NUMBERS 17
There is a climax of evil in chapter 16, prefiguring the rebellion of the last days in Christendom, upon which terrible judgment is about to fall. But in chapters 17 to 20 we see how God provides for the bringing about of conditions suitable to Himself in His people. The forty years spoken of in chapter 14:34 are passed over. God is not concerned to give us in detail the history of unbelief, though He has given us enough to let us see plainly its true character. But He has shown us its certain end, either as consumed in the wilderness, or as swallowed up in judgment when it becomes openly rebellious and apostate, and this looks on prophetically, as we have said, to the last days.
But as the end of the forty years drew near God was pleased to give testimony to what was in His mind in regard to His people, the subjects of His calling, and whom He intended to bring into the land. Those who are the subjects of God’s work have the flesh in them, and it is no better than the flesh in other [p. 216] people, and this necessitates that they should learn it, and become morally separated from it. They are also exposed to temptations and defilement in the wilderness. But we shall find in the chapters which are now before us that God makes provision for every need that arises, having in view all that is in His own purpose in regard to them. Special features of divine grace appear in these chapters which had not been previously known, and these things are prophetic of God’s gracious ways with His people today. The wilderness history of the church has brought to light the same forms of unbelief and rebellion as appeared in Israel. But God has had His called ones all through, whom He has kept by His power. And as the end of the time of testimony in the wilderness has approached He has brought before His people what was needed to perfect His work in their souls. I have no doubt that a great deal of the typical teaching of Scripture has the last days of the assembly in view; indeed, its meaning has not been understood, or brought out in ministry, until recent times. But when it is spiritually understood we can see clearly how it indicates the mind of God in a way which bears in a special way on the needs of the last days, and which develops much instruction for us which is helpful in the exercises of our own day.
The Spirit of God makes certain features of the truth prominent now because they are specially suited to further the work of God in His people. But every one of those features formed part of the truth from the beginning, and can be found in Scripture, and clearly established by the authority of Scripture. Many parts of the truth have been lost sight of, or obscured, for many centuries, but in the wisdom and goodness of God they are being, brought forward at the end of the church period in view of His thoughts being made [p. 217] good spiritually in His saints. There is a timeliness and suitability about what the Spirit says to the assemblies, though everything that He says is always in perfect accord with what was made known at the beginning. Now the way in which the priesthood of Christ is brought before us in the section of Numbers upon which we are now entering seems to me to correspond with the way in which God has called attention to Christ as Priest in recent times.
There can be no doubt on the part of any intelligent believer that during the last century there has been a revival of the truth of the house of God, and desires have been awakened in many hearts to take up the spiritual service which rightly pertains to that house. But all such exercises stand in connection with Christ being known as Priest; they are really dependent on His being thus known; for approach to God is by Him who is “a great priest over the house of God”. I believe it has been one of the special ministries of the Spirit of God in recent times to call attention to Christ as Priest in a way that corresponds with how He is typified in Aaron in Numbers 17. And this with a view to saints being qualified to carry on, and to support, the service of God in His house as typified in Numbers 18. So that I apprehend there is much instruction in these chapters which has a direct bearing in a special way at the present time.
It is important that we should notice the form which murmurings had taken, and which it was God’s intention to bring to an end. There was an assumption that all the assembly were holy, and Jehovah was among them, and when judgment had been executed on flagrant evil “the whole assembly of the children of Israel murmured on the morrow against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of Jehovah” (16:3,41). It is a common thing for [p. 218] the flesh to exalt itself by assuming to be divinely privileged. It was the characteristic sin of the Jew. “The assembly”, “the people of God”, the thought of holiness, and of God being among His people — all most precious and divine realities — are seen here as used to give importance to the flesh, and to justify murmurings against what was ordained of God for the blessing of His people. How subtle is all this! But it is all naked and laid bare to His eyes with whom we have to do, and He would lay it bare to our eyes also. This is how the word of God helps us to judge the flesh. Whatever favour may be conferred, flesh remains flesh, and has to be judged as such, “I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High; but ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes” (Psalm 82:6,7). It is a solemn thing to attach the privileges of the children of God to ourselves in a fleshly way, because, sooner or later, we shall have to learn that death is upon us. In the service of God it is only that which comes to pass through the priestly grace of Christ that has a living character.
