Tuesday - Numbers 17 - Almonds in One Night

After so much trouble and so many deaths over the power struggle of who-had-the-right-to-spiritual-leadership-in-Israel, God proposed a test to confirm His choice in the minds of the people. He evidently had two purposes in doing so. First, He wanted to affirm Aaron's rightful position as high priest. Secondly, He wanted to put the rest of the people in their proper place so that He wouldn't have to kill any more of them (Numbers17:10, Deuteronomy 32:39 & Ezekiel 33:11).

So, the test was a simple one. The 12 tribal chiefs all brought a rod to Moses, each one with his name engraved on it. Then, Aaron brought a rod to Moses for his tribe with his name engraved on it. That means Moses had 13 rods with the names of the heads of the 13 tribes on each rod individually. God commanded Moses to place those rods in the tabernacle overnight. He promised to cause the rod of His choice servant to blossom by morning.

Numbers 17:8 makes it abundantly clear, "The rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds." Wow! Not bad! Wisely, Moses took the 12 dead rods out to the 12 “secular" leaders for them to examine and to see that the rods with their names on them had remained unchanged. Then he brought out this spectacular almond tree that had spontaneously produced life and fruit in one evening. I'm sure there were doubting Thomases who insisted on seeing the name of Aaron on the rod-become-a-tree ... but, it was there. Just like the nail holes in the hands of the Savior after His resurrection ... the proof of Aaron's identity was there.