THE BUDDING OF AARON'S ROD
The budding, blossoming, and fruit-bearing of the dry staff of office laid by Aaron in the tabernacle, significant—
I. As A MIRACLE. It was an unmistakable sign of God's interposition (such a natural impossibility the occasion of an oath among the heathen: Homer's ‘Iliad,' 1:233, and Virgil's ‘AEneid,' 15:206), as every miracle is,—on behalf of his servant Aaron, "disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God,"—and in condemnation of "the rebels." Even if regarded as an arbitrary sign, it was none the less sufficient. God required that the miracles of Moses per se should be accepted both by the sympathetic Israelites and the reluctant Pharaoh (Exodus 4:1-8). So too did our Lord (John 14:11; John 15:24). This miracle permanent so long as the rod existed. And all miracles, though transitory, of permanent value as proofs of the interposition of God (Exodus 3:14).
II. As A SYMBOL.
1. "The almond tree, as that which most quickly brings forth blossoms and beautiful fruit, is an emblem of the mighty power of the word of God, which is ever fresh and unfailing in its fulfillment" (Jeremiah 1:11, Jeremiah 1:12).
2. A sign of the permanent vitality of God's appointed priesthood as "an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations" (Exodus 40:15).
3. A type of the miraculous attestation of the unchangeable priesthood of Christ. God, who "fulfils himself in many ways," about, hereafter, to replace the priesthood of Aaron by a Priest chosen by himself, after the order of Melchizedec. This priesthood attested by a resurrection (Acts 13:33; Hebrews 5:9, Hebrews 5:10), of which the resurrection of this dead tree was a type. And now that the risen Christ is in the holiest place, in the presence of God, his resurrection and reign in glory are signs to all murmurers of his appointment as the one High Priest and King, who "shall send forth the rod of his strength," and reign till all enemies are placed beneath his feet.—P.