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Numbers Chapter
Seventeen
Numbers 17
Chapter Contents
Twelve rods laid up before the Lord. (1-7) Aaron's rod
buds
and is kept for a memorial. (8-13)
Commentary on Numbers 17:1-7
It is an instance of the grace of God
that
having
wrought divers miracles to punish sin
he would work one more to prevent it.
Twelve rods or staves were to be brought in. It is probable that they were the
staves which the princes used as ensigns of their authority; old dry staves
that had no sap in them. They were to expect that the rod of the tribe
or
prince
whom God chose to the priesthood
should bud and blossom. Moses did not
object that the matter was sufficiently settled already; he did not undertake
to determine it; but left the case before the Lord.
Commentary on Numbers 17:8-13
While all the other rods remained as they were. Aaron's
rod became a living branch. In some places there were buds
in others blossoms
in others fruit
at the same time; all this was miraculous. Thus Aaron was
manifested to be under the special blessing of Heaven. Fruitfulness is the best
evidence of a Divine call; and the plants of God's setting
and the boughs cut
off them
will flourish. This rod was preserved
to take away the murmurings of
the people
that they might not die. The design of God
in all his providences
and in the memorials of them
is to take away sin. Christ was manifested to
take away sin. Christ is expressly called a rod out of the stem of Jesse:
little prospect was there
according to human views
that he should ever
flourish. But the dry rod revived and blossomed to the confusion of his
adversaries. The people cry
Behold
we die
we perish
we all perish! This was
the language of a repining people
quarrelling with the judgments of God
which
by their own pride and obstinacy they brought upon themselves. It is very
wicked to fret against God when we are in affliction
and in our distress thus
to trespass yet more. If we die
if we perish
it is of ourselves
and the
blame will be upon our own heads. When God judges
he will overcome
and will
oblige the most obstinate gainsayers to confess their folly. And how great are
our mercies
that we have a clearer and a better dispensation
established upon
better promises!
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on
Numbers》
Numbers 17
Verse 2
[2] Speak unto the children of Israel
and take of every one
of them a rod according to the house of their fathers
of all their princes
according to the house of their fathers twelve rods: write thou every man's
name upon his rod.
Of every one — Not of every person
but of every
tribe.
A rod — That staff
or rod
which the princes carried in their
hands as tokens of their dignity and authority.
Every man's name — Every prince's: for
they being the first-born
and the chief of their tribes might above all others
pretend to the priesthood
if it was communicable to any of their tribes
and
besides each prince represented all his tribe: so that this was a full decision
of the question. And this place seems to confirm
that not only Korah and the
Levites
but also those of other tribes contested with Moses and Aaron about
the priesthood
as that which belonged to all the congregation they being all
holy.
Verse 3
[3] And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi:
for one rod shall be for the head of the house of their fathers.
Aaron's name — Rather than Levi's
for that
would have left the controversy undecided between Aaron and the other Levites
whereas this would justify the appropriation of the priesthood to Aaron's
family.
One rod — There shall be in this
as there is in all the other
tribes
only one rod
and that for the head of their tribe
who is Aaron in
this tribe: whereas it might have been expected that there should have been two
rods
one for Aaron
and another for his competitors of the same tribe. But
Aaron's name was sufficient to determine both the tribe
and that branch or
family of the tribe
to whom this dignity should be affixed.
Verse 4
[4] And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the
congregation before the testimony
where I will meet with you.
Before the testimony — That is
before the
ark of the testimony
close by the ark.
I will meet with you — And manifest my mind
to you
for the ending of this dispute.
Verse 6
[6] And Moses spake unto the children of Israel
and every
one of their princes gave him a rod apiece
for each prince one
according to
their fathers' houses
even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their
rods.
Among their rods — Was laid up with the
rest
being either one of the twelve
as the Hebrews affirm
or the thirteenth
as others think.
Verse 8
[8] And it came to pass
that on the morrow Moses went into
the tabernacle of witness; and
behold
the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi
was budded
and brought forth buds
and bloomed blossoms
and yielded almonds.
