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Numbers 17 Bible study: The rod that budded
In Hebrew, the word for Aaron's rod is also the word for a tribe, and his name went on Levi's (17:3). By the next day it had "sprouted, budded, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds" (17:8), and it was kept "for a token against the children of rebellion… that they not die" (17:10).
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“On the next day, Moses went into the Tent of the Testimony; and behold, Aaron’s rod for the house of Levi had sprouted, budded, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds.”
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“By the next day, Aaron's rod had ripe almonds on it.”
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What's really going on
A sign after the fire and the plague
This chapter follows straight on from Korah's rebellion. Moses had told Korah, "Even him whom he shall choose, he will cause to come near to him" (16:5), and "Fire came out from the LORD, and devoured the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense" (16:35). "But on the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and against Aaron" (16:41), and in the plague that followed, "those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred" (16:49), until Aaron "stood between the dead and the living" (16:48). Now the LORD gives a sign in which no one dies: "It shall happen that the rod of the man whom I shall choose shall bud. I will make the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against you, cease from me" (17:5).
Where it leads to Jesus
Aaron's rod that budded
Numbers 17:10leads toHebrews 9:11
The LORD told Moses, "Put back the rod of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept" (17:10). Hebrews describes the "earthly sanctuary" of the first covenant (Hebrews 9:1) and names the rod in the ark: "a golden pot holding the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant" (Hebrews 9:4). It doesn't stop to explain them: "of which things we can’t speak now in detail" (Hebrews 9:5). Of the first tabernacle it says, "This is a symbol of the present age" (Hebrews 9:9), and then turns to Jesus: "But Christ having come as a high priest of the coming good things, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation" (Hebrews 9:11). Hebrews gives the rod no meaning of its own; it names it with the rest of the earthly sanctuary, then points to Christ.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Numbers 17
That was a taste
The rest of Numbers 17 is waiting in Favor
- Rod and tribe, one word
- Budding, and more
- Kept before the Testimony
- Words from the lamp stand and the plate
- "Called by God, just like Aaron was"
- 9 questions as you read
- 10 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
פָּרַחparachsay pa-RAKH
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "bud, sprout, shoot". Strong's: "to break forth as a bud, i.e. bloom". The LORD's word is "the rod of the man whom I shall choose shall bud" (17:5), and the next day Aaron's rod "had sprouted" (17:8): the same verb both times, the only two times Numbers uses it. Its first use in the Hebrew Bible is the cupbearer's dream of a vine: "It was as though it budded" (Genesis 40:10). A psalm uses it of people: "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree" (Psalm 92:12).
For your group
Numbers 17 Bible study questions
- 1The people complained even after the fire and the plague (16:41), and the LORD answered with a sign that would stay in front of them (17:10). What reminders of what God has done do you keep in front of you, and do they help when you start to complain?
- 2Aaron didn't make his rod bud; the LORD chose (17:5). "Nobody takes this honor on himself" (Hebrews 5:4). Where are you tempted to reach for a place or a role, rather than wait to be given it?
- 3The people swung from complaining against Moses and Aaron (16:41) to "Will we all perish?" (17:13). When have you swung between being angry at God and being afraid of him? What helped you find your way back?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Numbers 17 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
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Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home