At dusk on the sand outside the white linen wall of the tabernacle court, twelve plain wooden staffs of different woods and lengths lie side by side on a length of undyed linen, bare and dry, under a calm darkening sky.

The Book of

Numbers 17

Twelve dead sticks and one night in the tent. God settles who may come near.

13 verses≈ 3 min2 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–10Ready at SinaiCounted and ordered
11–14GrumblingTo Kadesh and refusal
15–21Forty yearsRebellion and mercyChapter 17
22–25BalaamA curse turned to blessing
26–36A new generationReady for the land

Aaron’s Staff Buds

And the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and take from them twelve staffs, one from the leader of each tribe.

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Write each man’s name on his staff, and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi, because there must be one staff for the head of each tribe.

Place the staffs in the Tent of Meeting in front of the Testimony, where I meet with you. The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid Myself of the constant grumbling of the Israelites against you.”

Plan to scale in cubits · north at the top

The tabernacle

Before the Testimony

The staffs were laid “in the Tent of Meeting in front of the Testimony,” the stone tablets kept in the ark behind the veil, the place where God said, “I meet with you.” No leader could reach in and change the result. Whatever happened overnight would happen before the LORD alone.

The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, put forth buds, blossomed, and produced almonds.

Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the LORD’s presence to all the Israelites.

They saw them, and each man took his own staff.

The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, put forth buds, blossomed, and produced almonds.

Numbers 17:8

Question

Quick question

Twelve bare staffs lay before the LORD overnight. In the morning one of them had changed.

What grew on Aaron’s staff overnight?

In near darkness, Aaron’s almond staff, still covered in leaves, blossoms and almonds, lies at the foot of the gold ark of the covenant, only the ark’s lower gold side and a carrying pole catching a faint glow.

The LORD said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back in front of the Testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebellious, so that you may put an end to their grumbling against Me, lest they die.” So Moses did as the LORD had commanded him.

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Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we are perishing! We are lost; we are all lost!

Anyone who comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all going to perish?”

Reflect

Who may come near?

At last Israel took God’s holiness seriously, and it swung them into despair: “Anyone who comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die.” They were right that sinners cannot stroll into God’s presence. They were wrong to think there was no way. God was about to give them priests to stand between (chapter 18), and in Christ He has opened the way for good: by His blood we may draw near with confidence, through Him and not on our own merit. Where do you swing between taking God lightly and being afraid to come to Him at all? Write it down, and then write what it means that Jesus has made the way. Lord, thank You that I may come near through Your Son. Amen.

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Numbers 17

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A verse to carry with you

The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, put forth buds, blossomed, and produced almonds.

Numbers 17:8

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