Into the tabernacle — Into the most holy
place
which he might safely do under the protection of God's command
though
otherwise none but the high-priest might enter there
and that once in a year.
Verse 10
[10] And the LORD said unto Moses
Bring Aaron's rod again
before the testimony
to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt
quite take away their murmurings from me
that they die not.
To be kept for a token — it is probable
the
buds and blossoms and fruit
all which could never have grown together
but by
miracle
continued fresh
the same which produced them in a night preserving
them for ages.
Verse 12
[12] And the children of Israel spake unto Moses
saying
Behold
we die
we perish
we all perish.
We perish — Words of consternation
arising
from the remembrance of these severe and repeated judgments
from the
threatening of death upon any succeeding murmurings
and from the sense of
their own guilt and weakness
which made them fear lest they should relapse
into the same miscarriages
and thereby bring the vengeance of God upon
themselves.
Verse 13
[13] Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of
the LORD shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?
Near — Nearer than be should do; an error which we may easily
commit. Will God proceed with us according to his strict justice
till all the
people be cut off?
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Numbers》
17 Chapter 17
Verses 1-13
Write Aaron’s name upon the rod of Levi.
Aaron’s rod
I. Instructive to
the Israelites.
1. An end hereby put to murmuring. By an incontrovertible sign they
knew who was the true priest.
2. A preventative furnished against future rebellion. Miracles apt to
be forgotten; of this the evidence was to be preserved. Kept for a token.
II. Suggestive to
Christians. Every man has some rod on which he leans. The Christian’s is faith.
Like Aaron’s rod
faith flourishes--
1. Most in the sanctuary. There are strengthening influences
and a
Divine power. It will become a barren stock elsewhere.
2. Under circumstances in which other rods cannot live. The almond
flourishes even before the winter is fully past. Faith budding in adversity.
3. Produces fruit and flowers on the bare stock of adversity.
4. Bears fruit speedily when God causes His blessing to rest upon it.
“Believe and be saved.”
5. Stirs the Christian up to vigilance. Almond-tree a symbol of
watchfulness.
III. Typical of
Christ.
1. For it is perpetual. Aaron’s rod laid up as a lasting remembrance.
2. It bore fruit on a barren stock. Jesus
a root out of a dry
ground.
3. It was distinguished among the sceptres of the princes. Christ’s
kingdom and sceptre rule over all. He is a plant of renown.
4. It was the object of special favour. So in Jesus
He “was well
pleased.” He was “elect and precious.”
IV. Symbolical of a
true teacher.
1. His home the house of God.
2. Presents himself constantly before the testimony.
3. In himself dry and barren.
4. Relies upon God for fruitfulness.
5. Produces by Divine help not flowers only
but fruit also.
6. As a dry and lifeless stock he receives quickening power from God;
so with his flowers and fruit he presents himself before God
and offers all
his works to Him.
Learn--
1. The wisdom of God in choice of methods.
2. To seek a strong and living and practical faith.
3. To rejoice in and rely upon the perpetual high priesthood of
Christ.
4. To endeavour
like the almond-tree
to bring forth fruit early. (J.
C. Gray.)
Aaron’s rod that budded
This is our subject: the miraculous conversion of Aaron’s rod into
a living
blossoming
and fruit-bearing plant. It must have been a most
convincing prodigy for the purpose it was designed to answer
for the people no
sooner saw it
than they cried out in remorse for their wavering allegiance
“Behold
we die! we perish! we all
perish!” But beyond the age wherein the marvel occurred
this putting vegetable
life into that dry staff has frequently been borrowed and used for other
objects. Thus Achilles
in classic poetry
when enraged against Agamemnon
is
made by Homer to refer to this miracle:--
“But
hearken! I shall swear a solemn oath
By
this same sceptre
which shall never bud
Nor
boughs bring forth
as once ; which
having left
Its
stock on the high mountains at what time
The
woodman’s axe lopt off its foliage green
And
stript its bark
shall never grow again :-
By
this I swear!”
