Numbers 17: 1 – 13
Aaron and his blossoming rod
17 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and get from them a rod from each father’s house, all their leaders according to their fathers’ houses—twelve rods. Write each man’s name on his rod. 3 And you shall write Aaron’s name on the rod of Levi. For there shall be one rod for the head of each father’s house. 4 Then you shall place them in the tabernacle of meeting before the Testimony, where I meet with you. 5 And it shall be that the rod of the man whom I choose will blossom; thus I will rid Myself of the complaints of the children of Israel, which they make against you.” 6 So Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and each of their leaders gave him a rod apiece, for each leader according to their fathers’ houses, twelve rods; and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. 7 And Moses placed the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness. 8 Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses went into the tabernacle of witness, and behold, the rod of Aaron, of the house of Levi, had sprouted and put forth buds, had produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds. 9 Then Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD to all the children of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his rod. 10 And the LORD said to Moses, “Bring Aaron’s rod back before the Testimony, to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put their complaints away from Me, lest they die.” 11 Thus did Moses; just as the LORD had commanded him, so he did. 12 So the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Surely we die, we perish, we all perish! 13 Whoever even comes near the tabernacle of the LORD must die. Shall we all utterly die?”
Over the Memorial Day Holiday weekend the TV network was running the Indiana Jones movies. There were four of them produced. I find it interesting that they have actually made a fifth one scheduled for release in the year 2020. It seems that the 5th movies will be called Indiana Jones and the Throne of Atlantis. I would like to offer some new titles for the producers to consider. How about Indiana Jones - in search of a good doctor or perhaps Indiana Jones and the misplaced wheel chair?
I did not like two of the movies. The two that I enjoyed are The Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
If you have ever watched the Raiders of the Lost Ark then you will I am sure will agree with me that the end is spectacular. Evil Nazi’s have taken the Ark from Indy and traveled to a remote island to open it a see what is inside.
The evil treasure seeker Belloq who works for the Nazi’s responded to Indy who had threatened to blow the Ark up with a rocket launcher says this to Indy, ‘All your life has been spent in pursuit of archaeological relics. Inside the Ark are treasures beyond your wildest aspirations. You want to see it opened as well as I. Indiana; we are simply passing through history. This, this ‘is’ history.’
According to scripture we know that the 10 Commandments, a sealed bottle of Manna, and from what we will learn today, the rod of Aaron the High Priest were placed in it.
Today we are going to see an Israelite version of Indiana Jones and I would like to call it, High Priest Aaron and his blossoming rod.
One more thing I want to make clear to you and that is to describe what a ‘rod’ is. In Psalm 23 we read, “Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
When the shepherd is afield with his flock in the high country, it is customary for him to carry a minimum of equipment. In the Middle East the shepherd carries only a rod and staff. These are the common and universal equipment of the sheep men.
Each shepherd boy, from the time he first starts to tend his father's flock, takes special pride in the selection of a rod and staff exactly suited to his own size and strength. He goes into the bush and selects a young sapling which is dug from the ground. This is carved and whittled down with great care and patience. The enlarged base of the sapling where its trunk joins the roots is shaped into a smooth, rounded head of hard wood. The sapling itself is shaped to exactly fit the owner's hand. After he completes it, the shepherd boy spends hours practicing with this club, leaning how to throw it with amazing speed and accuracy. It becomes his main weapon of defense for both himself and his sheep. ...the rod, in fact, was an extension of the owner's own right arm. It stood as a symbol of his strength, his power, his authority in any serious situation.
The rod was so powerful as a weapon many cities have even banned it from their police. In Philadelphia it was called a ‘Billy club’
The rod was what he relied on to safeguard both himself and his flock in danger. And it was, furthermore, the instrument he used to discipline and correct any wayward sheep that insisted on wandering away.
There is a second dimension in which the rod is used by the shepherd for the welfare of his sheep -- namely that of discipline. The club is used for this purpose perhaps more than any other.
If the shepherd saw a sheep wandering away from its own, or approaching poisonous weeds, or getting too close to danger of one sort or another, the club would go whistling through the air to send the wayward animal scurrying back to the bunch.
