Types and symbols. They fill the Old Testament, pointing to Christ. It’s not a stretch to believe that. Jesus said so himself talking to the two men on the road to Emmaus. “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27)
In the last six blog posts, I’ve shown how the rod in the first five books of the Bible represents Christ. This is our last lesson, though there is fodder for more lessons.
We first saw that the rod represents Christ in that famous exchange when God called Moses, and Moses said, “But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.” (Ex 4:1-3)
Read through the last posts to see how I arrived at the rod representing Christ. With that knowledge, we see that the rod became a serpent. Elsewhere, the serpent represents you-know-who. So, Christ becoming a serpent here as the first miracle with the rod points to Christ becoming sin for us (remember the serpent on the brass pole, and the people only had to look at it to live?).
Our point here, though, is Moses’ earlier concern: “They will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice.” God presented the rod miracle to answer that concern.
So what happened later when the people actually didn’t believe Moses, nor hearken to his voice? It’s a fascinating story, to which the rod was the answer, as God said in the first place. Only this time, the rod doesn’t represent Christ’s death, but his resurrection—timely for this Easter season.
Here’s the situation in the book of Numbers: And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD? (Numbers 16:3)
God responded by sending a fire and consuming 250 men. That scared the Israelites, but they soon got over the scare. But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD. (Numbers 16:41)
God decided to prove who was who by having the leaders of each of the 12 tribes write their names on their rods. And it shall come to pass, that the man's rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you….And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds. (Numbers 17:5&8)
The piece of dead wood bloomed again. Christ rose from the dead, conquering sin and shut everyone’s mouth. That budding rod was so important that God required it to be added into the ark of the covenant. All three items in that ark (manna, the budded rod, and the 10 commandments) represent Christ and/or the word.
Jody