And amongst Latin literature you will
some of you
remember that
a certain king confirms a covenant with AEneas by a similar oath.
I. We begin by
reminding you that among the greatest of our blessings in this world is our
strict obligation to do the Divine will and to keep the Divine law. It is far more
worth our while to sing of God’s statutes than it is to sing of God’s promises.
Where should we be in a country without human authority
and a human authority
founded on a reverence for the Divine? Very truly does Bushnell say that
“without law
man does not live
he only grazes.” If he had no government he
would never discern any reason for existence
and would soon not care to exist.
How different is the world of Voltaire from the world of Milton I The one finds
nothing but this clay world and its material beauties
flashes into a shallow
brilliancy of speech
and
weaving a song of surfaces
empties himself into a
book of all that he has felt or seen. But the other
at the back of all and
through all visible things
beholds a spirit and a Divinity. Now is there not a
very beautiful picture of the comeliness and the beneficence of law in the old
miracle that was wrought upon the rod of Aaron? That staff
as we have put it
to you
was selected as the sign of authority. This was a declaration
first
that
no law was perfect that did not display life and beauty and fertility; and a
declaration
secondly
that by God’s choice that perfect law dwelt in the high
priest. But apart from the imagery as a message to the children of Israel
I
cling to that blooming staff as the very best type I can find anywhere of what
God’s rule is amongst us and in His Church. I find myself taught by this early
prodigy on Aaron’s staff that God’s dominion is the dominion of the
almond-branch. It is a rod; alas! for us
if there were no rod. But it is a rod
displaying all the three several pledges and gradations of life; and thus--oh!
beautiful coincidence
if it be nothing more--God turns His law towards the
children of men into what the forbidden tree so falsely appeared to the first
transgressor--“pleasant to the eye
and good for food.” Of course I know that
the staff or the sceptre is the symbol of authority
because a staff is that
with which one person
smites another. The ultimate significance of a rod is a blow. But is it nothing
to be taught by God’s picture-alphabet of the Old Testament that He smites only
with buds
and with flowers
and with fruit? This seems to change
even to any
child’s apprehension
the whole character of the sovereignty under which we bow
in the modern camp of the Church. You tremble as you read the chapter of hard
duties. Turn the leaf
and you will come upon the chapter of precious promises.
There is not a verse in the Bible that is not in flower with some comfort; aye
though it be a verse that smites you with a difficult commandment. You are
never to tell a man to do a single thing in religion without telling him that
God will help him to do it. You are never to command a sacrifice from me for
Christ’s sake without comforting me with the assurance that “God is able to
give me much more than this.” If you have a strong
rough
hard stick of
responsibility
you must show it to me bursting out all over with the rich
petals and the hanging clusters of the sovereignty of Divine grace. Aye
for I
want you to mark well that here was a miracle within a miracle. The natural
almond-branch never has upon it at one time buds
blossoms
and fruit. But I
seem to be taught by this accumulation of successive life all at once on one
stem that there is no element of mercy wanting in the code by which I am to be
managed. But remember that if we deserve nothing but the rod
and yet if God
never uses the rod save with the buds
the blossoms
and the fruit
“He may
well record it against us if either we despise the chastening of the Lord
or
faint when we are rebuked of Him.”
