Numbers 17 Footnotes

17:1-13 In a miraculous demonstration of God’s ordaining of the Aaronic priesthood, Aaron’s wooden staff sprouted and formed buds. Critics have dubbed this incident “folklore” or “myth,” based upon a similar theme in Greek literature (the budding of the club of Heracles). Such efforts to explain away accounts of the miraculous depend on a bias against supernaturalism in general and the historicity of the text in particular. The account of the Korah rebellion ends on an ominous note. The concluding rhetorical question will find its answer in the two following chapters.