“Mark,” said he, “has, ‘that they should take nothing for the journey, _save a staff only_, no bread, no wallet, no money for the purse.’ Matthew and Luke have ‘_no staff_.’ Now turn to Genesis, where Jacob thanks God for helping him on his journey, ‘I passed over Jordan with _my staff_.’ He _means_, ‘with _my staff only_.’ Philo explains this ‘_staff_’ metaphorically, as ‘training,’ _i.e._ the instruction or guidance given by God. David says to God, ‘Thy rod and _thy staff_ are my help,’ or words to that effect—manifest metaphor. My rabbi shewed me a Jewish paraphrase of Jacob’s words, ‘I had neither gold, nor silver, nor herds, but _simply my staff_.’ He also told me that this ‘_staff_’ was supposed by the Jews to have been given by God to Adam from whom it descended to the patriarchs in succession. This shews that Jews might find no difficulty in Christ’s metaphor, ‘Go forth with _nothing but a staff_,’ _i.e._ the staff of Jacob, the rod and staff of God. But Greeks and Romans would naturally take the word literally as meaning ‘walking-stick.’ Then they would find a difficulty, asking, ‘Why should Jesus say, _No bread, no wallet—only a walking-stick_?’ Hence many, writing largely for Gentiles, might alter it into ‘_no walking-stick_.’ This is what Matthew and Luke have done. Similarly they altered Mark’s metaphor ‘_but shod with sandals_,’ _i.e._ with light shoes fit for the ‘beautiful feet’ of the preachers of the gospel, into ‘_no boots_,’ or words to that effect. The error is the same. Jewish metaphor has been in each case taken literally by Matthew and Luke.”