Another interesting use of the rod in the shepherd's hand was to examine and count the sheep. In the terminology of the Old Testament this was referred to as passing "under the rod":
And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: (Ezekiel 20:37).
This meant not only coming under the owner's control and authority, but also to be subject to his most careful, intimate and firsthand examination. A sheep that passed "under the rod" was one which had been counted and looked over with great care to make sure all was well with it.
Because of their long wool it is not always easy to detect disease, wounds, or defects in sheep. For example at a sheep show an inferior animal can be clipped and shaped and shown so as to appear a perfect specimen. But the skilled judge will take his rod and part the sheep's wool to determine the condition of the skin, the cleanliness of the fleece and the conformation of the body. In plain language, "One just does not pull the wool over his [judge's] eyes."
In caring for his sheep, the good shepherd - the careful manager - will from time to time make a careful examination of each individual sheep. As each animal comes out of the corral and through the gate, it is stopped by the shepherd's outstretched rod. He opens the fleece with the rod; he runs his skillful hands over the body; he feels for any sign of trouble; he examines the sheep with care to see if all is well. This is a most searching process entailing every intimate detail. It is, too, a comfort to the sheep for only in this way can its hidden problems be laid bare before the shepherd.
Finally the shepherd's rod is an instrument of protection both for himself and his sheep when they are in danger. It is used both as a defense and a deterrent against anything that would attack.
The skilled shepherd uses his rod to drive off predators like coyotes, wolves, cougars or stray dogs. Often it is used to beat the brush discouraging snakes and other creatures from disturbing the flock. In extreme cases, such as David recounted to Saul, the psalmist no doubt used his rod to attack the lion and the bear that came to raid his flocks.
In chapter 16 the question has been dealt with as to who could act as a mediator between Israel and God in the offering of incense. Now the further question is dealt with as to who may enter the Holy Place.
Here those with the right to enter the Sanctuary are determined once and for all as the sons of Aaron. We are given no background to the incident, although it may well have followed not long after the preceding event, and is clearly connected with it.
17 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and get from them a rod from each father’s house, all their leaders according to their fathers’ houses—twelve rods. Write each man’s name on his rod.
All the men of Israel were to be involved in this. The rods represented the ‘households’ of the original patriarchal fathers. Levi was included among ‘the twelve’ and that Manasseh and Ephraim were for this event treated as one tribe, the tribe of Joseph. But a rod was taken for each of their fathers’ houses, and the names of each of the chieftains of those fathers’ houses was written on the rods. The word for ‘rods’ also indicates ‘tribes, and can in fact be used to indicate either. Thus the rods symbolized each tribe.
3 And you shall write Aaron’s name on the rod of Levi. For there shall be one rod for the head of each father’s house.
On the rod of Levi the name of Aaron was to be written. Then the patriarch of each tribe was inscribed on a rod.
Here Aaron is depicted as the head of the house of Levi. That may well be why earlier he was called ‘the Levite’ as the head of the family (Exodus 4.14).
It is possible since Korah was from the tribe of Levi and used by iniquity schemes to obtain for himself the High Priest position that Levi also was listed as a tribe along with Aaron’s rod. Therefore there was probably 13 rods in total – Aaron’s and one from each tribe.
4 Then you shall place them in the tabernacle of meeting before the Testimony, where I meet with you.
These were then to be ‘laid up in the Tent of meeting, before the testimony’, in the place where Yahweh meets with His people. This probably meant in front of the veil behind which was the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh, ‘the testimony’ indicating the presence of the covenant tablets in the Ark and their testimony to the covenant.
5 And it shall be that the rod of the man whom I choose will blossom; thus I will rid Myself of the complaints of the children of Israel, which they make against you.”
Then Yahweh would make the rod of the man that Yahweh had chosen spring to life and bud. In other words a dead stick will come to life and bear fruit. This final display on Yahweh’s initiative should cause all further murmurings against Moses and Aaron on the question of who had the right of priesthood to cease.
6 So Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and each of their leaders gave him a rod apiece, for each leader according to their fathers’ houses, twelve rods; and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.
