Chapter 17

We have seen that there has been constant bickering among the people of Israel for the last few chapters. In some ways this is reasonably understandable. The people left Egypt under the promise of the “Land Flowing with Milk and Honey™"; Now they’re not going to see it, but it will belong to the next generation.

Of course, this is mostly their own fault. But it doesn’t change the fact that there is now a need to drag these warring factions back together. The disasters of the last few chapters, culminating in the mass execution (by God) of rebels and a plague, have at least stopped the fighting; but one thing history tells us is that threats of force, whilst effective in bringing a pause to unrest, rarely solve problems long-term.

What God needs to do is to make it abundantly clear who he has chosen to lead the people. Once this is done, and once the people have accepted this, there is likely to be some level of peace restored. But how can it be done in a way that won’t be denied or ignored?

There’s a simple thing God can do, and that’s to do something that is unmistakeably “God-stuff”.

What are quintessentially God’s abilities?

Well, He can create universes. Probably not something that can help here.

He can turn stuff into other stuff (e.g. water into wine). Impressive. But maybe we can do better than that.

He can create life. Something that can’t be done by people, then or now. Dead things remain dead, and only God can fix that. BINGO!

So in verses 1 – 5, we see leaders being picked from the Tribes, and Aaron being listed as the leader of Levi. And each man is given a staff. God informs them that the staff of the man he chooses will bud.

Sure enough, Aaron’s staff is the one chosen. And in a nice touch, not only does it bud, it grows almonds!

The people are well aware that they’ve crossed the line here, and demonstrate fear in even going near the Tabernacle. We’ll catch up with this in later passages.

So what for us?

I could fob you off with a rhapsodic rambling on how “Only God can create life.” I could even zoom off onto the tangent of discussing abortion or euthanasia. With care and a tinfoil helmet, I could even turn it into a polemic against contraception (it can be done!). But that would not only drawing an incredibly long bow, it would be treating my readers like idiots (i.e. dragging in stuff that doesn’t belong in the passage just because I have to write something!).

One thing I believe that I CAN say is that this passage demonstrates God’s care and concern for His people, in that this idea of confirming Aaron’s leadership via the miracle is clearly aimed at preventing further outbreaks of rebellion, and hence further bloodshed.

Also this is going to become a significant thing for years to come. The rod will become part of the contents of the Ark of the Covenant, as a way of giving the people of Israel a physical connection to these early days. It is a way of God saying “These stories you read? They’re not simply fables or tales. They’re the story of your ancestors – I was faithful to them, and I will also be faithful to you.”

We don’t have physical reminders like this today, and people often crave them. I think this is why so many “relics” of people from the Bible abounded during the Middle Ages, and why to this day we have so many people wanting to believe that the Shroud of Turin really is the burial cloth of Jesus (despite the fact that burial shrouds of this type only became common in the Middle ages – it’s like claiming you have the iPod of King Richard the Lionhearted!) or that Noah’s Ark has been found. But we as Christians are asked to believe without such artifacts.

It can be difficult at times. But then we have the words of Christ to Thomas: “You have seen and believe. How blessed are those who have not seen, and yet still believe.”