מְטִיל

# Analyzing מְטִיל (metil) — "Rod" The Hebrew word מְטִיל (metil) appears only once in the biblical text, which significantly limits what can be definitively stated about its meaning and usage. Based on the lexicon data provided, the word denotes a rod—a long, slender, straight object. The singular occurrence means we cannot establish patterns of usage or determine whether the term had specialized applications in particular contexts or whether it was primarily literal or figurative in meaning. The rarity of this word in the biblical corpus presents an interpretive challenge. A single appearance allows us to identify only that the word existed and referred to something called a "rod," but provides insufficient evidence to determine its frequency in everyday language, whether it was colloquial or formal, or how it related to other Hebrew terms for similar objects. Without multiple contexts, we cannot assess the word's semantic range or whether it held any symbolic or theological significance within biblical literature. For modern readers, מְטִיל serves as a reminder that the biblical Hebrew lexicon contained numerous words that appear in limited passages, and that understanding ancient texts sometimes requires acknowledging the boundaries of available evidence. Its status as a hapax legomenon—a word occurring only once—makes it dependent on context clues from its single appearance for fuller comprehension.