1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 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.
3 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.
4 And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you.
5 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.
1 And the LORD H3068 spake H1696 unto Moses, H4872 saying, H559
2 Speak H1696 unto the children H1121 of Israel, H3478 and take H3947 of every one of them a rod H4294 H4294 according to the house H1004 of their fathers, H1 of all their princes H5387 according to the house H1004 of their fathers H1 twelve H8147 H6240 rods: H4294 write H3789 thou every man's H376 name H8034 upon his rod. H4294
3 And thou shalt write H3789 Aaron's H175 name H8034 upon the rod H4294 of Levi: H3878 for one H259 rod H4294 shall be for the head H7218 of the house H1004 of their fathers. H1
4 And thou shalt lay them up H3240 in the tabernacle H168 of the congregation H4150 before H6440 the testimony, H5715 where I will meet H3259 with you.
5 And it shall come to pass, that the man's H376 rod, H4294 whom I shall choose, H977 shall blossom: H6524 and I will make to cease H7918 from me the murmurings H8519 of the children H1121 of Israel, H3478 whereby they murmur H3885 against you.
1 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of them rods, one for each fathers' house, of all their princes according to their fathers' houses, twelve rods: write thou every man's name upon his rod.
3 And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi; for there shall be one rod for each head of their fathers' houses.
4 And thou shalt lay them up in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you.
5 And it shall come to pass, that the rod of the man whom I shall choose shall bud: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against you.
1 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,
2 `Speak unto the sons of Israel, and take from them each a rod, for a father's house, from all their princes, for the house of their fathers, twelve rods; the name of each thou dost write on his rod,
3 and Aaron's name thou dost write on the tribe of Levi; for one rod `is' for the head of their fathers' house:
4 and thou hast placed them in the tent of meeting, before the testimony, where I meet with you.
5 `And it hath come to pass, the man's rod on whom I fix doth flourish, and I have caused to cease from off me the murmurings of the sons of Israel, which they are murmuring against you.'
1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of them a staff, a staff for each father's house, of all their princes according to the houses of their fathers, twelve staves: thou shalt write each one's name upon his staff.
3 And Aaron's name shalt thou write upon the staff of Levi; for one staff shall be for [each] head of their fathers' houses.
4 And thou shalt lay them up in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you.
5 And it shall come to pass, that the man whom I shall choose, his staff shall bud forth; and I will make to cease from before me the murmurings of the children of Israel, that they murmur against you.
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
2 Speak to the children of Israel, and take of them rods, one for each fathers' house, of all their princes according to their fathers' houses, twelve rods: write you every man's name on his rod.
3 You shall write Aaron's name on the rod of Levi; for there shall be one rod for each head of their fathers' houses.
4 You shall lay them up in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you.
5 It shall happen, that the rod of the man whom I shall choose shall bud: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against you.
1 And the Lord said to Moses,
2 Say to the children of Israel that they are to give you rods, one for every family, for every chief, the head of his father's house, making twelve rods; let every man's name be placed on his rod.
3 And let Aaron's name be placed on the rod of Levi: for there is to be one rod for the head of every family.
4 And let them be stored up in the Tent of meeting, in front of the ark of witness where I come to you.
5 And the rod of that man who is marked out by me for myself will have buds on it; so I will put a stop to the outcries which the children of Israel make to me against you.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Numbers 17
Commentary on Numbers 17 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
(Or ch.17:16-28). Confirmation of the High-Priesthood of Aaron. - Whilst the Lord had thus given a practical proof to the people, that Aaron was the high priest appointed by Him for His congregation, by allowing the high-priestly incense offered by Aaron to expiate His wrath, and by removing the plague; He also gave them a still further confirmation of His priesthood, by a miracle which was well adapted to put to silence all the murmuring of the congregation.
