“And Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord unto all the children of Israel; and they looked, and took every man his rod. And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘Bring Aaron’s rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from Me, that they die not.’ And Moses did so; as the Lord commanded him, so did he.” (Ver. 9-11.)
Thus the question was divinely settled. Priesthood is founded upon that precious grace of God which brings life out of death. This is the source of priesthood. It could be of no possible use for man to take any one of the eleven dead rods and make it the badge of priestly office. All the human authority under the sun could not infuse life into a dead stick, or make that stick the channel of blessing to souls. And so of all the eleven rods put together; there was not so much as a single bud or blossom throughout the whole. But where there were precious evidences of quickening power—refreshing traces of divine life and blessing—fragrant fruits of efficacious grace—there, and there alone, was to be found the source of that priestly ministry which could carry, not only a needy, but a murmuring and rebellious people through the wilderness.
And here we may naturally inquire, What about Moses’ rod? why was it not amongst the twelve? The reason is blessedly simple. Moses’ rod was the expression of power and authority: Aaron’s rod was the lovely expression of that grace that quickens the dead, and calls those things that be not as though they were. Now, mere power or authority could not conduct the congregation through the wilderness. Power could crush the rebel,—authority might strike the sinner; but only mercy and grace could avail for an assembly of needy, helpless, sinful men, women, and children. The grace that could bring almonds out of a dead stick could bring Israel through the wilderness. It was only in connection with Aaron’s budding rod that Jehovah could say, “Thou shalt _quite_ take away the murmurings of the children of Israel from Me, that they die not.” The rod of _authority_ could take away the _murmurers_, but the rod of _grace_ could take away the _murmurs_.
The reader may refer, with interest and profit, to a passage in the opening of Hebrews ix. in connection with the subject of Aaron’s rod. The apostle, in speaking of the ark of the covenant, says, “Wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant.” This was in the wilderness. The rod and the manna were the provisions of divine grace for Israel’s desert wanderings and desert need. But when we turn to 1 Kings viii. 9, we read, “There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.” The wilderness wanderings were over, the glory of Solomon’s day was sending forth its beams over the land, and hence the budding rod and the pot of manna are omitted, and nothing remains save that law of God which was the foundation of His righteous government in the midst of His people.
Now, in this we have an illustration, not only of the divine accuracy of Scripture as a whole, but also of the special character and object of the book of Numbers. Aaron’s rod was in the ark during its wilderness wanderings. Precious fact! Let the reader seek to lay hold of its deep and blessed significance. Let him ponder the difference between the rod of Moses and the rod of Aaron. We have seen the former doing its characteristic work in other days and amid other scenes; we have seen the land of Egypt trembling beneath the heavy strokes of that rod; plague after plague fell upon that devoted scene in answer to that outstretched rod; we have seen the waters of the sea divided in answer to that rod. In short, the rod of Moses was a rod of power—a rod of authority. But it could not avail to hush the murmurings of the children of Israel, nor yet to bring the people through the desert. Grace alone could do that; and we have the expression of pure grace—free, sovereign grace—in the budding of Aaron’s rod.