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God told the people, that He
would now show them whom He had chosen to be His High Priest. He
commanded Moses to take twelve rods, and to write upon each of them the
name of one of the twelve tribes; and on the rod of the tribe of Levi he
was to write Aaron's name, because Aaron was of the tribe of Levi.
The rods were dry sticks; there was no life in them. God commanded
them all to be put into the tabernacle, before the ark; they were to stay
there one night, and God promised to make the rod of the man whom He
chose, to bud and blossom, to bring forth flowers and fruit. This
was a very wonderful thing to do; but Moses did not disbelieve God, for He
knew He had power to do what He pleased; and, in faith and obedience,
Moses laid up the twelve rods before the Lord. The next morning,
Moses went into the tabernacle and looked at the rods; eleven of them were
still dry and withered; but the rod of Levi, on which Aaron's name was
written, was full of buds, and blossoms, and almonds. Moses brought
them all out, and called the men to take their rods again. They all
looked at the rods; and when they saw that Aaron's alone had budded, they
knew that God had chosen him to be High Priest. The Lord told Moses
to keep Aaron's rod safely; to put it into the ark, that it might be there
always to show the rebellious people that Aaron was God's chosen
minister. The Israelites were obliged now to submit to the
Lord. He had punished them for their rebellion; and He had shown
them, by a miracle, whom He had chosen for His priest, that they might not
again speak against Aaron. But still these people were not humbled;
they cried, and said, "We shall die, we shall all perish!" It
is sad when punishment makes sinners angry and rebellious. God sends
it to make them repent and turn to Him. He wishes all to be saved;
He wants none to perish; and, when people forget Him, He sends sorrow to
them, to make them remember Him; to see if they will confess their sin,
and ask for forgiveness. He is ready and waiting to forgive all who
come humbly to Him; Jesus is willing to save them, and to wash away their
sins; the Holy Spirit is willing to come into their hearts, and to make
them new and clean. But if sinners still resist and rebel, God will
not wait for ever. He will at last cut them off, and send them away
from Him to everlasting punishment. Then it will be too late to ask
for pardon and salvation; for God will not hear their prayer. We
must go to Jesus now, and all will be well; for He says, "Him
that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." John
6:37.
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