Numbers 17:8,9

Aaron's Rod Buds and Flowers in the Tent of Testimony, and The Budded and Unbudded Rods Are Revealed to All the People, Who Look on Them (so that murmuring will cease) (Numbers 17:8).

Numbers 17:8

‘And it came about on the next day, that Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and put forth buds, and produced blossoms (tsits), and bare ripe almonds.'

The next day Moses entered the Tent of testimony, and there he discovered that Aaron's rod had budded. Indeed it had not only produced buds, but had also burst into flower and borne ripe almonds. The same word (tsits) which indicates ‘blossoms' also signifies the golden ‘plate' which was part of the High Priest's headdress (Exodus 28:36; Leviticus 8:9). Assuming them to be almond flowers they would have been pinky white. Jeremiah 1:11 associates ‘almonds' (shaked) with ‘vigilance' and ‘watching' (shoked). The almond was also the earliest tree to blossom. Thus the budding was evidence of new life, the flowers symbolised the High Priestly ‘holiness to Yahweh' in the whiteness of purity and righteousness, and the almonds indicated that Yahweh watched over him with vigilance.

The lampstand in the Dwellinglace of Yahweh represented an almond tree (Exodus 25:33). Thus the rod that produced almonds was seen as, as it were, an offshoot of the One represented by the lampstand.

The message was clear. The rod of Aaron lived in the presence of Yahweh, but the rods of the tribes remained dead. Only Aaron and his sons could be in the presence of Yahweh in the Holy Place and live. Only Aaron could ‘produce fruit' in the Holy Place.

Numbers 17:9

‘And Moses brought out all the rods from before Yahweh to all the children of Israel, and they looked, and took every man his rod.'

Then Moses brought all the rods out ‘from before Yahweh' and brought them to the children of Israel, and they looked and saw, and each chieftain took his rod. Nothing further needed to be said. The rods spoke for themselves. They were taken back to the tribe with an account of what had happened and no doubt carefully examined.