Reflections on Numbers 17

Numbers 17 (Contemporary English Version)

1. The LORD told Moses:
   
2. Call together the twelve tribes of Israel and tell the leader of each tribe to write his name on the walking stick he carries as a symbol of his authority. Make sure Aaron's name is written on the one from the Levi tribe, then collect all the sticks.
   
3. (SEE 17:2)
   
4. Place these sticks in the tent right in front of the sacred chest where I appear to you.
   
5. I will then choose a man to be my priest, and his stick will sprout. After that happens, I won't have to listen to any more complaints about you.
   
6. Moses told the people what the LORD had commanded, and they gave him the walking sticks from the twelve tribal leaders, including Aaron's from the Levi tribe.
   
7. Moses took them and placed them in the LORD's sacred tent.
   
8. The next day when Moses went into the tent, flowers and almonds were already growing on Aaron's stick.
   
9. Moses brought the twelve sticks out of the tent and showed them to the people. Each of the leaders found his own and took it.
   
10. But the LORD told Moses, "Put Aaron's stick back! Let it stay near the sacred chest as a warning to anyone who might think about rebelling. If these people don't stop their grumbling about me, I will wipe them out."
    
11. Moses did what he was told.
    
12. The Israelites cried out to Moses, "We're done for
    
13. and doomed if we even get near the sacred tent!"
    
    

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    On multiple occasions, Moses' leadership and Aaron's status as high priest had been challenged by the people. This latest challenge, recorded in the previous chapter was the most severe and cost the lives of around 15,000 people. True, Moses' sudden appearance in Egypt with his brother Aaron proclaiming to be sent by God may have made some suspect that he was self-appointed, but God had affirmed since then, many times over, that He was behind Moses' leadership and Moses was indeed His spokesperson. There should be no question, but there was, so God determined to put an end to the questioning.
    
    He instructed Moses to have a leader from each ancestral house bring him a staff with the leader's name written on it. Then Moses was to place the 12 staffs in the tabernacle in front of the testimony where God met with Moses. They were to be left there overnight. The next day when Moses went to check on the staffs he found that Aaron's staff "had sprouted, formed buds, blossomed, and produced almonds!" (17:8) There was no question of whom God had chosen as priest to come into His presence on behalf of the people.
    
    Moses was instructed by God to return only Aaron's staff, the one that had sprouted, back in front of the testimony where it was to stay as a sign for rebels of all times "so that you may put an end to their complaints before Me, or else they will die." (17:10) Finally the people understood. Not only did they clearly recognize that Aaron was God's choice for priest, they understood the implications. Their challenge of Aaron had been ill-concieved and was actually a challenge of God. Plus, what about the future? In their understanding of the implications, they typically overreacted, assuming that from then on anyone who even came close to the tabernacle would die.
    
    We are so prone to focus only on what we can see. Thus, we reject God's working in our lives and in circumstances as merely coincidences. Likewise, we see only the human side of those God has placed in leadership in the church, not to mention a tendency to discount the significance of the church in God's purposes for mankind because we cannot see past the human element. But as with these Israelites, it is God's design, not man's, that has established the church and placed in it those of leadership. We need to be aware, as did the Israelites, of the seriousness of challenging what God has established.