Remember the New Testament text where the Apostles wanted to know who would receive prominence when they reached Heaven? This episode in Numbers is very similar. People like to be praised openly, and to receive a status for their obedience to God. The Pharisees lengthened the hems of their garments, and liked to be called ‘Rabbi’. They wanted everyone to know how ‘humble’ they were, and how loyal they were to the Torah. In this portion of Numbers, the tribal heads all wanted to have a ‘piece of the action’, by demanding to join Aaron’s family as priests. They rejected that Moses did not invent the hierarchy in his own head, to give favour to his own brother. Whatever he said and did came direct from Jehovah.
Verses 1-5
- “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
- Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod according to the house of their fathers, of all their princes according to the house of their fathers twelve rods: write thou every man's name upon his rod.
- And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi: for one rod shall be for the head of the house of their fathers.
- And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you.
- And it shall come to pass, that the man's rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you.”
Once again, God speaks to the people before acting miraculously. The next miracle is not so explosive as some others, but it is still a miracle. There is nothing mysterious about this text: God told Moses to gather the 12 tribal princes together. Each would find a dry rod or stick. Moses was then to write the name of the tribe on each stick… one stick per tribe Aaron was to be the prince for Levi. Interestingly the word ‘rod’ can also mean ‘tribe’.
The 12 sticks were then placed before the ark in the Holy of Holies. And then God would come to talk with Moses. The aim of God was simple, if not ‘black and white’ – God would choose the man and tribe for leadership, by causing one stick to grow blossoms; Moses could not do this. All other sticks would remain barren. God said it was His way to stop the wagging tongues of the murmurers who wanted to replace Moses. There would be no queries, for the stick chosen would flower and contain ripe fruit – an obvious sign from God; only He could bring life to a dry stick.
In our own day we should not pretend God is speaking with us, or is doing something special, UNLESS we see obvious marks that could not arise from mere imagination. Too many times Christians claim God is with them, or is doing a great work, when the thing we think is from God could easily come from man, or just from our own desires. The sign must be clear and could not have come from anything but God’s activity.
Verses 6-11
- “And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of their princes gave him a rod apiece, for each prince one, according to their fathers' houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.
- And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness.
- And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.
- And Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD unto all the children of Israel: and they looked, and took every man his rod.
- And the LORD said unto Moses, Bring Aaron's rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not.
- And Moses did so: as the LORD commanded him, so did he.”
Each tribal head, and Aaron, gave Moses a length of natural unshaped wood, Each had the name of the tribe written on it, and all 12 were placed before the ark. Next day, Moses entered the Holy of Holies. Only one length of wood was remarkably changed by God – the one belonging to Aaron. His ‘rod’ alone bore buds and flowers. Not only did this happen, but his rod had produced fully edible almonds! All overnight. Only God could have done this thing. Moses brought out all 12 rods, and only Aaron’s bore fruit, from a ‘dead’ length of stick. God told Moses to place Aaron’s rod back in the Holy of Holies, as testimony to God’s choice of Aaron’s family as priests, and to finish the tribal disputes over who would be priests.
Today, we must settle disputes NOT by saying “We will agree to differ”, but by showing objectors what GOD says about this or that. Only what GOD says is valid. All else is fake. There are no opinions allowed by God, only the following of His word on any matter. If we have no full answer from God, then it must remain speculative until God gives the answer… if at all. Any position we take about anything in scripture, if not totally described by God, can, at times, be given ‘good guesses’ if they are based entirely on scripture. But, as such, they remain speculation founded on reasonable treatment of the word.
Verses 12&13
- “And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish.
- Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the LORD shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?”
The people were again horrified and again did not turn back to God immediately with repentance! They said they were all going to die if they went near the Tabernacle. After the events of their recent days, I am not surprised. At the same time, they did not start with repentance, but with their own woes for disobeying God! Not unlike believers in our own day. No-one but the priests were allowed into the outer room of the Tabernacle. And only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies… with the singular exception of Moses for a season.
We tend to look at events and actions from our own human perspective, instead of seeing them through the eyes of God, expressed to us by God in His own word. This is opposite to our proper approach, which should be GOD first and everything else second (if at all). Until we understand this approach, we will never understand what God is saying, and having God as our starting point (and not our Person of Last Resort), We usually think up what to do and say according to our own muses, and then try to get our ‘plans’ rubber-stamped by God! Then, we cry because it does not happen and things go wrong.
© September 2024
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Published on www.christiandoctrine.com
Bible Theology Ministries
Swansea
Wales
United Kingdom