So Moses did as Yahweh commanded and requested rods from each of the chieftains of the twelve tribes. These rods may well have been their symbols of authority. Thus twelve rods were gathered and Aaron’s rod was placed among them.
7 And Moses placed the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness.
The rods were then laid up ‘before Yahweh’ in ‘the Tent of the testimony’. Please note the change in name for the Tent. It is now called the tabernacle of witness. Emphasis is placed here on the fact that the Tent testifies to Yahweh and His covenant.
8 Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses went into the tabernacle of witness, and behold, the rod of Aaron, of the house of Levi, had sprouted and put forth buds, had produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds.
The next day Moses entered the Tent of testimony, and there he discovered that Aaron’s rod had budded. Indeed it had not only produced buds, but had also burst into flowers and borne ripe almonds. The same word (tsits) which indicates ‘blossoms’ also signifies the golden ‘plate’ which was part of the High Priest’s headdress (Exodus 28.36). Remember all this is about our Holy Lord’s selection of only Aaron and his descendents being the High Priest.
The lamp stand in the Tabernacle of Yahweh represented an almond tree (Exodus 25.33-34). Thus the rod that produced almonds was seen as, as it was, an offshoot of the One represented by the lamp stand.
The message was clear. The rod of Aaron lived in the presence of Yahweh, but the rods of the tribes remained dead. Only Aaron and his sons could be in the presence of Yahweh in the Holy Place and live. Only Aaron could ‘produce fruit’ in the Holy Place.
9 Then Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD to all the children of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his rod.
Then Moses brought all the rods out ‘from before Yahweh’ and brought them to the children of Israel, and they looked and saw, and each chieftain took his rod. Nothing further needed to be said. The rods spoke for themselves. They were taken back to the tribe with an account of what had happened and no doubt carefully examined.
10 And the LORD said to Moses, “Bring Aaron’s rod back before the Testimony, to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put their complaints away from Me, lest they die.”
Then Yahweh told Moses to put Aaron’s rod back ‘before the testimony’. It would be a permanent token to the rebellious, in order that their murmurings might cease, so that they would not need to die.
11 Thus did Moses; just as the LORD had commanded him, so he did.
And Moses did all that Yahweh had commanded him.
12 So the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Surely we die, we perish, we all perish! 13 Whoever even comes near the tabernacle of the LORD must die. Shall we all utterly die?”
The people examined the dead rods that represented the tribes, in contrast with the living rod of Aaron, and their consciences smote them as they remembered their recent past. They must have asked themselves, what did this signify? Terror took hold of them, and spread. Their rod had come back dead. They panicked. Was this an omen, an indication of their coming fate that Yahweh was handing them over to death? They understood the message that was given, that they could not enter the near presence of Yahweh lest they die, that to come too near to the Sanctuary was death, as Moses had already warned. But they feared that death was upon them, as they recognized that they had been approaching His Tabernacle so lightly. Were they then doomed? Was this the harbinger of a ghastly fate? Moses no doubt reassured them of what the true significance of the rods was and is given in chapter 18.2. The iniquity of the Sanctuary and the priesthood would be borne by Aaron and his sons.
So once the initial panic had subsided the people learned in a never to be forgotten way that the Sanctuary was holy and the inner Sanctuary was for the priests alone. God had made quite plain through the rods that only Aaron and his sons could flourish there. For all others to enter would be to perish. To come too close to the Tabernacle of Yahweh would result in death, just as the rods were dead. They had to face up to the fact that in the future all who did so would perish.
This example of the rods also pictorially made clear to them what had happened to Korah and his band of Levites. They had thought to come too close to Yahweh in direct disobedience to His instruction and they had died. No one must ever again make the same mistake. The same would happen to any who made the attempt. Only Aaron and his sons had the privilege of entry into His inner Sanctuary.
For us the message is that if we would enter the presence of God we too must receive life, and bud and produce fruit. We must receive eternal life, through Jesus Christ (John 5.24), and only then we can live before Him. For us our right of access is through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus our Savior (Hebrews 10.19-20) and results from our being made a royal priesthood through Him (1 Peter 2.9).
