Numbers 17:8 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Numbers 17:8
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.
the morrow or (adverbially) tomorrow · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Moses
מֹשֶׁה֙mo.Sheh
H4872
Mosheh · proper noun, a man's name
went
וַיָּבֹ֤אvai.ya.Vo'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
tabernacle
אֹ֣הֶל'O.hel
H168
a tent (as clearly conspicuous from a distance) · noun, common masculine singular construct
witness
הָעֵד֔וּתha.'e.Dut
H5715
testimony · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
rod
מַטֵּֽהma.teh-
H4294
a branch (as extending) · noun, common masculine singular construct
Aaron
אַהֲרֹ֖ן'a.ha.Ron
H175
Aharon · proper noun, a man's name
house
לְבֵ֣יתle.Veit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Levi
לֵוִ֑יle.Vi
H3878
Levi · proper noun, a man's name
budded
פָּרַ֥חpa.Rach
H6524
to break forth as a bud · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
forth
וַיֹּ֤צֵֽאvai.Yo.tze'
H3318
to go (causatively · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
buds
פֶ֙רַח֙fe.rach
H6525
a calyx (natural or artificial) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
bloomed
וַיָּ֣צֵֽץvai.Ya.tzetz
H6692
to twinkle · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
blossoms
צִ֔יץTzitz
H6731
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
yielded
וַיִּגְמֹ֖לvai.yig.Mol
H1580
to treat a person (well or ill) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
almonds
שְׁקֵדִֽיםshe.ke.Dim
H8247
the almond (tree or nut · noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 17:24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the gree…
John 15:1-6 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Psalms 132:17-18 There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed.
Numbers 17:5 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 ch…
Isaiah 4:2 In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that a…
Genesis 40:10 And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth rip…
Psalms 110:2 The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
Ezekiel 19:14 And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This i…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Numbers 17:8–end
Here is, I. The final determination of the controversy concerning the priesthood by a miracle, Num 17:8, Num 17:9. The rods or staves were brought out from the most holy place where they were laid up, and publicly produced before the people; and, while all the rest of the rods remained as they were, Aaron's rod only, of a dry stick, became a living branch, budded, and blossomed, and yielded almonds. In some places there were buds, in others blossoms, in others fruit, at the same time. This was miraculous, and took away all suspicion of a fraud, as if in the night Moses had taken away Aaron's rod, and put a living branch of an almond tree in the room of it; for no ordinary branch would have b…
Moses went into the tabernacle--being privileged to do so on this occasion by the special command of God. And he there beheld the remarkable spectacle of Aaron's rod--which, according to JOSEPHUS, was a stick of an almond tree, bearing fruit in three different stages at once--buds, blossoms, and fruit.
John Gill on Numbers 17:8
And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness,.... Where none but he could go at any time; this was the day after the rods had been placed there:
and, behold, the rod of Aaron, for the house of Levi; the rod that had Aaron's name upon it, which was to represent the tribe of Levi, of which he was:
was budded, and brought forth buds; knobs of blossom, such that are seen on trees before they open; for the almond tree puts forth its blossoms before its leaves; though the Targum of Jonathan renders it "branches", as do some versions; and some think this is to be understood of its putting out its leaves first, contrary to the nature of the almond tree, and so…
And it came to pass, that on the morrow. It is not without cause that, the time is notified, for by no skill could it be brought about that a rod should blossom in the lapse of a single night. Again, all suspicion of fraud was removed by the fact that Moses departed when he had placed the rods in the sanctuary, and, returning on the next day, brought out the bundle of rods before them all. But in this respect was the power of God principally shown forth, that in so short a space of time not only flowers, but fruits also, were formed upon a dry bough, which could not have occurred but by the reversal of the order of nature. And further, the time of year is to be taken into account, which was…
The Church Fathers
In the book of the prophet it is written: "Take to thyself the rod of an almond tree." We ought to consider why the Lord said this to the prophet, for it was not written without a purpose, since in the Pentateuch too we read that the almond rod of Aaron the priest, after being long laid up, blossomed. For the Lord seems to signify by the rod that the prophetic or priestly authority ought to be straightforward, and to advise not so much what is pleasant as what is expedient.
And so He Himself also chose Aaron as priest, that not the will of man but the grace of God should have the chief part in the election of the priest; not the voluntary offering of himself, nor the taking it upon himself, but the vocation from heaven, that he should offer gifts for sins who could be touched for those who sinned, for He Himself, it is said, bears our weakness. No one ought to take this honour upon himself but they are called of God, as was Aaron, and so Christ did not demand but received the priesthood.
For Paul came to preach the cross of the Lord, always green like the holly oak, and the nuts, which have a harder shell and a tender fruit, and rightly so, for the priestly rod of Aaron was a nut tree, and the staff of Jeremiah was of the same kind. Who would doubt that silver is also a dual-purpose, not idle gift; when both the life of the Patriarchs and the discourse of the Apostles always flourish in the hearts of individuals; and the speech of the saints, like silver tested by fire, shines with the bright light of salutary instruction? And not without reason do they refer to dual-purpose silver in which the coming of Paul was prefigured, who bestowed double honor on the laboring elders in word and doctrine.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Aaron — The eldest son of Amram and Jochebed, a daughter of Levi (Ex. 6:20). Some explain the name as meaning mountaineer, others mountain of strength, illuminator. He was born in Egypt three years before…
Almond — A native of Syria and Palestine. In form, blossoms, and fruit it resembles the peach tree. Its blossoms are of a very pale pink colour, and appear before its leaves. Its Hebrew name, shaked,…
Almond Tree; Almond — This word is found in (Genesis 43:11; Exodus 25:33,34; 37:19,20; Numbers 17:8; Ecclesiastes 12:5; Jeremiah 1:11) in the text of the Authorized Version. It is invariably represented by the same Hebrew…
Tabernacle — (1.) A house or dwelling-place (Job 5:24; 18:6, etc.). (2.) A portable shrine (comp. Acts 19:24) containing the image of Moloch (Amos 5:26; marg. and R.V., “Siccuth”). (3.) The human body (2 Cor.…
Desert, Journey Of Israel Through The · God’s choice of Aaron confirmed — God’s choice of Aaron confirmed
Levites · Of the A — Of the A
Tabernacle · .TENT OF TESTIMONY (R. V.) — .TENT OF TESTIMONY (R. V.)
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Aaron’s staff . . . produced ripe almonds! This was more than enough proof that Aaron was God’s chosen leader and that the Levites held a special position. The cups on the Tabernacle’s lampstand were shaped like almond blossoms (Exod 25:33-36). Later, Jeremiah’s vision of an almond branch represented the Lord’s vigil and his intention to carry out his plans (see Jer 1:11-12). • There is no natural explanation for the budding of Aaron’s staff. Almond wood is soft while alive and only becomes hard enough for use as a staff long after it has been cut off and allowed to dry.
Rashi on Numbers 17:5
ולא יהיה כקרח means in order that he be not as Korah.
כאשר דבר ה' ביד משה לו AS THE LORD HAD SPOKEN BY THE AGENCY OF MOSES לו — The latter word is the same as עליו, “with regard to him”, i.e. “with regard to Aaron”: He had spoken to Moses that he and his sons should be priests; therefore a layman, who is not of the seed of Aaron, shall not approach etc. Similarly in every instance of the words לי or לו or להם which are connected with forms of the verb דבר, their meaning is the same as על, “concerning”. A Midrashic explanation is that לו, “with regard to him”, means: with regard to Korah (not to Aaron). But what, then, is meant by the expression “by the hand of Moses”; why does it not write…
