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The Budding of Aaron’s Rod17 The L ord spoke to Moses, saying: 2Speak to the Israelites, and get twelve staffs from them, one for each ancestral house, from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. Write each man’s name on his staff, 3and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each ancestral house. 4Place them in the tent of meeting before the covenant, where I meet with you. 5And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout; thus I will put a stop to the complaints of the Israelites that they continually make against you. 6Moses spoke to the Israelites; and all their leaders gave him staffs, one for each leader, according to their ancestral houses, twelve staffs; and the staff of Aaron was among theirs. 7So Moses placed the staffs before the L ord in the tent of the covenant. 8 When Moses went into the tent of the covenant on the next day, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted. It put forth buds, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds. 9Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the L ord to all the Israelites; and they looked, and each man took his staff. 10And the L ord said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept as a warning to rebels, so that you may make an end of their complaints against me, or else they will die.” 11Moses did so; just as the L ord commanded him, so he did. 12 The Israelites said to Moses, “We are perishing; we are lost, all of us are lost! 13Everyone who approaches the tabernacle of the L ord will die. Are we all to perish?” New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
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10. And the Lord said unto Moses. What God had prescribed concerning the censers, He now commands as to the rod, i.e., that it should be preserved as a monument for future ages; because men are forgetful and slow to consider His works, and not only so, but because they bury their memory as if of deliberate malice, he bids, therefore, and not without reproach, that this sign should be laid up in safety, saying, that this is done on account of their perverseness. At the same time, however, He commends His paternal love and pity, in that, whilst tie chastises their pride, He provides for their welfare. For, as they were given to rebellion, they would still have provoked His wrath by new murmurings. He says, then, that He anticipates them, and restrains their impetuous fury, lest they should die. Thus in humbling us, tie not only punishes our transgressions, but tie has regard to what is profitable for us, and proves that He cares for us. |