from WL Worcester (H Blackmer, ed.), 
The Sower.  Helps to the Study of the Bible in Home and Sunday School
 
(Boston: Massachusetts New-Church Union, n.d.)

Table of Contents
 

 

Lesson 51

Numbers 17: Aaron's Rod

The Story

Primary and Junior

During the years in the wilderness some of the people rebelled against Moses and Aaron, saying that they took too much upon themselves in being leaders and taking charge of the tabernacle and the worship. We read of this in Num. 16. This was wrong, for the Lord had appointed Moses and Aaron as leaders. The earth opened and swallowed up the leaders of the rebellion.

The Lord then showed the people by a beautiful sign that the tribe of the Levites was chosen to take care of the holy things, and the family of Aaron among the Levites to be priests. The princes of the tribes brought twelve rods, which perhaps they carried as a sign of office. They wrote the name of each tribe upon its rod and Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi. Moses took the rods into the tabernacle and laid them up before the Lord, before the ark. On the morrow when he went into the tabernacle Aaron's rod "was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds."

You may have seen the little pink blossoms of the flowering almonds in the early spring. In Palestine they open as early as January, and this probably is the reason for the Hebrew name for the almond, "watchful." The blossoms are much like peach blossoms, and the almond nuts are like peaches, only it is the kernel that is good to eat and there is no soft pulp.

All the people saw the blossoms upon Aaron's rod, and it was taken again into the tabernacle to be kept, to be a sign to the people that there might be no more murmuring against the Levites and the family of Aaron. The rod was put "before the testimony." The pot of manna had also been laid up "before the Lord." We understand that the rod and the pot of manna were kept not in the ark but near it. (Heb. 9:4; 1 Kings 8:9) Read Num. 17.

1. How long did the children of Israel wander in the wilderness? In and about what place did they live during this time? Why did they have to spend these weary years and delay their entrance into the promised land?

2. What other place in the Bible do you remember where the number forty is associated with temptation?

3. What tribe did the Lord appoint to care for holy things, and what family of this tribe to be priests?

4. By what beautiful sign did the Lord show the people that the Levites and Aaron should be leaders?

Spiritual Study

Intermediate

The tribes of Israel represent different elements in heavenly character. The rods belonging to the princes of the tribes stand for the different principles which rule and guide us in our life. Are all good principles of life of equal importance, or are some more important than others? Is there one that stands out above all the rest? There is such a one; and it is represented by Aaron's rod. The tribe of Levi was chosen to minister in holy things because the Levites stand for heavenly love. Aaron and his family, who were chosen from the Levites to be priests, stand especially for love to the Lord, and the rest of the tribe for love to one another. When the Lord chose the Levites and the family of Aaron to be leaders He taught the same lesson as when He said that the first of all the commandments is to love Him, and the second is to love our neighbor. The rebellion against Moses and Aaron takes place in us when we feel that other motives besides love to the Lord and one another deserve to rule and to take the first place. These loves must come before all others; and the principles which spring from these loves must be our rule and guide; they are Aaron's rod. (A. 4876; E. 727)

The Lord said that a tree is known by its fruits, and He meant that every principle of conduct must be judged by the life to which it leads. This test of principles as to their fruitfulness is suggested by bringing the rods before the Lord and by the blossoms and fruit upon Aaron's rod. No other principles of life are so fruitful as those that spring from love to the Lord and one another; no others are so "watchful" for opportunities to do good. The almond is a fruit with nothing that is soft and perishable about it; it stands for good works of charity done not from any superficial or passing delight, but from the unchanging conviction that it is good to do them; they are good works which are constant, enduring, reliable. (A. 3858, 5622)

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