| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
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| 1 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, |
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| 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of them rods, one for each fathers’ house, of all their princes according to their fathers’ houses, twelve rods: write thou every mans name upon his rod. |
A rod – Authority; a special manifestation of divine power and rule. R5419:5
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| 3 And thou shalt write Aaron’s name upon the rod of Levi; for there shall be one rod for each head of their fathers’ houses. |
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| 4 And thou shalt lay them up in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you. |
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| 5 And it shall come to pass, that the rod of the man whom I shall choose shall bud: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against you. |
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| 6 And Moses spake unto the children of Israel; and all their princes gave him rods, for each prince one, according to their fathers’ houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. |
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| 7 And Moses laid up the rods before Jehovah in the tent of the testimony. |
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| 8 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and put forth buds, and produced blossoms, and bare ripe almonds. |
Of Aaron – Representing the Royal Priesthood. T122
Was budded – Showing the elect character of all the Body of Christ as members of the Royal Priesthood. T122
And yielded almonds – A peculiarity of the almond tree is that the fruit buds appear before the leaves do; so with the Royal Priesthood: they bring forth fruit before the leaves of profession are seen. T122
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| 9 And Moses brought out all the rods from before Jehovah unto all the children of Israel: and they looked, and took every man his rod. |
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| 10 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the children of rebellion; that thou mayest make an end of their murmurings against me, that they die not. |
To be kept – In the ark of the testimony. T121
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| 11 Thus did Moses: as Jehovah commanded him, so did he. |
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| 12 And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. |
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| 13 Every one that cometh near, that cometh near unto the tabernacle of Jehovah, dieth: shall we perish all of us? |
Shall die – Necessary because it illustrated something greater and more important to come later. T12
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