The Father Silences the Grumbling
17 1 Then our Father spoke to Moses, saying:
2 Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to take the censers from the burning coals and scatter the fire far off—they are holy. 3 —the censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their lives. Hammer them into plates to cover the altar—since they were presented before me and became holy—as a sign to the sons of Israel. 4 Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers that those who were burned had offered, then hammered them into a covering for the altar. 5 A reminder to Israel's sons that no outsider — not of Aaron's offspring — may approach to burn incense before our Father, so he wouldn't become like Korah and his company, as our Father told Aaron through Moses.
6 The next day the whole congregation of Israel's sons grumbled against Moses and Aaron: "You have killed the people of our Father." 7 When the assembly gathered against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting, and the cloud covered the tent, and the glory of our Father appeared.
8 Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting. 9 And our Father spoke to Moses, saying:
10 "Move away from this congregation so I can destroy them instantly." And they fell on their faces.
11 Moses told Aaron, "Take the censer, put fire on it from the altar, add incense, and rush it to the community to atone for them, for wrath has gone out from before our Father; the plague has begun."
12 Aaron took it as Moses said, ran into the midst of the assembly — the plague had already begun among the people — burned the incense, and made atonement for the people. 13 And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. a a v13 Aaron standing between the dead and the living to halt the plague foreshadows Jesus, the one mediator who stands between our Father's judgment and his people, making atonement with his own life. 14 Those who died in the plague numbered fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died over Korah. 15 Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, for the plague had been stopped. 16 Then our Father spoke to Moses, saying:
17 Speak to the sons of Israel and take from them a staff for each ancestral house — twelve staffs from all their leaders by ancestral house. Write each man's name on his staff. 18 Write Aaron's name on Levi's staff, for one staff per head of each ancestral house. 19 Place them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you. b b v19 The testimony refers to the stone tablets of the Law kept inside the ark in the tabernacle. 20 The staff of the man I choose will sprout, and so I'll quiet before me the grumbles of Israel's sons who grumble against you.
21 Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each leader gave him a staff — one per leader per ancestral house, twelve staffs — with Aaron's staff among them. 22 And Moses placed the staffs before our Father in the tent of the testimony. 23 The next day Moses entered the tent of testimony and found Aaron's staff, for the house of Levi, had sprouted — budded, blossomed, and produced ripe almonds. c c v23 Hebrews 9:4 remembers Aaron's budding staff kept in the ark. Life springing from dead wood confirmed our Father's chosen priest and points ahead to Jesus, whose priesthood our Father vindicated by raising him from the dead. 24 Moses brought all the staffs out from before our Father to all the sons of Israel; they looked, and each man took his own staff.
25 And our Father told Moses, "Put Aaron's staff back before the testimony, kept as a sign for the rebels, to end their grumbling against me, so they won't die."
26 And Moses did so; just as our Father had commanded him, so he did. 27 The sons of Israel said to Moses, "Look, we are dying, we are lost, all lost!" 28 Anyone who comes near, who comes near our Father's tabernacle, dies. Will we all perish?
