Numbers 17:4

4 Put them in the tent of meeting in front of the testimony, where I meet with you.

Numbers 17:4 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 17:4

And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the
congregation
In the most holy place:

before the testimony;
that is, the ark in which the testimony or the law was; here they were laid as in the presence of God, who was in a miraculous way to decide the controversy by them, and put an end to it; for upon the ark was the mercy seat, over which were the cherubim, the seat of the divine Majesty, and where none could come at them, and where no fraud could be supposed to be committed:

where I will meet with you;
not with the people in person, who might not go at any time into the most holy place; nor with Aaron, who only might go into it on the day of atonement; but with Moses, the chief ruler and representative of the whole body of the people, and who might go in there at any time, to consult with God about matters of moment and difficulty, and where the Lord had said he would meet him, ( Exodus 25:22 ) ; and now would, in a miraculous way, clearly show him, and the people of Israel by him, who was the priest he had chosen of all the tribes.

Numbers 17:4 In-Context

2 "Speak to the people of Isra'el, and take from them staffs, one for each ancestral tribe from each leader of a tribe, twelve staffs. Write each man's name on his staff;

3 and write Aharon's name on the staff of Levi, for each tribe's leader is to have one staff.

4 Put them in the tent of meeting in front of the testimony, where I meet with you.

5 The staff of the man I am going to choose will sprout buds - in this way I will put a stop to the complaints the people of Isra'el keep making against you."

6 Moshe spoke to the people of Isra'el, and all their leaders gave him staffs, one for each leader, according to their ancestral tribes, twelve staffs. Aharon's staff was among their staffs.