II. But now the
real and only proper commentary on the facts of the Pentateuch will be found in
the doctrines of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Do you believe that all those
lives would have been lost
and all that commotion would have been made about
the prerogative of Aaron’s priesthood
but for that other Priest on whom the
whole world was to rely--the Priest for ever--“made
not after the law of a
carnal commandment
but after the power of an endless life”? It is not by one
Scripture
it is by scores
that I find myself pointed
through that staff
to
the real government of this world in the rod out of the stem of Jesse. “He
shall grow up before Him as a tender plant
and as a root out of a dry ground
without form or comeliness.” And yet
all the while
He was the “rod out of the
stem of Jesse.” And when I read
in the Book of Numbers
how the Hebrews rose
up against Aaron and put him to shame
I can only take it for a foreshadowing
of another rebellion
when they insulted another Sceptre
who was “despised and
rejected of men.” We preach to you Christ
a stumbling-block to the Jews. And
scarcely can you wonder that so long as the rod was only the root out of a dry
ground
the Son of the carpenter and the Friend of sinners
there was “ no
beauty in Him that they should desire Him.” But that is not the staff with
which
this day
God governs His Church. No
no! He hath declared that lowly
peasant preacher to be “the Son of God with power
in that He hath raised Him
from the dead.” Ah
that night in which they concealed Aaron’s rod in the
tabernacle of witness
it was never less living
never less blossoming
than
then. But it was not left in darkness
neither did it see corruption. And on
the appointed morning men found it
marked by the choice of the Omnipotent with
the buds
the blossoms
and the fruit. In like manner the coldest
darkest
least living period in Immanuel’s career was when they hid Him
among all the
other millions of the dead
in the tomb cut out of the rock in the garden of
Joseph. “But now is Christ risen from the dead
and become the first-fruits of
them that slept.” He was raised up “a plant of renown.” And from that glorious
Easter morning the “rod out of the stem of Jesse” has been “the tree whose
leaves are for the healing of the nations
” and “filling the face of the world
with fruit.” Men can be governed by a Mediator and yet not perish. “The soul
that sinneth
it shall die.” That is a rod
but “if any man sin we have an
Advocate with the Father
” that is
“Aaron’s rod that budded”--the rod of the
Priest. Reuben
Gad
and all the rest have rods. Christianity is not alone in
the sternness of its government or the severity of its sanctions. But it is
alone in telling me how I can receive remission of sins that are past
and how
I can obtain the strongest of motives for a life of obedience in the time to
come. (H. Christopherson.)
Aaron’s rod blossoming and bearing fruit
I. As the
priesthood of Aaron was a type of the priesthood of Christ
there is here a
suggestion of facts which must have their counterpart in Christ’s life and
history.
1. The atonement and death of our Lord Jesus were matters of Divine
appointment. The whole work of our salvation originated with God.
2. But more than this--which is the essential truth here
enshrined--we see here that God often manifests Himself in unexpected forms of
beauty and of grace. The dry rod blossomed and bare fruit. The powers of Divine
salvation were enshrined in the person of the Carpenter of Nazareth. There was
life for a dead world in the Cross and in the grave of the dead Christ.
II. There are
suggestions here concerning Christian life.
1. Christian life begins with God.
2. The Christian life manifests itself in unfavourable conditions. It
is in human souls a power of active benevolence
or it is nothing at all. It
takes hold of human misery with a healing hand
and it changes it into
blessing. Where sin abounded there grace does much more abound.
3. There is beauty associated with the developments of Christian life
and character. There is nothing half so winning as Christian grace.
III. Suggestions in
relation to the gospel ministry.
1. There is a Divine designation of men to the highest service of the
Church.
2. But what is the qualification of men thus sent? Evidently the
possession of Divine life
the gift which is to be imparted to those needing
it. To be a Christian teacher a man must be a Christian and must know the
things of Christ.
3. How
then
are we to judge a man’s Divine call and authority? Only
and solely by the blossoms and fruit--by the spiritual results of his ministry.
IV. Last of all
there are here suggestions concerning Christian humiliation.
1. The world has not known
its best benefactors. It has always had a scornful word for the saintly and the
true-hearted. It has always risen up in rebellion against the anointed of the
Lord.
2. Here is a word of encouragement to all weak and mistrustful and
diffident and self-emptied souls. “I am but a dry rod
” says the old labourer in
the Master’s
vineyard
and the holy matron whose life has been careful and troubled about
many things
but who has ever been anxious to honour and serve her dear Lord in
lowliest ways and household duties. “I am but a dry rod
” says the saint
waiting dismission to rest
who has not done what he would or been as useful as
he desired and hoped and prayed to be. “I am but a dry rod
” says one whose
strength has been weakened by the way
and whose unfinished purposes lie sadly
enough at his feet
fallen out of hands which could not longer hold them or
fashion them into completeness. “We are but dry rods
” say many earnest
anxious
longing souls who hardly dare to trust for the future
because so
often when they would do good evil is present with them. We are not saved by
trust in our own righteousness or by satisfaction with our own goodness and
deeds. But God’s grace is all-sufficient
and He can work miracles of beauty
and fruitfulness where human might is feeblest
and self mistrust is greatest
and humility of spirit is deepest. (W. H. Davison
D. D.)
The Divine plan for vindicating the high priesthood of Aaron
and
its moral teaching
I. That true
ministers of religion are elected by God.
