Numbers 17:6-13: a reflection

6Moses spoke to the children of Israel; and all their princes gave him rods, for each prince one, according to their fathers’ houses, a total of twelve rods. Aaron’s rod was among their rods. 7Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the Tent of the Testimony. 8On 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. 9Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD to all the children of Israel. They looked, and each man took his rod. 10The LORD said to Moses, “Put back the rod of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept for a token against the children of rebellion; that you may make an end of their complaining against me, that they not die.” 11Moses did so. As the LORD commanded him, so he did. 12The children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, we perish! We are undone! We are all undone! 13Everyone who keeps approaching the LORD’s tabernacle, dies! Will we all perish?”

To settle a dispute over whom God had chosen for the priesthood, God gives a sign. The leader of each tribe brings a staff, a dead wooden rod, and they are laid up overnight in the tent of meeting. The next morning, one of them has changed: Aaron's staff had sprouted, budded, blossomed, and borne ripe almonds. From a dead stick, overnight, God brought forth buds, flowers, and fruit, an unmistakable sign of whom he had chosen.

Notice what God does, and what it shows. He brings life, abundant life, buds and blossoms and fruit, out of a dead piece of wood. And by that miracle of life from deadness, he confirms his choice of Aaron, silencing the dispute. The sign is doubly meaningful: it displays God's power to bring life out of what is dead, and it vindicates the one God has chosen, making his choice undeniable.

Both of those speak to us. First, God is a God who brings life out of deadness, buds from a dead stick, and ultimately resurrection life from the grave. When situations in our lives seem dead, beyond hope, remember the God who made a dead rod blossom and bear fruit overnight. And second, God vindicates his own choices in his own time; where his choosing is questioned, he is able to confirm it unmistakably, as he made Aaron's rod bud. Trust the God who brings life from dead wood, who can make the dead things in your life blossom, and who vindicates his own in his time.

Lord, you made Aaron's dead staff sprout, blossom, and bear fruit overnight, bringing life from dead wood and confirming your chosen one. When situations in my life seem dead, beyond hope, remind me that you are the God who makes a dead rod blossom, who brings life out of what is lifeless, and resurrection out of the grave. Make the dead things in my life bud and bear fruit in your time. And where your purposes are questioned, vindicate them, as you vindicated Aaron. I trust the God who brings life from dead wood.