Numbers 17:1-5
He commanded Moses to take twelve rods of the tribe-princes of Israel, one for the fathers' house of each of their tribes, and to write upon each the name of the tribe; but upon that of the tribe of Levi he was to write Aaron's name, because each rod was to stand for the head of their fathers' houses, i.e., for the existing head of the tribe; and in the case of Levi, the tribe-head was Aaron. As only twelve rods were taken for all the tribes of Israel, and Levi was included among them, Ephraim and Manasseh must have been reckoned as the one tribe of Joseph, as in Deuteronomy 27:12. These rods were to be laid by Moses in the tabernacle before the testimony, or ark of the covenant (Exodus 25:21; Exodus 29:42). And there the rod of the man whom Jehovah chose, i.e., entrusted with the priesthood (see Numbers 16:5), would put forth shoots, to quiet the murmuring of the people. שׁכך , Hiph ., to cause to sink, to bring to rest, construed with מעל in a pregnant signification, to quiet in such a way that it will not rise again.
Numbers 17:6-11
Moses carried out this command. And when he went into the tabernacle the following morning, behold Aaron's rod of the house of Levi had sprouted, and put forth shoots, and had borne blossoms and matured almonds. And Moses brought all the rods out of the sanctuary, and gave every man his own; the rest, as we may gather from the context, being all unchanged, so that the whole nation could satisfy itself that God had chosen Aaron. Thus was the word fulfilled which Moses had spoken at the commencement of the rebellion of the company of Korah (Numbers 16:5), and that in a way which could not fail to accredit him before the whole congregation as sent of God.
So far as the occurrence itself is concerned, there can hardly be any need to remark, that the natural interpretation which has lately been attempted by Ewald , viz., that Moses had laid several almond rods in the holy place, which had just been freshly cut off, that he might see the next day which of them would flower the best during the night, is directly at variance with the words of the text, and also with the fact, that a rod even freshly cut off, when laid in a dry place, would not bear ripe fruit in a single night. The miracle which God wrought here as the Creator of nature, was at the same time a significant symbol of the nature and meaning of the priesthood. The choice of the rods had also a bearing upon the object in question. A man's rod was the sign of his position as ruler in the house and congregation; with a prince the rod becomes a sceptre, the insignia of rule (Genesis 49:10). As a severed branch, the rod could not put forth shoots and blossom in a natural way. But God could impart new vital powers even to the dry rod. And so Aaron had naturally no pre-eminence above the heads of the other tribes. But the priesthood was founded not upon natural qualifications and gifts, but upon the power of the Spirit, which God communicates according to the choice of His wisdom, and which He had imparted to Aaron through his consecration with holy anointing oil. It was this which the Lord intended to show to the people, by causing Aaron's rod to put forth branches, blossom, and fruit, through a miracle of His omnipotence; whereas the rods of the other heads of the tribes remained as barren as before. In this way, therefore, it was not without deep significance that Aaron's rod not only put forth shoots, by which the divine election might be recognised, but bore even blossom and ripe fruit. This showed that Aaron was not only qualified for his calling, but administered his office in the full power of the Spirit, and bore the fruit expected of him. The almond rod was especially adapted to exhibit this, as an almond-tree flowers and bears fruit the earliest of all the trees, and has received its name of שׁקד , “awake,” from this very fact (cf. Jeremiah 1:11).
God then commanded (Numbers 17:10, Numbers 17:11) that Aaron's rod should be taken back into the sanctuary, and preserved before the testimony, “ for a sign for the rebellious, that thou puttest an end to their murmuring, and they die not .” The preservation of the rod before the ark of the covenant, in the immediate presence of the Lord, was a pledge to Aaron of the continuance of his election, and the permanent duration of his priesthood; though we have no need to assume, that through a perpetual miracle the staff continued green and blossoming. In this way the staff became a sign to the rebellious, which could not fail to stop their murmuring.
Numbers 17:12-13
This miracle awakened a salutary terror in all the people, so that they cried out to Moses in mortal anguish, “ behold, we die, we perish, we all perish! Every one who comes near to the dwelling of Jehovah dies; are we all to die? ” Even if this fear of death was no fruit of faith, it was fitted for all that to prevent any fresh outbreaks of rebellion on the part of the rejected generation.