II. It is of great
importance that men should know that their ministers of religion are called by
God.
1. In order that they may regard them with becoming respect.
2. In order that they may take heed to their message.
III. The vitality of
sin is of dreadful tenacity. “Many men’s lips
” says Trapp
“like rusty hinges
for want of the oil of grace and gladness
move not without murmuring and
complaining.” It is a thing of extreme difficulty to eradicate any evil
disposition from the human heart. “For such is the habitual hardness of men’s
hearts
as neither ministry
nor misery
nor miracle
nor mercy can possibly
mollify. Nothing can do it but an extraordinary touch from the hand of Heaven.”
IV. God is engaged
in eradicating sin from human hearts. (W. Jones.)
Aaron’s rod an illustration of the true Christian ministry
I. The characteristics
of the true Christian ministry.
1. Life
2. Beauty.
3. Fruitfulness.
II. The origin of
the true Christian ministry. God’s creation
and gift to the Church.
III. The influence
of the true Christian ministry. Abiding. (W. Jones.)
The budded rod
a type of Christ
The rod in many graphic tints shows Jesus. The very name is caught
by raptured prophets (Isaiah 11:1; Zechariah 6:12-13). Thus faith gleans
lessons from the very title--Rod. But the grand purport of the type is to
reject all rivals. It sets Aaron alone upon the priestly seat. The parallel
proclaims
that similarly Jesus is our only Priest. God calls
anoints
appoints
accepts
and ever hears Him; but Him alone. In His hands only do
these functions live. Next
the constant luxuriance has a clear voice. In
nature’s field
buds
blossoms
fruit
soon wither. Not so this rod. Its
verdure was for ever green; its fruit was ever ripe. Beside the ark it was
reserved in never-fading beauty. Here is the ever-blooming Priesthood of our
Lord (Psalms 110:4; Hebrews 7:24). Mark
moreover
that types
of Jesus often comprehend the Church. It is so with these rods. The twelve at
first seem all alike. They are all sapless twigs. But suddenly one puts forth
loveliness; while the others still remain worthless and withered. Here is a
picture of God’s dealings with a sin-slain race. Since Adam’s fall
all are
born lifeless branches of a withered stock. When any child of man arises from
the death of sin
and blooms in grace
God has arisen with Divine almightiness.
Believer
the budded rod gives another warning. It is a picture of luxuriance.
Turn from it and look inward. Is your soul thus richly fertile? Instead of
fruit
you often yield the thorn (John 15:8). Whence is the fault? (John 15:4) Perhaps your neglectful soul
departs from Christ. Meditate in God’s law day and night; (Psalms 1:3). But if the budded rod
rebukes the scanty fruit in the new-born soul
what is its voice to
unregenerate worldlings? (Hebrews 6:8.) (Dean Law.)
The rod of Aaron
Buds are evidence of life. A nominal Christian is like a dead
trunk
and he cannot bud unless the sap of Divine grace courses through him.
Spiritual life is an attribute of the converted Christian. The spiritual life
of a being is his presiding sentiment or disposition--the chief inspiration of
his soul--that which gives motion and character to his mental and moral being.
I. Life is a
resistless force. The smallest blade of grass that raises its tiny head into
light
or the feeblest insect that sports in the sunbeam
displays a force
superior to that which governs the ocean or controls the stars. Man stands
erect
the tree rises
and the bird soars
because of life.
