Numbers 17:4

4 Place these staffs in the Tabernacle in front of the Ark containing the tablets of the Covenant, 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 “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.”

6 So Moses gave the instructions to the people of Israel, and each of the twelve tribal leaders, including Aaron, brought Moses a staff.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew in the Tent of Meeting before the Testimony. The Hebrew word for “testimony” refers to the terms of the ’s covenant with Israel as written on stone tablets, which were kept in the Ark, and also to the covenant itself.