Chapter Seventeen
God Causes Aaron’s Staff to Bud
17:1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, and get from them staffs, one for each fathers’ house, from all their chiefs according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs. Write each man’s name on his staff, 3 and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each fathers’ house. 4 Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you. 5 And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you.” 6 Moses spoke to the people of Israel. And all their chiefs gave him staffs, one for each chief, according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs. And the staff of Aaron was among their staffs. 7 And Moses deposited the staffs before the LORD in the tent of the testimony.
Even after the men behind the rebellion were executed and many more died from the plague, it appears that additional persuasion was required. Each tribe was to submit a staff and the name of each chief from these tribes were to be written on the staff. Aaron’s name was to be written on the staff submitted for the tribe of Levi. They were then to be placed in the structure of the Tabernacle. Then the staff of the person and tribe that God selects will sprout, putting an end to the grumblings regarding the leadership and for them to accept their plight of not being able to enter the Promised Land. Moses did as he was told and twelve staff were collected and placed in the structure before YHWH.
17:8 On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds. 9 Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the LORD to all the people of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his staff. 10 And the LORD said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die.” 11 Thus did Moses; as the LORD commanded him, so he did.
When Moses came back the next day, the staff with Aaron’s name representing the Levites had sprouted, producing blossoms and ripe almonds. He brought them out of the Tabernacle and allowed the chiefs and the people of Israel to inspect the staffs. The staff of Aaron was to be returned to the Tabernacle and placed in the Ark of Testimony (Ark of the Covenant) to serve as evidence of God’s provision (along with the bottle of manna and the stone tablets) and as a reminder for future generations, especially for any person desiring to rebel against God, that if they attempt to rebel, they will die.
17:12 And the people of Israel said to Moses, “Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. 13 Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the LORD, shall die. Are we all to perish?”
With the deaths of the instigators with the ground opening up, the consuming of the remaining 250 men with fire and the plague killing another 14,700 people, the people of Israel begin to understand their predicament. But sadly, they place the cause of their woes on God and not from their own actions. They associate anyone coming near the Tabernacle as a death sentence, and since it is in the center of their camp, they wonder, will they all perish? The next two chapters will address the proper way to approach God.