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The Budding of Aaron’s Rod

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.

8. And it came to pass, that on the morrow. It is not without cause that, the time is notified, for by no skill could it be brought about that a rod should blossom in the lapse of a single night. Again, all suspicion of fraud was removed by the fact that Moses departed when he had placed the rods in the sanctuary, and, returning on the next day, brought out the bundle of rods before them all. But in this respect was the power of God principally shown forth, that in so short a space of time not only flowers, but fruits also, were formed upon a dry bough, which could not have occurred but by the reversal of the order of nature. And further, the time of year is to be taken into account, which was by no means in accordance with such maturity, Now, by this miracle the dignity of the typical priesthood was undoubtedly ratified to the ancient people under the Law; but, in so much as the truth itself is more excellent than its figure or image, the intention of God unquestionably was to assert the priesthood of His only-begotten Son rather than that of Aaron. Hence the profit to be derived from this miracle most especially pertains to us,(“Nous appartient plus qu’aux Juifs;” pertains to us more than to the Jews. — Fr.) in order that we may embrace the Priest presented to us by God with the veneration He deserves. I pass by the frivolous allegories ¹⁰⁶¹⁰⁶     Corn. a Lapide reports many of these, —
   “Symbolice et tropologice, (he says,) this rod signifies what sort of person a pontifex and pastor ought to be, viz., watchful, active, laborious, and austere, such as were St. Nicholas of Myra, St. Andrew the Carmelite, Pius II., and Cardinal Julian Cesarinus.
   “Allegorice, it is Christ; or the Virgin Mary, whose flower is Christ.
   “Anagogice, it is a symbol of’ the resurrection.” in which others take delight. And in fact it ought to be abundantly sufficient for us, that the power of God which might direct the people to the Mediator, appeared of old under a visible symbol; but when the Son of God came, whatever He then represented to their sight was spiritually revealed in Him: for not only was He a sprout (surculus) from the stem of Jesse, as He is called by Isaiah (Isaiah 11:1); and a stone hewn without the art or labor of man, under which form he was shown to Daniel (Daniel 2:34); but by His resurrection tie was separated from the whole human race. For this, too, we must diligently observe, that it is not enough that He should obtain with us the prerogative and title of Priest, unless He is so only and indivisibly. Hence it is plain that His honor is in the Papacy torn in pieces by foul and intolerable sacrilege, when they invent innumerable mediators.

¹⁰⁶ Corn. a Lapide reports many of these, — “Symbolice et tropologice, (he says,) this rod signifies what sort of person a pontifex and pastor ought to be, viz., watchful, active, laborious, and austere, such as were St. Nicholas of Myra, St. Andrew the Carmelite, Pius II., and Cardinal Julian Cesarinus. “Allegorice, it is Christ; or the Virgin Mary, whose flower is Christ. “Anagogice, it is a symbol of’ the resurrection.”