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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write the name of each man on his staff. On the staff of Levi, write Aaron's name, for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe. Place them 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 this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites."
So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their leaders gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and Aaron's staff was among them.
Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the Tent of the Testimony. The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron's staff, which represented the house of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds.
Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the Lord's presence to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each man took his own staff. The Lord said to Moses, "Put back Aaron's staff in front of the Testimony, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against Me, so that they will not die."
Moses did just as the Lord commanded him.
The Israelites said to Moses, "We will die! We are lost, we are all lost! Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all going to die?"
Numbers 17
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As we saw in Numbers, chapter 16, there was a lot of sinful opposition within the Israelite ranks over the position of chief priest, the position that God had ordained Aaron into. This was possibly because the people had witnessed the awesome power of God and felt that they too might be able to have a part of that power by holding the worldly office that would bring them closest to Him. But what they failed to realize is that it's no mere human dictates to God what He will do. Rather, God commands mankind as its Maker and Master and it is up to every believer, whether man or woman, to comply with His wishes and follow His will with absolute obedience.
Well, after the destruction of all who brought opposition – a group that included Korah, Dathan, Abiram, the 250 men opposing God with them, and 14,700 Israelites who grumbled against Moses and Aaron, we find God laying out a plan in chapter 17 to put the matter of His appointed chief priest to rest. Here’s what He tells Moses:
“Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write the name of each man on his staff. On the staff of Levi, write Aaron's name, for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe. Place them 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 this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites."
And so Moses does just as the Lord commanded, obtaining "twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes" with Aaron's staff among them" representing the Levites. With the staffs in hand, Moses then "placed the staffs before the Lord in the Tent of the Testimony”.
At dawn on the next day, we read where "Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony" to look at the staffs and, as he examined them, he saw that "Aaron's staff, which represented the house of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds". This left no question that Aaron was indeed the one who God had selected to be His earthly chief priest and tabernacle leader.
The scriptures tell us that "Moses brought out all the staffs from the Lord's presence” to the Israelites and when "they looked at them”, each man “took his own staff". Then the Lord told Moses to do the following:
"Put back Aaron's staff in front of the Testimony, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against Me, so that they will not die."
Again, "Moses did just as the Lord commanded" and when the Israelites saw the budding, blossomed, almond-filled staff of Aaron, they were panic-stricken and afraid, saying to Moses in fear:
"We will die! We are lost, we are all lost! Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all going to die?"
This reaction shows us that the Lord’s message had hot home loud and clear through the staff exercise. For it had produced the kind of reverent fear and respect that He expected from the Israelites. Leaving Aaron’s staff at the entrance to the tabernacle was intended to remind all of Israel about God's miraculous power, a power that could be used to bless or curse depending on the spiritual attitude and actions of His people who showed through their words that rebelling again the Lord could lead to their destruction.
Interestingly enough, go back to God's words to Moses. For He said that the staff of Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting would not only put an end to Israel's grumbling but also ensure that they wouldn't die. This tells us that the Lord desired for Aaron’s staff to ultimately be salvation for the Israelites even though the Israelites saw it as a sign of their doom.
You know, this got me to ponder how we as believers too often misread the things that God is doing in our lives each and every day. For how many times have we viewed things as curses when the Lord is really working to bless us? Perhaps we would be best served to just trust that God is always working in, around, and through us for good.
Or as the Apostle Paul put it:
"…we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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