“... In regard to a variant of Moses’ attempt to raise Joseph’ coffin, a wooden staff is mentioned through the application of a scriptural passage, in which Elisha uses a wooden stick: And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. But as one was felling a tree-trunk, the ax head fell into the water; and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed. And the man of God said, Where did it fall? And he showed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and threw it in there; and made the iron float. (2 Kings 6:4ff.). This passage is cited as proof in the Joseph story for the “fact” that the metal coffin could float and rise to the surface of the Nile but there is no direct connection between Elisha’s staff and Moses’ staff except that Elisha is presented as a distant disciple of Moses. The midrashic texts that dramatize the recovery of Joseph’s coffin do not mention that Moses was using his staff or a magic wand to raise Joseph’s coffin, although Moses’ magic powers are otherwise displayed by historicizing his magic acts in Egypt and locating them in Pharaonic Egypt. ...”