Bible Commentaries
Numbers 17

Verses 1-13

Aaron’s rod (17:1-13)

The two Reubenites, Dathan and Abiram, had challenged the right of Moses (a Levite) to lead the country; the Levite, Korah, had challenged the right of Aaron’s family to be the sole priestly family in the Levitical tribe. Having destroyed the rebels, God now gave clear proof that the tribe of Levi was his specially chosen tribe, and the family of Aaron his specially chosen family within that tribe. He did this by miraculously changing the rod identified with the tribe Levi and the priest Aaron (17:1-8).

From that time on, Moses was to keep Aaron’s rod in front of the ark, as a reminder of the divinely chosen positions of Levi and Aaron in Israel (9-11). (The rod was later placed inside the ark; Hebrews 9:4.) The people understood God’s message and feared even to go near the tabernacle (12-13).