Scripture: Numbers 17 v 1 - 10: " 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."
When the Hebrews were slaves to various Pharoahs over the space of 400 years before the Exodus to the Promised Land, Moses and Aaron were chosen to approach Pharoah to beseech him to let God's people go.
Moses requested of God that his brother Aaron be the spokesman as he had a stutter in his speech which would be a hindrance. God agreed and added a rod to each of them. These rods were anointed with supernatural power. Those rods in men's hands were as powerful as if God Himself was holding them!
Exodus 4 v 1 - 5: "And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.
2 And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.
3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.
4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:
5 That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee."
The day came when Moses and Aaron appeared before Pharoah to demand the release of the Hebrews, or else! Pharoah was unimpressed. He had some of his magicians with him in the throne room. He demanded a miracle to prove that God had sent them. Moses and Aaron threw their rods on the floor and they became serpents. The magicians threw their wands on the ground which also became snakes, but the snakes of the Hebrews swallowed the magicians snakes. So now all the power was back in Moses' hands.
Pharoah's response was to increase the burdens on the Hebrew slaves, which made them very unhappy with Moses. Jehovah God told Moses to wait by the Nile River until Pharoah took his morning walk along the bank. Then he was to stretch his rod over the river and it would instantly turn into blood. Aaron was to point his rod over all Egypt and every puddle, river, pond, would also become blood. The fish died, no drinking water, there was a horrible stench.
The next challenge was a week later. Let My People go! Or else frogs will be a scourge. Pharoah refused and God instructed Moses to command Aaron to stretch his rod over the land and a plague of frogs then covered the land. The stench was awful.
The next plague Moses had to tell Aaron to stretch out his rod over the land again and smite the dust. This became lice over the land of Egypt affecting man and beast. The magicians were also able to turn water into blood, produce frogs and lice so Pharoah refused to let God's people go. Up till now everyone was affected by these plagues but the next plague that was of flies - the Lord said the Hebrews who lived in Goshen would no longer be affected.
Pharoah deceitfully told Moses he would allow God's people three days to go into the desert and worship Him if the flies were removed, but when they were he hardened his heart again and refused to release them. More plagues came upon Egypt until the final one was death of the first born of men and cattle. Only the Hebrews knew to put the blood of a lamb upon their doors so the Angel of Death would pass over their homes. This was the origin of Passover.
When Pharoah's son died in his grief he commanded the Hebrews to leave. Which they did and were given gifts by the Egyptians. When they all stood at the edge of the Red Sea unable to go further the alarm was raised that Pharoah and his army were on their way to stop them leaving. God told Moses to stretch his rod over the sea which parted for the Hebrews to escape. They all got safely across before Pharoah reached the sea shore.
He and his army chased after them but the Lord God Almighty returned the sea to normal and all of them were drowned. Every Hebrew escaped unharmed. There was mighty power in those rods to perform all these miracles.
Sadly, when they had gone many years after leaving Egypt some of the Jews started a rebellion. They were tired of manna and quail, they were tired of wandering aimlessly through the desert. When they needed water, thousands of litres for themselves and their flocks, God commanded Moses to strike this huge rock with his rod. A river flowed out of that rock to meet every need. But now they wanted a change of leadership
That's when the Lord instructed Moses to take one rod from each of the 12 tribes with the leader's name attached and put them in the tabernacle of the Holy of Holies in the Ark of the Covenant. The one whose rod sprouted buds was God's designated high priest and leader.
It was Aaron of the tribe of Levi, the priesthood, whose rod budded, blossomed and brought forth almonds overnight. This quelled the rebellion and brought calm acceptance of Aaron.
The significance of this story of the rods is that it was the legal precedence for the death of Jesus Christ, in the Promised Land of Israel, to release Israel and all who would believe in Him, from sin and eternal death. The timing of this death of the first born at the feast of Passover is to align the past with the present day. The resurrection of Jesus on the third day was like the budding of the rod of Aaron the chosen high priest.
The resurrected Son of God is our eternal high priest in the Heavens. As Paul wrote in Corinthians, if Jesus was not resurrected then our hope in the promise of eternal life is in vain. The Truth is we were resurrected in Him and when we know and believe that He is the Son of God we are forgiven, born again and promised eternal life. Our future was conceived and enacted in all the miracles God did in Egypt to set His People Free!
1 Corinthians 10 v 1 - 4: "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ."
Our God is an awesome God He reigns over Heaven and Earth in wisdom, love and power. Let us exalt Him and make Him known to those still wandering in the Wilderness of Sin looking for the Promised Land.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we are so thankful we found our way to You through Your only beloved Son, Jesus. All You want us to do is reach out to the lost and show them the way back to You. Energize us O Lord God to carry out this task to perfection. In Jesus' name. Amen.