eminent. The scepter of the ancient Egyptian kings is said, by Diodorus Siculus, to have resembled, not a shepherd’s crook, but a plow. The scepter may have been originally used by kings and leaders simply because it was the most natural support and weapon; while subsequent circumstances changed its form and significance.