A Fruitful Stick

Dead Things Come Alive!

“The next day Moses entered the tent and saw that Aaron’s staff, which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds”  (Numbers 17:8 NIV).

In an effort to settle a leadership dispute among the tribes of Israel, God gave Moses an unusual assignment. He was asked to collect walking sticks from each of the twelve tribes and place them before the Ark of the Covenant in the tabernacle. The contention was against Moses and Aaron, as representatives of the tribe of Levi. Other stronger tribes and more forceful leaders felt they should have been given more authority over the affairs of the people. 

This test was a dramatic overnight miracle to show, without a doubt, that Moses and Aaron has been selected and appointed as God’s representatives to lead all the tribes of Israel. Moses did not know what God had planned. He just obeyed what God asked him to do. All of the staffs were dead and dry sticks that had been used for a long time to walk rough trails in the wilderness and perhaps ward off varmints that might seek to attack a lone traveler walking through the desert. None of the sticks had a sign of life and no one knew what was about to happen. 

The next morning when Moses went to retrieve the sticks, he was as surprised as anyone else that the staff of Aaron had sprouted, produced buds, blooms, and mature, ripened almonds! No one could explain or deny this incredible miracle. A dry staff had produced fruit overnight in the presence of the Almighty God. 

This is the first of many lessons demonstrating that nothing is too hard for God. He is well able to bring life to dead things. What began early in the Scriptures became a theme, God is the source of life. The one who spoke every living thing into existence holds the power of life and death in His hand. 

We may draw courage from this truth, when God speaks dead things come to life. In His presence there is resurrection and restoration. Dead things come to life under His authority! 



Theme passage:
“For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives” (Romans 6:4 NLT).