Numbers
16:41 ¶ But on the morrow all the
congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against
Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD. 42 And it came to pass, when the congregation
was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the
tabernacle of the congregation: and, behold, the cloud covered it, and the
glory of the LORD appeared. 43 And Moses
and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation. 44 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
45 Get you up from among this
congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their
faces. 46 And Moses said unto Aaron,
Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and
go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is
wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun. 47 And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran
into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the
people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people. 48 And he stood between the dead and the living;
and the plague was stayed. 49 Now they
that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them
that died about the matter of Korah. 50
And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation: and the plague was stayed.
Now the entire
congregation has the unmitigated gall to murmur against Moses and Aaron. Again,
God says get out of the way, I’m going to kill them all. But, Moses has Aaron
make an atonement for them. Moses’ does not want to see the Israelites, this
body of recently freed slaves, to be destroyed as He has pleaded with God
before not to wipe them out.
Numbers,
chapter 17
Numbers
17:1 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses,
saying, 2 Speak unto the children of
Israel, and take of every one of them a rod according to the house of their
fathers, of all their princes according to the house of their fathers twelve
rods: write thou every man’s name upon his rod. 3 And thou shalt write Aaron’s name upon the
rod of Levi: for one rod shall be for the head of the house of their
fathers. 4 And thou shalt lay them up in
the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with
you. 5 And it shall come to pass, that
the man’s rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease
from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against
you. 6 And Moses spake unto the children
of Israel, and every one of their princes gave him a rod apiece, for each
prince one, according to their fathers’ houses, even twelve rods: and
the rod of Aaron was among their rods. 7
And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness.
8 ¶
And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle
of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and
brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds. 9 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. 10 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. 11 And Moses did so:
as the LORD commanded him, so did he. 12
And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we
perish, we all perish. 13 Whosoever
cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the LORD shall die: shall we be
consumed with dying?
Now that the
exclusivity of the Aaronic priesthood is affirmed among the Levites, those
other pretenders from the other tribes are tested and proven by God’s sign to
not have that calling from God, that ordaining. Aaron’s priesthood has been
confirmed by a miracle.
The children of Israel
understand that they have been schooled regarding the question about the
priesthood, as some commentators note.
No comments:
Post a Comment