Take of every one of them a rod. Literally, "take of them a rod, a rod," i.e; a rod apiece, in the way immediately particularized. hsilgnE:egaugnaL מַטֶּה} is used for the staff of Judah (Genesis 38:18) and for the rod of Moses (Exodus 4:2).
It is also used in the sense of "tribe" (Numbers 1:4, Numbers 1:16). Each tribe was but a branch, or rod, out of the stock of Israel, and, therefore, was most naturally represented by the rod cut from the tree.
‘The words used for scepter in Genesis 49:10, and in Psalms 45:7, and for rod in Isaiah 11:1, and elsewhere are different, but the same imagery underlies the use of all of them. Of all their princes … twelve rods.
These princes must be those named in Isaiah 2:1-22 and Isaiah 7:1-25. Since among these are to be found the tribe princes of Ephraim and Manasseh, standing upon a perfect equality with the rest, it is evident that the twelve rods were exclusive of that of Aaron.
The joining together of Ephraim and Manasseh in Deuteronomy 27:12 was a very different thing, because it could not raise any question as between the two.