II. Life is an
appropriating force. Vegetable and animal existences have a power of
appropriating to themselves all surrounding elements conducive to their
well-being
just as the life of the plant converts the various gases around it
into nutriment to promote its strength and development. Wherever there is true
religion
there is a power to render all external circumstances subservient to
its own strength and growth; all things work together for its good.
III. Life is a
propagating force. It has “the seed in itself.” Forests start from acorns
and
boundless harvests from the solitary grain. It is said that the grateful
Israelites
anxious to carry away a bud
a blossom
or almond as a memento of
the occasion
the flowers and fruit on the rod were repeatedly and miraculously
renewed for that purpose. Be that as it may
wherever there is religious life
it will spread; it scatters broadcast the incorruptible seed which liveth and
abideth for ever.
IV. Life is a
beautifying force. There are two kinds of beauty--the sensational and the
moral. Nature in her ten thousand forms of loveliness
and art in her exquisite
expressions of taste
are ministries to the former
whilst spiritual truth
moral goodness
and the holiness of God address the latter. The one is the
poetry of the eye and ear ; the other
of the soul. The beauty that appeals to
the religious nature of man is the beauty of holiness--the beauty of the
Lord--the glory of God in His goodness.
V. Life is a
fructifying force. The true Christian not only lives and unfolds a noble
disposition
but is really useful. St. Paul speaks of “the fruit of the
Spirit”--righteousness
goodness
truth. The first
as opposed to all injustice
and dishonesty; the second
as opposed to the ten thousand forms of
selfishness; the third
as opposed to all that is erroneous and false in the
doctrines and theories of men. (G. L. Saywell.)
Aaron’s rod
Here are three miracles in one:--
1. That a dry rod--made of the almond tree--should bring forth buds
in a moment.
2. That those buds should presently become blossoms anal flowers.
3. That these should immediately become ripe fruit
and that all at
once
or at least in a little space.
Nature makes no such leaps. All this was supernatural to these
ends.
1. For a testimony of God’s calling Aaron to the priesthood.
2. For a type of Christ
the Branch (Isaiah 11:1).
3. For a figure of the fruitfulness of a gospel ministry.
4. For a lively representation of a glorious resurrection. (C.
Ness.)
Lessons from the budding rod
A wonderful work of God
which sundry ways may profit us.
1. As first to consider that if the power of God can do this in a dry
stick
cannot He make the barren woman to bare
and be a joyful mother of
children? Can He not do whatsoever He will do? By this power the sea is dried
the rock gives water
the earth cleaveth under the feet of men
fire descends
whose nature is to ascend
raiseth the dead
and calleth things that are not as
if they were. In a word
He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that
we ask or think
&c.
2. This rod is a notable type of Christ
His person and office. Of
His person
in that He was born of the Virgin Mary
who
though He descended of
the royal blood
yet was now poor and mean
as that royal race was brought
exceeding low
nothing remaining but as it were a root only. Now the said
Virgin flourisheth again as Aaron’s rod did
and beareth such fruit as never
woman bear. Of this speaks Isaiah the prophet
when he saith
“There shall come
a rod forth of the stock of Jesse
and a graft shall grow out of his roots.” Of
His office both priestly and kingly. His priestly office is figured in that
being offered upon the cross He was as Aaron’s dried rod
or as the Psalm
saith
“dried up like a potsherd.” But when He rose again He became like
Aaron’s budding and fruit-bearing rod
bringing forth to man
believing on Him
remission of sins
righteousness
and eternal life. His kingly office
in that
He governeth His Church with a rod or sceptre of righteousness
as it is in the
Psalm: “The sceptre of Thy kingdom is a right sceptre.” Which rod and sceptre
is the preaching of the gospel
&c.
3. Again
it was a resemblance of true ministers
and of all faithful
men and women
for none of all these ought to be dry and withered sticks
but
bear and bring forth buds and fruit according to their places.
4. It is a shadow also of our resurrection by which we should grow
green again
and flourish with a new and an eternal glory
having like dead
seed lain in the ground
and we shall bring forth ripe almonds
that is
the
praise of God’s incomprehensible goodness to us for ever and ever.
