Blossoming Staff - Numbers 17 & 18

There has just been ANOTHER rebellion in which tens of thousands of Israelites were killed miraculously by God because of their disobedience, and it wasn’t just disobedience like I am disobedient, this was quite egregious. I was thinking today, and I have before, wondering if I was in that environment if I would be disobedient like them. Are all people roughly the same, if we had the same circumstances that they did back then would the church be in the same state that of rebellion? And again I was listening to the end of the book of Helaman and it talked about all the signs and wonders that the Nephites and Lamanites say the years preceding Christ’s birth and it says that even with all those miracles, the people still hardened their hearts, so I thought that maybe that’s just human nature, to be rebellious and if that’s true then am I rebellious or is it just a matter of time before I become as bad as the Israelites or the Nephites or the Lamanites?

But then I heard Helaman 15:15 which was talking about another group of people, I’m not exactly sure who, but it says, “For behold, had the mighty works been shown unto them which have been shown unto you, yea, unto them who have dwindled in unbelief because of the traditions of their fathers, ye can see of yourselves that they never would again have dwindled in unbelief.” This made me feel better because it the outcome almost every single time of a righteous people is that they become desensitized to signs, wonders, and miracles, and eventually rebel against God, then that means that it’s so much more likely that I will as well, which is discomforting. But then when I heard this, I saw an example that there are people who can see very little and become converted to a rock solid foundation of Christ for the rest of their lives, so that can be possible for me as well. There might genuinely be a difference in people, and the betrayal of many people against the God that cared for them isn’t a guaranteed outcome for the rest of us.

A big disputing factor about these rebellions was that Aaron’s descendants were the ones who were the priests and the ones who worked in the tabernacle, and the rest of the Levites couldn’t hold property or have their own land and were simply the workers who supported the mission. The major rebels in the insurrection were all Levites, and they wanted to be able to work in the temple and also have their own descendants be the ones in power in the priesthood. At that time, Levites’ jobs were things like guards, custodians, they probably had to clean up a lot of the gore left over from the animal sacrifices, they probably had to clean up a lot of stuff, they had to do all the unglamorous jobs that didn’t have power or prestige, and these guys didn’t like that. So God gave another brilliant and very patient exhibition to the people to show who he chose to be the bearers of the priesthood, even though he had already told them, he decided to do this instead of just killing them all. I know that he extends this mercy to me a lot too.

God told Moses to tell the people that each leader of each tribe should bring their staff to the tabernacle with his name carved on his staff, and to put Aaron’s name for the staff of Levi, and to put them in the tabernacle of witness, and whomever the Lord chose to bear the priesthood, that staff “shall blossom.” This is significant for many reasons. First, each tribal leader’s staff would have been an important sign of their position, and each of these men contesting for priesthood power would have had a staff that they used all the time, and this staff would have been recognized among their people as belonging to them and signifying them and their authority. These aren’t just a bunch of sticks that someone went out into the wilderness and picked up and carved the names on, these were identifying pieces of property. Second, these staffs were pieces of wood that had long since been dead and incapable, physically, of sprouting any kind of new growth. These men had probably had and used these staffs for years, and I’m sure that they were strong pieces or wood, maybe even carved, but the reality was that they were dead wood, thus God’s pledge to make something grow out of the dead wood was physically impossible, so obviously it would be a miracle.

The next morning Moses went and checked 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.” Again, the blossoming of new growth from dead wood is impossible, so that was part of the miracle, but even more than that, almonds sprouted from that dead wood overnight as well. Even in a living tree capable of producing almonds, it would take more than one night to go from no growth to producing almonds. Dead wood to living plants overnight, it’s miraculous and is a testament to the strength, beauty, and speed with which God is capable of bringing new life into what we consider to be dead. Beauty for ashes in his time and in his ways, and I needed that message today. I think it’s pretty poetic that tens of thousands of people are miraculously killed in rebellion by God then God uses that same power to grow new life out of dead wood, lots of contrast and very symbolic of not only Gods power but His nature as well. He can eliminate if He must but he’d much rather heal and beautify, if we let him.

The people are terrified, they get the message and they freak out saying, “Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish. Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the Lord shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?” They are terrified to come near the tabernacle, and if I was God I would think “Good, finally.” But God is more merciful than that and commands Aaron to take his sons and start doing their jobs again, as well as the Levites. They are authorized for certain tasks and God expects them to do it, but only what they are authorized. The Levites are given their jobs again and the whole tribe of Levi is not to be given any land for inheritance, they aren’t to plow the fields, or grow crops, they are to attend to the business of the priesthood and all the duties commanded to them. That’s their job and that’s their only job. But how are they supposed to survive? Off of the remaining authorized parts of the sacrifices and also through tithes offered at the tabernacle, which I assume is part money that is a part of the offerings and redemptions, etc.