The calling of Aaron to be priest, and what was necessary to his consecration, is seen in Exodus 28, Exodus 29, while his actual consecration is described in Leviticus 8. All that is purely on the divine side, and made known to the assembly as the mind of God. The truth can always be presented as truth to the people of God, but it is not experimentally known so as to become effective apart from its necessity being brought home to us. In the chapter now before us we see divine means being used in grace to bring the people of God into line with His own thoughts, so that murmurings might cease from before Him. He brought home to them that, in relation to His holy service, there was nothing vital in them. It was only to be found in the man of His choice. But it was there for [p. 219] their advantage. In learning this the flesh would be truly judged, and murmurings would cease.
All the children of Israel were brought representatively before Jehovah in twelve staves, one for each father’s house. And Aaron’s name was written on the staff of Levi: “And it shall come to pass that the man whom I shall choose, his staff shall bud forth ... . And it came to pass, when on the morrow Moses went into the tent of the testimony, behold the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and ripened almonds” (verses 5, 8). It was thus made manifest that “before the testimony” all were dead and barren save one. One was marked by distinct evidence of life, and this not life of a natural order, but life out of death. The almond tree is the first of all trees to bud after the winter season; its name in Hebrew has reference to this. So that, even in an ordinary way, the almond speaks of resurrection. But for buds and blossoms and ripened almonds to spring out of a dead staff adds greatly to the force of the figure. The staff which thus budded forth was “the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi”. God would not have the thought of priesthood to be attached to the natural man, or to the man after the flesh; it attaches to Christ as the risen and heavenly One. As such He continues for ever; He is “constituted ... according to power of indissoluble life” (Hebrews 7:16).
The two men in shining raiment said to the women at the sepulchre, “Why seek ye the living one among the dead? He is not here, but is risen” (Luke 24:5,6). He had been singled out from all others as the living One, and this by resurrection from among the dead. How could one be truly living save as entirely outside the domain of death? Jesus, the Son of God, is there; He is “the living one”; and as such He is Priest on our behalf by God’s appointment. This is the lesson of Numbers 17, and though it is a lesson taught by grace it involves that we take home to ourselves the solemn reality that death is upon us.
The two last verses of the chapter show that the lesson of the staves had been learned, at any rate on the negative side. It may be said, indeed, that the value of the provision of grace was not yet understood or appreciated, but the need of it was keenly felt. This is the first step on the way to appreciation of grace. “And the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, Lo, we expire, we perish, we all perish. Every one that comes at all near to the tabernacle of Jehovah shall die: shall we then expire altogether?” No wonder they said this when “Moses brought out all the staves from, before Jehovah to all the children of Israel, and they looked and took each one his staff” (verse 9). I have no doubt it was intended that each of them should look at his own staff; each had to realise that his staff was barren and dead. None of us get the gain of the priesthood of Christ without going in some measure through this experience. Those who accept the lesson of the staves do, in a moral sense, expire, and those who expire murmur no more. They look now to Christ, with an ever deepening appreciation of the advantage gained by having such a Priest. It is the lesson of Romans 7, but learned in this type in relation to the tabernacle service of God. We can only come “at all near to the tabernacle of Jehovah” as supported by Christ, and in virtue of His priestly service in the “power of indissoluble life”.
If we think that we can pray acceptably, or praise, or worship without the advantage of Christ as the living Priest, it is really a presumptuous murmuring against the divine order in grace, and we shall have to learn the barrenness of all that we attempt in this [p. 221] way. We shall have to take our dead staves away as having no vitality before God. But Aaron’s staff, is kept before the testimony, a precious and abiding witness to the power of life in the risen and heavenly Christ. His life is continually active on our behalf, so that by His grace and support we may come “near to the tabernacle of Jehovah” in a living way. We saw at the end of chapter 16 that the priest “stood between the dead and the living”, and it is still so. There is much in Christendom that professes to be the service of God, but only that is living which is sustained in vitality by Christ as Priest. And only those are sustained by Him who have learned the deadness of their own staves, and have through this experience come to appreciate the advantage of a living Priest.
So it is not only that atonement has been made, as we saw at the end of the previous chapter, but there is a living Priest out of death divinely chosen, who is seen here, in type, as bringing forth “before the testimony” a varied, expression of the evidence of life. Buds, blossoms, and ripened almonds are all there, suggesting development from what is initial in the way of fruit for God to full maturity. There is thus set forth, in figure, how through the priesthood of Christ the fruit of life is secured in service Godward. Not in each case the same development, for babes and young men and fathers would each have their own measure, but each yielding something that is the outcome of Christ being known as Priest. I trust we can all realise how acceptable to God would be such buds and blossoms and fruit. How entirely it puts all acceptable service Godward on the footing of what Christ is. We part company, so to speak, with the murmurer as being under death; we approach God and serve Him according to our living Priest, and murmurings cease.
Christ is God’s own selection, singled out as having every feature and qualification that makes Him suitable to represent before God the people of His calling. For the chosen man of Numbers 17: 5 speaks of Christ as now before God in manhood after fulfilling all that was typified by the sacrificial work of the day of atonement. The full value of His death is before God, as we see in figure at the end of chapter 16, but He is now out of death in the power of endless life, and as the true Aaron He is Priest on behalf of His saints.
There is great gain in seeing that Christ is Priest as well as Mediator. As Mediator we contemplate Him as having become Man on God’s part towards men, that He might make God known to men in wondrous grace. But as Priest He is seen as having taken a place on man’s side Godward. The fact that both characters are sustained by One blessed Person ensures that each shall correspond perfectly with the other. As Priest, God has chosen Him with full certainty of having in Him and through Him every fruit of life in which He could delight as coming to light in the service of His house. The knowledge of Him thus, would greatly affect the people of God if they allowed it to operate in their souls. There is a huge nominal profession of Christianity, but the apprehension of Christ as Priest — of the place which He holds on man’s part Godward — is what marks off the living from the dead. God is not looking to the flesh for anything, but He is giving testimony to Christ as the true representative of what is in His mind in regard to His people, and the One through whose priestly grace it can come out in them. When that testimony is accepted all murmurings cease. Murmurings arise from flesh wanting a place with God and refusing to admit that it is under death and judgment before Him. The history we have already gone over should be enough [p. 223] to prove that wherever and however flesh is tested it comes out as contrary and rebellious. And, as we have seen, all this history has what corresponds with it in the lessons which we have to learn as to our own flesh. But God puts over against all the murmurings and rebellion of the flesh the wonderful testimony of what He has chosen to have before Him in Christ. That is the clear proof that God is not looking to the flesh or the natural man to yield anything that will be for His pleasure. If He has to take account of that man at all it can only be as one righteously subject to death. The repeated words, “that they may not die”, and “that there come no wrath any more upon the children of Israel” (Numbers 17:10; Numbers 18:3; Numbers 18:5; Numbers 18:7) show plainly that for a people in the flesh there is no escape from death. But there is a powerful working by God on the line of grace using the testimony which He gives as to Christ as Priest to bring to an end the activities of the flesh.
We must not suppose that Israel could enter at that time into the meaning or spiritual import of what is here recorded. “For as many things as have been written before have been written for our instruction” (Romans 15:4). The Spirit of God has before Him to teach us lessons of the greatest importance, and He has put them in this form as being the beat and most forcible way of presenting them. We see God bringing to light the contrariety of the flesh, so that it is ever the subject of His holy judgment. But we see, too, that God had something else before Him all the time, and that He was continually bringing it forward. How many types of Christ and of His death have come before us in this and the previous books! Again and again we have seen that on the part of the people blessing was forfeited and judgment merited, but that they were spared and delivered on grounds which were [p. 224] typical of Christ and of His death. Now in presence of murmuring and rebellion God chooses to let all Israel know that His thoughts centre in a Priest who is before Him in the power of life out of death. The object in view being to dissociate us in our expectations from every other man, and to lead us to see that we can count upon that Priest as being on our behalf. It is in giving us to see how beneficial it is to have Christ on our side that God makes murmurings to cease. In the budding of Aaron’s staff God intimates that whatever is vital is the product of the place that Christ holds on our behalf. Nothing comes of flesh but sin and death, but Christ is for us in priestly grace end service so that sympathy, help, salvation in a practical sense, are available so that we may be supported in suitability to the testimony of God. The budding forth of Aaron’s staff is the token that God does not look to the flesh for anything. He has chosen One who in priestly grace is available for His people, and who is the alone Source of what is vital end fruitful. The budding staff is a token of pure grace, making available for us all that is needed. It is God’s mind that we should draw near to the sanctuary, and also that we should go through the wilderness as those who are sustained by the living grace of Christ as Priest.
“Wherefore it behoved him in all things to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people; for, in that himself has suffered, being tempted, he is able to help those that are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:17,18). “Having therefore a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast the confession. For we have not a high priest not able to sympathise with our infirmities, but tempted in all things in like manner, sin apart. Let [p. 225] us approach therefore with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and find grace for seasonable help” (Hebrews 4:14 - 16). “But he, because of his continuing for ever, has the priesthood unchangeable. Whence also he is able to save completely those who approach by him to God, always living to intercede for them. For such a high priest became us, holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and become higher than the heavens” (Hebrews 7:24 - 26). In being helped and saved by One who always lives to intercede for us we become morally detached from the flesh, and its murmurings cease. We learn that grace is in supremacy, and we approach with boldness to avail ourselves of divine support. We thus come into evidence as “the living”, who move through the wilderness as partakers of heavenly Calling and as holy brethren. We have still wilderness lessons to learn, and warnings to heed, but in the apprehension that Christ is Priest for us we learn to identify ourselves with what is going through into the purpose of God as sustained by the grace of a living and heavenly Intercessor. Nothing else is going through save what He sustains. Nor has it ever been the thought of God that anything else should go through. None are really “the living” in the wilderness but those who get the virtue of what has budded forth in Christ as the living Priest.
So that this chapter is most important as giving us the secret of how God’s people come near to the tabernacle, and also how they can be sustained in the wilderness in a way that corresponds with heavenly calling. A real and vital work of God in the soul is needed for the apprehension and appreciation of Christ as Priest. Where He is felt to be indispensable, and to be the living Source from day to day of help and grace, so that one is consciously sustained in happy and holy relations with God, there can be no question [p. 226] that one is partaker of heavenly calling. God calls our attention by the budding staff to the virtue that is in Christ as the living Priest. He fully estimates what is there for us, for it is there by His own choice and appointment. When we appreciate it, and begin to prove the gain of it, we become “the living”. Priestly grace and intercession in Christ is the source and sustainment of everything of which God can take account as being in living relation to himself. It is only that which differs from murmuring and rebellious flesh, and only that which has any moral suitability to go through into the land which God has in view for His people.
Christ was clearly not a priest officially in the days of His flesh; it was as risen and in heaven that He took up the office. But the grace of priesthood was illustrated in a marvellous way in His pathway and service here. There was not only the mediatorial declaration of God in grace, but the priestly sympathy and compassion of a blessed Man who could enter feelingly into all that pressed upon men. There was virtue there that could be drawn upon — a power of life that made whole those who came in contact with it — a hand that was quickly outstretched to support a sinking disciple — an Intercessor that faith might not fail. All these things illustrate the grace which is now available in Him as Priest on high. It is more readily accessible in Him now than it was in the days of His flesh, and millions can get virtue out of Him at one and the same moment all over the world. As He is appreciated and drawn upon murmurings cease, and the people of God live by what is available in Him.
It is to be noted that Aaron’s staff was not altogether personal to himself; it was “for the house of Levi” (verse 8). The grace that is resident in Christ as Priest, and that is available, for the people of God, is to characterise the whole priestly and levitical family.
[p. 227] God sets up amongst His people a service which corresponds with what is found in perfection in Christ as the High Priest of our confession. Intercessory service goes on amongst the saints, sympathies and succour are found there, and the whole levitical service is imbued with the Spirit of Christ as the Head of the tribe of Levi. The whole principle on which ministry is exercised amongst the saints is that the all-various grace of God becomes available for men by means of men. So that it is marked by sympathetic consideration, and by bringing what is of God near to men in such a way that they are encouraged to appropriate it. It is ever to be borne in mind that what God has in view is to detach His people from the flesh with all its murmurings and rebellion by attaching them in appreciative affection to Christ so that they may get the gain of what lives in Him on their behalf. The epistle to the Hebrews was largely written to confirm souls in the knowledge of Christ as the Mediator and the Priest, and to bring them to be consciously possessed of Him as Priest. Hence it is written, “Now a summary of the things of which we are speaking is, We have such a one high priest” (Hebrews 8:1). Service is only of value in so far as it tends to put souls in conscious possession of Christ. This alone will effectually alienate us from the man of murmuring and rebellion, and will prepare a dwelling for God even where there has been formerly rebellion (see Psalm 68:18).
Moses was of the tribe of Levi, and if he had borne in mind that the priestly staff of Aaron was “for the house of Levi”, he would not have spoken and acted as he did in chapter 20. Moses and Aaron at that juncture came short of their true glory; they did not believe Jehovah, nor did they hallow Him before the eyes of the children of Israel. And they thereby disqualified themselves for bringing the congregation into [p. 228] the land, They departed for a moment from that in which Jehovah would have been glorified, and the consequences were serious for them. How many of us at one time or another have been cross with the people of God because they displeased us! But it is priesthood that helps by bringing what is of God on the line of grace into evidence amongst His people. May we believe God in the way in which He speaks to us in Numbers 17, and hallow Him by the way in which we carry ourselves amongst His people! His great thought is “that they may not die”, and this can only be secured by their being drawn into the appreciation of Christ as Priest. Everything that is priestly and levitical tends in this direction.