But the Lord said to Moses, "Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put an end to their grumblings against Me, so that they will not die."Interesting progression here. First, after God shows His favor is with Aaron, He commands that that sign not be taken away from the tabernacle. All the rest apparently went back to the tribes' leaders' homes, and probably became ordinary household implements again (I have no clue what a rod might have been used for). However, Aaron's is made a symbol, so that the people remember that he is chosen by God.
Then we are told why it is needed to be a symbol. It's there so that the people stop grumbling and challenging Moses, Aaron, and especially God. Now when they wonder why Aaron is the head priest, they can look and see how God has chosen him. Then, finally, we learn why it's important to stop grumbling. They're killing themselves with their grumbling. In a two-day span of grumbling, thousands died. From the top of my head, without looking at the actual numbers, I think that was several percent of the total population. Much more of this, and they wouldn't have been there anymore to complain, and God really would have had to start fresh with Aaron and Moses.
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