Numbers 17:3

3 Inscribe Aaron’s name on the staff of the tribe of Levi, for there must be one staff for the leader of each ancestral tribe.

Numbers 17:3 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 17:3

And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi
Or upon the rod that was for the tribe of Levi; the name of "Aaron" was to be written, not the word "Levi", or a "Levite", as Josephus ^F5; for that would not have decided the controversy about the priesthood, which chiefly lay between the Levites and the family of Aaron, who were of the same tribe:

for one rod [shall be] for the head of the house of their fathers;
one rod for the head or prince of every tribe, every prince representing his own tribe he was the head of, and the rod the prince; and though the tribe of Levi was divided into two families, the family of the priests, and the family of the Levites; yet, as Jarchi observes, they were but one tribe, and so one rod for them, as for the other tribes.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F5 Antiqu. l. 4. c. 4. sect. 2.

Numbers 17:3 In-Context

1 Then the LORD said to Moses,

2 “Tell the people of Israel to bring you twelve wooden staffs, one from each leader of Israel’s ancestral tribes, and inscribe each leader’s name on his staff.

3 Inscribe Aaron’s name on the staff of the tribe of Levi, for there must be one staff for the leader of each ancestral tribe.

4 Place these staffs in the Tabernacle in front of the Ark containing the tablets of the Covenant, where I meet with you.

5 Buds will sprout on the staff belonging to the man I choose. Then I will finally put an end to the people’s murmuring and complaining against you.”