Numbers17
New Living Translation
1Then the Lord said to Moses,
2“Tell the people of Israel to bring you twelve wooden staffs, one from each leader of Israel’s ancestral tribes, and inscribe each leader’s name on his staff.
3Inscribe Aaron’s name on the staff of the tribe of Levi, for there must be one staff for the leader of each ancestral tribe.
4Place these staffs in the Tabernacle in front of the Ark containing the tablets of the Covenant, where I meet with you.
5Buds will sprout on the staff belonging to the man I choose. Then I will finally put an end to the people’s murmuring and complaining against you.”
6So Moses gave the instructions to the people of Israel, and each of the twelve tribal leaders, including Aaron, brought Moses a staff.
7Moses placed the staffs in the Lord’s presence in the Tabernacle of the Covenant.
8When he went into the Tabernacle of the Covenant the next day, he found that Aaron’s staff, representing the tribe of Levi, had sprouted, budded, blossomed, and produced ripe almonds!
9When Moses brought all the staffs out from the Lord’s presence, he showed them to the people. Each man claimed his own staff.
10And the Lord said to Moses: “Place Aaron’s staff permanently before the Ark of the Covenant to serve as a warning to rebels. This should put an end to their complaints against me and prevent any further deaths.”
11So Moses did as the Lord commanded him.
12Then the people of Israel said to Moses, “Look, we are doomed! We are dead! We are ruined!
13Everyone who even comes close to the Tabernacle of the Lord dies. Are we all doomed to die?”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Numbers 17.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Twelve rods laid up before the Lord. (1–7). Aaron's rod buds, and is kept for a memorial. (8–13).
vv1-7
It is an instance of the grace of God, that, having wrought divers miracles to punish sin, he would work one more to prevent it. Twelve rods or staves were to be brought in. It is probable that they were the staves which the princes used as ensigns of their authority; old dry staves, that had no sap in them. They were to expect that the rod of the tribe, or prince, whom God chose to the priesthood, should bud and blossom. Moses did not object that the matter was sufficiently settled already; he did not undertake to determine it; but left the case before the Lord.
vv8-13
While all the other rods remained as they were. Aaron's rod became a living branch. In some places there were buds, in others blossoms, in others fruit, at the same time; all this was miraculous. Thus Aaron was manifested to be under the special blessing of Heaven. Fruitfulness is the best evidence of a Divine call; and the plants of God's setting, and the boughs cut off them, will flourish. This rod was preserved, to take away the murmurings of the people, that they might not die. The design of God, in all his providences, and in the memorials of them, is to take away sin. Christ was manifested to take away sin. Christ is expressly called a rod out of the stem of Jesse: little prospect was there, according to human views, that he should ever flourish. But the dry rod revived and blossomed to the confusion of his adversaries. The people cry, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish! This was the language of a repining people, quarrelling with the judgments of God, which by their own pride and obstinacy they brought upon themselves. It is very wicked to fret against God when we are in affliction, and in our distress thus to trespass yet more. If we die, if we perish, it is of ourselves, and the blame will be upon our own heads. When God judges, he will overcome, and will oblige the most obstinate gainsayers to confess their folly. And how great are our mercies, that we have a clearer and a better dispensation, established upon better promises!
Key Words
דָבַר: perhaps properly, to arrange; but used figuratively (of words), to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue
מֹשֶׁה: Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiver
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
יִשְׂרָאֵל: Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity
לָקַח: to take (in the widest variety of applications)
מַטֶּה: a branch (as extending); figuratively, a tribe; also a rod, whether for chastising (figuratively, correction), ruling (a sceptre), throwing (a lance), or walking (a staff; figuratively, a support of life, e.g. bread)
אָב: father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote application
בַּיִת: a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etc.)
כֹּל: properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense)
Cross References
Numbers 17Explicit NT reference confirming Aaron's rod was kept inside or near the ark of the covenant.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Thematic parallel where names are written on wood sticks/rods to represent and unite Israel's tribes.
Affirms that no man takes the honor of priesthood to himself, but he who is called.
Direct connection to the core test of who God chooses and separates for his service.
An almond rod used by God as a visual sign, matching Aaron's almond-yielding branch.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallel where objects are preserved as a warning sign and memorial for future rebels.
God addresses the terrified people's fear of dying near the tabernacle by structuring priestly duties.
The Lord sending the rod of strength out of Zion, symbolic of authoritative rule.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Details the Testimony where the rods are laid up and where God meets with Moses.
Messianic prophecy of Christ flourishing from a dry root or stem, foreshadowed by Aaron's rod.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Prophetic imagery of making the horn of David to bud and preparing a lamp.
The law warning that any unauthorized person who comes near the tabernacle must be executed.
Immediate fulfillment of God's promise that the chosen man's rod would blossom.
Similar panic and fear of God's holiness following a fatal judgment around the Ark.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB