Numbers 16:36-17:13; Ministry of Death and The Fruitful Branch ~ 20260419 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
2026.04.19 Numbers 16:36-17:13; Ministry of Death and The Fruitful Branch Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20260419_numbers-17.mp3
We are on the downward side of chapter 14. God faithfully brought his chosen people to the border of his promised land, but they rejected him, his leaders, his land. They disbelieved his promises, were controlled by fear, preferred slavery to his freedom. They accused God of bringing them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness, so God said, very well, “your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness ...But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected” (Nu.14:29,31). Now because of unbelief, beaten back by the enemies the Lord promised to drive out before them, in chapter 16 we saw a coalition of rebellion, both religious and political, come against the Lord’s appointed leaders.
Korah, a Kohathite Levite, responsible for the care of the holy furniture of God’s tent, not satisfied with his own privileged position, led a rebellion of 250 Kohathites in an attempt gain unrestricted religious access and seize the priesthood, and they were consumed by fire that came out from the Lord as they took upon themselves the priestly action of offering incense before the Lord.
Dathan and Abiram, of the tribe of Reuben, objected to Moses’ authority, accusing him of exalting himself over the people, and the ground opened and swallowed them up as they stood defiantly at the entrance to their tents. They, their families, and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the rest of the people fled in fear that they also would be destroyed. And they would have been. Their own rebellious hearts convicted them. The Lord had threatened to destroy them all, but Aaron and Moses had prayed for them, and the Lord extended mercy. He restrained his judgment to only the leaders of the rebellion.
We are picking up the story today in Numbers 16:36. In the Hebrew text, this is actually the first verse of chapter 17. Our English translations follow the Greek Septuagint, which puts the chapter break after verse 40, although the content is the same. The chapter (~AD1227) and verse (~1448OT/1555NT) divisions were added much later in the history of the transmission of the text for our convenience.
Purified by Fire; The Second Bronze Covering [16:36 = 17:1 MT]
Numbers 16:36 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 37 “Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers out of the blaze. Then scatter the fire far and wide, for they have become holy. 38 As for the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the LORD, and they became holy. Thus they shall be a sign to the people of Israel.” 39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar, 40 to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, should draw near to burn incense before the LORD, lest he become like Korah and his company—as the LORD said to him through Moses.
Just like Nadab and Abihu, fire came out from the Lord and consumed the rebels who presumed to act as priests. Eleazar is instructed to collect the bronze censers that had been purified by the Lord’s fire out of the smoldering remains of the 250 rebels. Their bronze censers were made into a visible sign, like the tassels of chapter 15; this time a warning of the consequences for unauthorized trespass and contending against the Lord. This would have left a lasting impression on Eleazar, who would soon serve as high priest in place of his father Aaron, and this second layer of bronze on the altar for burnt offerings would be visible even through the open gates of the tabernacle as a reminder and a warning to the people.
Sin Nature
Surely the gravity of the judgment of God on those who in pride sought to seize the leadership roles given by God to Moses and Aaron; the ground swallowing them up, fire from the Lord consuming them, would cure the congregation of their complaints! But our sin is rooted deep in our nature.
Numbers 16:41 But on the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the LORD.”
The very next day! Yesterday, they were fleeing in fear of the Lord’s just judgment; today they are assembling against their God given leaders, accusing them of responsibility for killing those who had rebelled. How grumbling twists the thinking! Rather than taking responsibility for their own rebellion, turning their backs on their own sinful attitudes, rather than turning back to God in humble repentance and faith, they point fingers and place blame.
Yesterday they had witnessed the wrath of God against rebels and fled in fear. Fear, when not combined with love and trust, is a short-lived motivator.
Selfless Leadership and Intercession; Pray for those who hate you
Numbers 16:42 And when the congregation had assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting. And behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared. 43 And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, 44 and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 45 “Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” ...
Are you beginning to see a pattern in Numbers? The people rebel, God is rightly angered, he warns his servants of his coming wrath; and look what those who were the human recipients of the rebels’ anger do in response:
Numbers 16:45 ...And they fell on their faces. 46 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the LORD; the plague has begun.”
Selfless humble leadership, recognizing that all sin is ultimately sin against the Lord. Not taking offense, but rather interceding for the transgressors, selflessly seeking the eternal good of those they are called to serve.
Stand Between the Dead and the Living
Numbers 16:47 So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. 48 And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. 49 Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, besides those who died in the affair of Korah. 50 And Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, when the plague was stopped.
Aaron took fire from the altar, not the unauthorized fire of Nadab and Abihu, or of the 150 followers of Korah, who brought their own fire. This was holy fire from the altar, the fire that consumed the sacrifices and burnt offerings for the sins of the people. Aaron took sweet smelling holy incense, ignited with coals from the sacrificial altar, and carried it out in the middle of the mess, in the midst of the rebellious congregation, and stood between the dead and the living.
What a picture of prayer, of intercession, of humble bold gospel ministry! We all are sinners, we all are deserving of God’s holy wrath, and the Lord doesn’t owe us mercy. We all stand condemned for our rebellion, we aren’t even looking for rescue, and one is sent to make atonement, to take his stand between the dead and the living, to apply the sacrificial fire, through prayer, to those condemned and dying, to save some from the death they deserve.
Understand that the high priest was never to come in contact with death under any circumstance; that would defile his holiness. This was a great personal risk, to go out into the midst of the people who were experiencing death as the wages of their own sins, to risk contamination from those he was sent to save.
A Sign to End All Grumbling [17:1 = 17:16 in Hebrew MT]
The next section (chapter 17 in our Bibles), God takes action to put a stop to the grumblings of the people, and to take away any question of who he has called to make atonement for the people. If fire from the Lord consuming the 250 who offered incense without authorization and sparing Aaron alone were not enough; if Aaron’s self sacrificial action, taking his stand between the living and the dead, making atonement for the people, and halting the wrath of God were not enough; if all this were not enough, God establishes his chosen intercessor with another miraculous sign.
Numbers 17:1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, and get from them staffs, one for each fathers' house, from all their chiefs according to their fathers' houses, twelve staffs. Write each man's name on his staff, 3 and write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each fathers' house. 4 Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you. 5 And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you.”
The purpose of this test is clearly stated; the grumblings of the people must stop. God will establish the one he chooses. One staff, symbolizing leadership, from each tribe is placed in the holy place. Only Aaron was represented from Levi, which would exclude the other Levite family groups of Gershon, Merari, and Kohath, from which Korah’s rebellion stemmed; the Lord had already decisively demonstrated that Aaron and his descendants alone were accepted.
By Your Fruits; the Fruitful Priestly Ministry
Numbers 17:6 Moses spoke to the people of Israel. And all their chiefs gave him staffs, one for each chief, according to their fathers' houses, twelve staffs. And the staff of Aaron was among their staffs. 7 And Moses deposited the staffs before the LORD in the tent of the testimony. 8 On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.
The Lord had said “the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout”, but this is over the top! Not only sprouts, but buds, flowers and ripe fruit! In Matthew 7, Jesus warns of false prophets and says ‘you will recognize them by their fruits.’ This was evidently not natural fruit; clearly this was supernatural fruit. Dead branches disconnected from the tree don’t usually sprout; if they do it doesn’t last. They definitely don’t bud and blossom and produce ripe fruit!
Jesus told us to:
John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
As followers of Jesus, we are to be fruitful, to ‘bear fruit for God’ (Rom.7:4).
But why almonds? More on this in a minute.
The Ministry of Death
Numbers 17:9 Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the LORD to all the people of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his staff. 10 And the LORD said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die.” 11 Thus did Moses; as the LORD commanded him, so he did. 12 And the people of Israel said to Moses, “Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. 13 Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the LORD, shall die. Are we all to perish?”
The people respond to the Lord’s supernatural affirmation of the fruitfulness of Aaron’s ministry not with trust but with terror; “Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the LORD, shall die. Are we all to perish?” The law of Moses was a covenant of death. 2 Corinthians 4 calls it ‘the ministry of death’, ‘the letter’ which ‘kills’ (2Cor.4:6-7). This all points to the need for a better priest, a better mediator, one who makes a better covenant, one who takes his stand between the living and the dead and makes a better atonement.
Almonds and Watchers
But why almonds? Numbers 17:8 tells us not only that Aaron’s rod bore fruit, but it bore ripe almonds. Is this significant? There is a connection here with the tabernacle; in God’s instructions for building the furniture of the tent in Exodus 25, he instructed them to build a light-giving tree of solid gold.
Exodus 25:32 And there shall be six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it; 33 three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on the other branch—so for the six branches going out of the lampstand.
The gold lampstand of the tabernacle was to be styled after the almond tree, and Aaron’s staff which bore ripe almonds showed a connection to the garden tree theme of the tabernacle, a restoration of Eden. But I think there’s more here. In Jeremiah 1:11
Jeremiah 1:11 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see an almond branch [shaqed].” 12 Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over [shaqad] my word to perform it.”
This seems disconnected, until we realize there’s a play on words in the Hebrew in these verses; the word for ‘almond branch’ [shaqed] in verse 11 sounds like the verb ‘watching over’ [shaqad] in Jeremiah 1:12. The almond tree, the first of the trees in the middle east to bloom, was named ‘the watcher’ because it was watching over the changing of the seasons, preparing for action; a promise of good things, good fruit to come. This fruitful almond branch, placed in the holiest place in the presence of the Lord was in a sense a watcher, pointing forward, a promise of better things to come. Isaiah 11:1 says
Isaiah 11:1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
A descendant of David son of Jesse would come, a fruitful branch, a better priest, a better mediator, the only one who is mighty to save.
***
2026.04.19 Sermon Notes
Numbers 16:36-17:13; Ministry of Death and The Fruitful Branch
Two rebellions; religious and political:
-Korah – objected to Aaron’s religious access
-Dathan and Abiram – objected to Moses’ authority
Bronze censers a warning sign of wrath against rebels
Numbers 16:36-40
Selfless leadership and intercession;
-standing between the dead and the living
Numbers 16:42-50; John 3:17-18
A sign to end all grumbling
Numbers 17:1-5
The sign of fruitful priestly ministry
Numbers 17:6-8; Matthew 7:15-20; John 15:4; Romans 7:4
The Law of Moses a ministry of death
Numbers 17:9-13; 2 Corinthians 4:6-7
The almond branch; a watcher and promise of fruit
Exodus 25:31-37; Jeremiah 1:11-12; Isaiah 11:1; Hebrews 9:15; 12:24
***
Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org