Numbers 17:1-9

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.”

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

7 Moses placed the staffs in the LORD ’s presence in the Tabernacle of the Covenant.

8 When he went into the Tabernacle of the Covenant the next day, he found that Aaron’s staff, representing the tribe of Levi, had sprouted, budded, blossomed, and produced ripe almonds!

9 When Moses brought all the staffs out from the LORD ’s presence, he showed them to the people. Each man claimed his own staff.

Numbers 17:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 17

In this chapter the priesthood of Aaron is further confirmed and established by the budding and blossom of his rod, as it lay among the princes of the several tribes, when theirs did not, Nu 17:1-9; which rod of Aaron was ordered to be laid up before the ark, as a token against the rebels, and to put an end to all murmurings against Aaron for the future; which was accordingly done, Nu 17:10,11; upon which the people expressed their fear of perishing because of their sins, Nu 17:12,13.

Footnotes

• [a]. Verses 17:1-13 are numbered 17:16-28 in Hebrew text.
• [b]. 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.
• [c]. Or Tabernacle of the Testimony; also in 17:8 .