Miracle Almond Rod

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel, and get twelve rods, from all their leaders according to their fathers’ households. 

“‘You shall write each name on his rod, and write Aaron’s name on the rod of Levi; for there is one rod for the head of each of their fathers’ households.  You shall then deposit them in the tent of meeting in front of the testimony, where I meet with you. 

“’It will come about that the rod of the man whom I choose will sprout.  Thus I will lessen from upon Myself the grumblings of the sons of Israel, who are grumbling against you.’

“Moses therefore spoke to the sons of Israel, and all the leaders gave him a rod apiece, for each leader according to their fathers’ households, twelve rods, with the rod of Aaron among their rods.  So Moses deposited the rods before the Lord in the tent of the testimony. 

“Now on the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds. 

“Moses then brought out all the rods from the presence of the Lord to all the sons of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his rod.  But the Lord said to Moses, ‘Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put an end to their grumblings against Me, so that they will not die.’  Thus Moses did; just as the Lord had commanded him, so he did.” Numbers 17:1-8

Almonds symbolise God’s watchfulness over His people and new life, as we saw from Jesus’ resurrection.  The Hebrew word for almond is ‘shakeid’.  There are two types of almonds…sweet and bitter. 

·       Sweet almonds are nutritious and delicious and
stave off hunger. 

·       Bitter almonds, however, when crushed produce
the deadly poison, cyanide. 

Like poison, the ungratefulness and complaining of God’s people had grown into a bitter resentment targeted against their leadership.  Aaron was chosen by God to be helping Moses lead, but the people refused to accept him – overburdening Moses. 

The budding of Aaron’s dry rod amongst the other rods was used by God to reinforce Aaron’s leadership role to the people.  How easy it is to forget that our lives are in the hands of our loving Father and, even when things seem to be confusingly impossible to bear, He is always teaching us through the journey.  It is up to us to avoid bitterness.

Take care with love, especially His, from Darlene, who still prays for you each day.