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AARON'S STAFF
NUMBERS
CHAPTER 17
It's a fine day here at Daily Bread and we're happy to have you join us
again for our study of the book of Numbers. In our last story, we
learned about Korah, and the story of the earth swallowing him up with the
leaders of his group who contended with Moses. And then fire from the
Lord came down and consumed the rest of the 250 who supported their cause.
Then God sent a plague that killed 14,700 people who blamed Moses for
killing the people of the Lord.
That brings us to today's story and the Lord said to Moses, Talk to the
children of Israel and take from each of them a staff, according to the
house of their fathers, and have each of them write his name on his staff.
Write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi because one staff will be for each
house of their fathers.
Then put them in the tabernacle of the congregation in front of the
testimony and I'll meet with you there. The man's staff, whom I will
choose, will blossom, and I'll stop the murmurings that the children of
Israel have against you.
God is saying that when all these staffs (cut tree branches made into a cane
like pole) were brought He would have one of the blossom without root. Cool
huh? The budding staff was to
show them once and for all, who the Lord chose to serve as priests and serve
the tabernacle, since they kept hassling Moses about it.
The Tabernacle was a very holy place and the person or people who were tend
to it needed to be God's choice.
Think of it this way. You have your yard, then your home and then your
bedroom. You feel comfortable with neighbors visiting out in the yard
when they're invited, and occasionally, you invite certain friends and/or
relatives into your home, but your bedroom is your holy of holies, where it
is private for prayer and rest and nobody belongs there but you. Now,
the children of Israel were all God's children, and He loved them all, but
you can understand, you wouldn't want your great aunt's daughter in laws
cousin to come wandering into your house uninvited, and light your candles
for you. You want who YOU choose to be able to enter the most
holy areas of your home.
So Moses told the children of Israel what the Lord said. Each one of
their princes gave Moses a staff and Aaron's was among them. He took
them in the tabernacle of witness (where the ark was) and the next day Moses
went into the the tabernacle of witness and the staff of Aaron for the house
of Levi had budded and flowered and it had almonds on it.
Isn't that just so awesome? A dead branch blossomed?
It even had almonds on it? Wow ... That's NUTS.
Moses brought out all the staffs to the children of Israel. They saw
Aaron's staff blooming and they each took back their own staff. Then
God told Moses, Bring Aaron's staff back before the testimony to be kept for
a sign against the rebels; and take away their murmurings from me, so they
don't die. So Moses did what the Lord told him. There were only
three things that were in the ark of the covenant, Hebrews 9:4. The
golden pot that had manna, Exodus 16:33, Aaron's staff that budded, Numbers
17:8, and the tables of the covenant, Exodus 25:16. That budding staff
was a pretty important thing to God for Him to want it kept in the ark.
The children of Israel felt sorry for themselves and they told Moses, Look,
we're dying, we're perishing, we're all dying out. Whoever comes near
the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Will we all be destroyed with
dying?
Well, God already said who would enter the Promised Land, and if those who
were spoken of choose to provoke God before they get there, it's fairly
clear what's gonna happen. Be sure and join us again as we follow the
Moses and the children of Israel through the wilderness. There's
plenty of interesting stories ahead, here at Daily Bread.
CONTINUE TO THE NEXT STUDY
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