Numbers 17 Devotional
by Pastor Lawrence Bowlin

It’s hard to believe that the Israelites would still be grumbling against Moses and Aaron after the Lord had brought judgment upon the ringleaders by burning some of them alive and having the earth swallow the others whole.  Yet they still did! Consequently, at the end of the previous chapter, the Lord brought a plague upon the people of Israel that could only be stopped through the atonement and intercession of Aaron the high priest over Israel.  That should have been enough to settle the issue for good that the Lord had chosen Aaron and his sons to draw near unto God in a way that none of the other Israelites ever could save Moses himself.

But once again in this chapter, the Lord tells Moses to assemble the people of Israel so that they might see whom the Lord has set aside as holy in His sight to serve in the temple of God to prove once and for all that Aaron has not exalted himself in their eyes, but it is the Lord who has sanctified him for service.  To show this special calling, Moses had the chiefs of the twelve tribes of Israel to bring their staffs, symbols of their rule and authority over their respective tribes, to write their names on the staffs and to have Moses deposit them in the Tent of Meeting before the Ark of the Covenant promising that the staff of the man whom God had chosen would sprout to show his favored status in God’s eyes.  This, the Lord said, was for the purpose of putting an end to all the grumbling.

On the next day, Moses brought out all of staffs of the tribes, and Aaron’s staff had not only sprouted as God had promised, but had also budded, blossomed and bore fruit, which was clearly a miracle of God to signify God’s clear choice of spiritual leadership over Israel.  And notice the type of fruit that the staff bore was that of almonds.  Perhaps you remember from the book of Exodus that the Golden Lampstand was fashioned in the shape of almond tree with its blossoms and fruit.  But why an almond tree?  In the Hebrew language, the word “almond” sounds like the word for “watching” (see Jeremiah 1:11).  Because the almond tree blossomed early on in the season, it was watching, if you will, for the rest of the trees to blossom later on in their turn.

In the tabernacle, and later the temple, the Golden Lampstand was placed across the room from the Table of Showbread to shine a light upon the twelve loaves of bread sitting on the table to signify how God’s favor shines upon the twelve tribes of Israel in terms of goodness and provision and how He watches over His people guarding and protecting them from harm.  By having Aaron’s rod blossom into an almond tree, the Lord was showing how He had particularly called these priests ordained by God to minister on behalf of the rest of the tribes of Israel for their good, pronouncing God’s favor upon them as well as seeking to protect them from harm by serving as a mediator between them and God.

Strangely, though, instead of receiving some comfort from this miraculous sign, the grumblers responded by saying, “Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone.  Everyone who comes near the tabernacle of the Lord shall die.  Are we all to perish?”  Although the sign put an end to the rebellion and quelled the loud complaining and grumbling, it didn’t transform the hearts of those who received this sign from God, for they merely sinned in a different way.  Before, they touted their own holiness, and proudly believed they could boldly enter into God’s holy place without fear.  Now they were full of fear but without any sense of assurance of God’s love and mercy as it was displayed through the Aaronic priesthood.

Since Aaron and his descendants were temporary priests pointing to a better priest who was to come, it is only in Jesus, our great high priest that we fully understand that we are all mere dead branches if not connected to the living vine who is always blossoming and bearing fruit.  It is only through the Word of Christ that we are made clean, and it is only through abiding in Christ that we can bear fruit.  But for anyone who does not abide in Christ, he will be like a branch that will be thrown away and burned in the fire just as the grumblers were burned alive by God under Korah’s rebellion.  But if we abide in Christ and his Word abides in us then we are promised that the Lord hears our prayers and acts accordingly because Jesus our faithful priest is praying in our behalf, that the Lord would watch over us and grant his favor to us.

Certainly, it would be a fearful thing for any of us to try to approach God in our own name knowing that the Lord cannot tolerate our sin, which is why we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus, our only priest and mediator, for we know that He will be received by the Father and that He will receive us and bless us who come in His name.