Commentaria in Numeros
Chapter the Seventeenth
Moses receives twelve rods from the 12 princes of the tribes: among them the rod of Aaron alone blossoms, and by this miracle and token the priesthood is assigned and confirmed to Aaron by God.
1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2. Speak to the children of Israel, and take of them rods, one for every kindred, of all the princes of the tribes, twelve rods, and write the name of each upon his rod. 3. And the name of Aaron shall be in the tribe of Levi, and one rod shall contain all the families apart. 4. And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the covenant before the testimony, where I will speak to thee. 5. Whomsoever of these I shall choose, his rod shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmuring of the children of Israel, wherewith they murmur against you. 6. And Moses spoke to the children of Israel: and all the princes gave him rods, one for each tribe: and there were twelve rods besides the rod of Aaron. 7. And when Moses had laid them up before the Lord in the tabernacle of the testimony, 8. he returned on the following day, and found that the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded: and that the buds swelling, it had bloomed blossoms, which spreading the leaves were formed into almonds. 9. Moses then brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel: and they saw, and every one received his rod. 10. And the Lord said to Moses: Carry back the rod of Aaron into the tabernacle of the testimony, that it may be kept there for a token of the rebellious children of Israel, and that their complaints may cease from me, lest they die. 11. And Moses did as the Lord had commanded. 12. And the children of Israel said to Moses: Behold we are consumed, we all perish. 13. Whosoever approacheth the tabernacle of the Lord, dieth. Shall we all be utterly destroyed?
Verse 2. “Speak to the children of Israel, and take of them rods, one for every kindred (that is, tribe).” For Moses took here only twelve rods, according to the number of the 12 tribes, namely one from each tribe, besides the rod of Aaron.
Note: On account of the sedition and murmuring of Core and his followers, contending with Aaron about the priesthood, of which in the preceding chapter, God here commands the individual tribes, and their princes, to bring their rods, that by them, by a new miracle, of the rod of Aaron alone flowering, he may settle this quarrel, and assign and confirm the priesthood to him. Hence it seems that this miracle took place in the same year in which the sedition of Core took place, namely the second year of the exodus from Egypt, as I said on the preceding chapter, verse 2, which was the second year.
“And write the name of each upon his rod,” of each tribe. This is plain from the Hebrew, which has: And let each (namely, the prince) write his name upon his rod. For all the princes were the firstborn of the whole people and of the individual tribes, and therefore the right of the priesthood seemed to belong to them beyond the rest: whence, to settle every quarrel about it, the names of the princes only were inscribed on the twelve rods, and on the thirteenth was inscribed the name of Aaron, who was the firstborn in the tribe of Levi; for Levi had as firstborn son Caath, he Amram, he Aaron: for Aaron was older than Moses his brother.
Verse 3. “And the name of Aaron shall be in the tribe of Levi,” that is, on the rod of Levi. So also the Septuagint. For each tribe, or, as follows, all the families of one tribe, had one rod, on which was inscribed the name of the prince or firstborn of that tribe. Wherefore it is very likely that this rod of Aaron and Levi was another than the rod of Moses, with which he brought the plagues on Egypt, and divided the Red Sea; and this is proved first because this rod is here called that of Levi, not of Moses. Secondly, because otherwise the lot of the rods would have been unequal, and the other princes would have held Aaron and Moses suspect, if he had assigned to his brother that rod which had been the worker of so many portents, while the others took a common staff or stick for their rod; and consequently they would have attributed the miracle of the flowering rod not to Aaron, but to the rod itself. The rod of Aaron, therefore, was a common rod, and like the rods of the other princes. So Abulensis, Cajetanus and others. Whence the Hebrews relate that all these thirteen rods were from the same almond tree, and Cyril in the Catena of Francis Zephyrus: “They were all,” he says, “of almond wood, after the custom of that nation, which used staves chiefly of that tree; for such a tree bears the symbol of vigilance.” For the almond tree excels in sending out straight and tall shoots or branches: wherefore it is very apt to have the staves of old men and the sceptres of princes cut from it.
Hear what St. Simeon relates or thinks of this rod, in Galatinus, book VI, last chap.: “The rod,” he says, “with which Moses and Aaron did the miracles in the land of Egypt, and which afterwards flowered in the desert, was cut from that tree which God showed to Moses in the desert, that the bitter waters might be made sweet. And this tree was cut by the hands of angels from the tree of life that stood in paradise; which they sent to Adam, when he had sent Seth his son to paradise to implore the mercy of God for his sin. And the angels told Seth to plant this tree, and as soon as it should bear fruit, the mercies of God would descend upon him, and the gates of heaven, which were shut, would be opened. This tree, or rather branch, Seth took, and planted in the desert; which Moses afterwards found in the desert, and cut from it his rod, and therefore it was called the rod of God. When Israel came to Mara, and could not drink its waters (for they were bitter), God showed Moses this tree, that he might make those waters sweet. And this is that tree on which Moses placed the brazen serpent, by which God ordained to save the whole world, and to send his mercy upon Adam, when the king Messias shall come. For then this tree will bear fruits by which the bitter waters will a second time be made sweet, and will purge the first sin and all the offences which men have committed and will commit.” He insinuates that the cross of Christ was made from this tree. But these things savour of the inventions and fables of the Jews.