Numbers 17:5

5 And the rod of the man whom I choose shall sprout; thus I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the people of Israel, which they murmur against you."

Numbers 17:5 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 17:5

And it shall come to pass, that the man's rod whom I shall
choose
Or make it manifest that he had chosen him, and so confirm the choice he had made of him and his family, for the priesthood to be and continue in:

shall blossom;
bud and blossom, and yield fruit, as it afterwards did, which is here declared beforehand, that the miracle might appear the greater, exactly answering to a prediction delivered out before of it:

and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of
Israel, whereby they murmur against you;
against Moses for setting up his brother as an high priest, and establishing the priesthood in his family; and against Aaron for accepting of it, and officiating in it; but by this method now taken, God would for ever silence their murmurings, so that they should never be able, with any face, to object any more to the authority of the Aaronic priesthood, which should appear by the predicted miracle beyond all dispute and contradiction.

Numbers 17:5 In-Context

3 and write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi. For there shall be one rod 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 rod of the man whom I choose shall sprout; thus I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the people of Israel, which they murmur against you."
6 Moses spoke to the people of Israel; and all their leaders gave him rods, one for each leader, according to their fathers' houses, twelve rods; and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.
7 And Moses deposited the rods before the LORD in the tent of the testimony.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the 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.