5. It resembleth our reformation and amendment of life
for when our
heart feeleth what is amiss
this is as the bud; when it resolveth of a change
and a future amendment
this is the blossom; and when it performeth the same by
a new reformed life indeed
this is as the ripe almonds of Aaron’s rod.(Bp.
Babington.)
The priesthood divinely selected
What matchless wisdom shines in this arrangement! How
completely is the matter taken out of man’s hands and placed where alone it
ought to be
namely
in the hands of the living God! It was not to be a man
appointing himself
or a man appointing his fellow
but God appointing the man
of His own selection. In a word
the question was to be definitively settled by
God Himself
so that all murmurings might be silenced for ever
and no one be able again to
charge God’s high priest with taking too much upon him. The human will had
nothing whatever to do with this solemn matter. The twelve rods
all in a like
condition
were laid up before the Lord ; man retired and left God to act.
There was no room
no opportunity
because there was no occasion for human
management. In the profound retirement of the sanctuary
far away from all
man’s thinkings
was the grand question of priesthood settled by Divine
decision; and
being thus settled
it could never again be raised. (C. H.
Mackintosh.)
Aaron’s fruitful rod
Striking and beautiful figure of Him who was “declared to be the
Son of God with power by resurrection from the dead!” The twelve rods were all
alike lifeless; but God
the living God
entered the scene
and
by that power
peculiar to Himself
infused life into Aaron’s rod
and brought it forth to
view
bearing upon it the fragrant fruits of resurrection. Who could gainsay
this? The rationalist may sneer at it
and raise a thousand questions. Faith
gazes on that fruit-bearing rod
and sees in it a lovely figure of the new
creation in the which all things are of God. Infidelity may argue on the ground
of the apparent impossibility of a dry stick budding
blossoming
and bearing
fruit in the course
of one night. But to whelm does it appear impossible? To the infidel
the
rationalist
the sceptic. And why? Because he always shuts out God. Let us
remember this. Infidelity invariably shuts out God. God can do as He pleases.
The One who called worlds into existence could make a rod to bud
blossom
and
bear fruit in a moment. Bring God in
and all is simple and plain as possible.
Leave God out
and all is plunged in hopeless confusion. (C. H. Mackintosh.)
The rods contrasted
Ponder the difference between the rod of Moses and the rod of
Aaron. We have seen the former doing its characteristic work in other days and
amid other scenes. We have seen the land of Egypt trembling beneath the heavy
strokes of that rod. Plague after plague fell upon that devoted scene in answer
to that outstretched rod. We have seen the waters of the sea divided in answer
to that rod. In short
the rod of Moses was a rod of power
a rod of authority.
But it could not avail to hush the murmurings of the children of Israel
nor
yet to bring the people through the desert. Grace alone could do that; and we
have the expression of pure grace--free
sovereign grace--in the budding of
Aaron’s rod. Nothing can be more forcible
nothing more lovely. That dry
dead
stick was the apt figure of Israel’s condition
and indeed of the condition of
every one of us by nature. There was no sap
no life
no power. One might well
say
“What good can ever come of it?” None whatever
had not grace come in and
displayed its quickening power. So was it with Israel
in the wilderness; and
so is it with us now. How were they to be led along from day to day? How were
they to be sustained in all their weakness and need? How were they to be borne
with in all their sin and folly? The answer is found in Aaron’s budding rod. If
the dry
dead stick was the expression of nature’s barren and worthless
condition
the buds
blossoms
and fruit set forth that living and life-giving
grace and power of God on which was based the priestly ministry that alone
could bear the congregation through the wilderness. Grace alone could answer
the ten thousand necessities of the militant host. Power could not suffice.
Authority could not avail. Priesthood alone could supply what was needed; and
this priesthood was instituted on the foundation of that efficacious grace
which could bring fruit out of a dry rod. Thus it was as to priesthood of old;
and thus it is as to ministry now. All ministry in the Church of God is the
fruit of Divine grace--the gift of Christ
the Church’s Head. (C. H. Mackintosh.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》