Relevent Qoutes
page 24:
They say that when Adam and Eve were driven out of Paradise, Adam cut off
a branch for a staff from the tree of good and evil, and it remained with
him, and was handed down from generation to generation unto Moses and even
to the Crucifix of Jesus, and if the Lord will, we will relate its history
in its proper place.
page 50: (its proper place)
When Adam and Eve went forth from Paradise, Adam, as if knowing that he
was never to return to his place, cut off a brach from the tree of good
and evil - which is the fig tree - and took it with him and went forth;
and it served him as a staff all the days of his life. After the death of
Adam, his son Seth took it, for there were no weapons as yet at that time.
This rod was passed on from hand to hand until Noah, and from Noah to
Shem; and it was handed down from Shem to Abraham as a blessed thing from
the Paradise of God. With this rod Abraham broke the images and graven
idols which his father made, and therefore God said to him, 'Get thee out
of thy father's house' etc.. It was in his hand in every country as far as
Egypt, and from Egypt to Palastine. Afterwards Isaac took it, and (it was
handed down) from Isaac to Jacob; with it he fed the flocks of Laban the
Aramean in Paddan Aram. After Jacob Judah his fourth son took it, and this
was the rod which Judah gave to Tamar his daughter-in-law, with his signet
ring and napkin, as the hire for what he had done. From him it came to
Pharez. At that time there were wars everywhere, and an angel took the
rod, and laid it in the cave of Treasures in the mount of Moab, until
Midian was built. There was in Midian a man, upright and righteous before
God, and his name was Jethro. When he was feeding his flock on the
mountain, he found the cave and took the rock by divine agency, and with
it, he fed his sheep until his old age. When he gave his daughter to
Moses, he said to him, "Go in, my son, take the rod, and go forth to thy
flock."
When Moses set his foot upon the threshold of the door, and angel moved the rod, and it came out of its own free will toward Moses. And Moses took the rod, and it was with him until God spake with him on mount Sinai. When God said to him, 'Cast the rod upon the ground' he did so and it bacame a great serpent; and the Lord said 'Take it' and he did so and it became a rod as at first. This is the rod that God gave him for a help and a deliverance that it might be a wonder, and that with it he might deliver Israel from the oppression of the Egyptians. By the will of the living God this rod became a serpent in Egypt. By it God spake to Moses, and it swallowed up the rod of Posdi the sorceress of the Egyptians. With it Moses smote the sea of Soph in its length and breadth, and the depths congealed into the heart of the sea.
It was in Moses' hands in the wilderness of Ashimon, and with it he smote the stony rock, and the waters flowed forth. ... irrelevant stuff about serpents attacking and the copper snake. ... After all the children of Israel were dead, save Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jefuneh, they went into the promised land, and took the rod with them, on account of the wars with the Philistines and Amelekites. And Phineas hid the rod in the desert, in the dust at the gate of Jerusalem, where it remained until Jesus was born. And He, by the will of his divinity, shewed the rod to Joseph the husband of Mary, and it was in his hand when he fled to Egypt with our lord and Mary, until he returned to Nazereth. From Joseph his son Jacob, who was surnamed the brother of our lord, took it, and from Jacob Judas Iscariot, who was a thief, stole it. When the Jews crucified our lord, they lacked wood for the arms of our lord, and Judas in his wickedness gave them the rod, which became a judgement and a fall unto them, but an uprising unto many.