Numbers 17

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the sons of Israel, and take from them a rod according to the houses of their families from all their princes, twelve rods; and write the name of each of them upon his own rod. And the name of Aaron write upon the rod of Levi; for there is one rod for the tribe: according to the houses of their families they shall give them to you. And you shall place them in the tabernacle of testimony over against the ark, from which I shall be made known to you there. And it shall be that the man whom I shall choose, his rod shall sprout: and I shall take away from you the murmuring of the sons of Israel, in whatever things they murmur against you. Every prince of a tribe and of a people has a rod; for one cannot rule a people unless he has a rod. Whence also Paul the Apostle, because he was a prince of the people, therefore said: "What will you? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in charity and the spirit of meekness?" All the princes of the tribes, then, must needs have their rods, but there is one alone, as the Scripture relates, the high priest Aaron, whose rod sprouted. But since, as we have often shown, the true high priest is Christ, he alone is the one whose rod of the cross not only sprouted, but also flowered and brought forth all these fruits of the believing peoples. And what is this fruit which it brought forth? "Nuts," it says — a fruit which in its first covering is bitter, in the next is guarded and covered over, and in the third feeds and nourishes the one who takes it. Such, therefore, in the audience-hall of Christ, is the teaching of the law and the prophets: the first face of the letter is bitter enough, which enjoins the circumcision of the flesh, which commands concerning sacrifices and the rest of the things that are designated by the letter that kills. All these things cast away like the bitter husk of the nut. In the second place you will come to the defenses of the shell, in which either moral teaching or the principle of continence is designated. These indeed are necessary for the guarding of those things which are kept within, yet they must at some point be broken and without doubt dissolved. As if, for example, we should say: abstinence from foods and the chastisement of the body, so long as we are in this corruptible and passible body, is without doubt necessary; but when it has been broken and dissolved and, at the time of the resurrection, the incorruptible has been rendered out of the corruptible and the spiritual out of the animal, no longer by the labor of affliction nor by the chastisement of abstinence, but by its own quality, no corruption will any longer have dominion over the body. So, therefore, even now the principle of abstinence seems necessary, and afterwards not to be sought. And in the third place you will find hidden in these things the secret sense of the mysteries of the wisdom and knowledge of God, by which the souls of the saints are nourished and fed not only in the present life, but also in that to come. For this is the priestly fruit, which is promised to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, because they shall be filled. In this manner, therefore, in all the Scriptures the principle of this threefold sacrament runs its course. So also Wisdom admonishes that we should describe them for ourselves in our heart in a threefold way, "to answer," it says, "the word of truth to those who propose it to us." So Isaac the patriarch dug three wells, of which that third one alone is named by him "breadth" or "amplitude." But because the priestly sacrament is a rod of the nut, therefore I think that Jeremiah also, who was one of the priests from Anathoth, saw a nut rod and prophesied concerning it those things which are written either concerning the nut rod or concerning the caldron or pot set on fire, as if he showed by these that in the nut rod there is life and in the caldron set on fire there is death; for life and death are set before our face, and life indeed is Christ in the sacrament of the nut, but death is the devil in the figure of the caldron set on fire. If, therefore, you have sinned, you will place your portion with the caldron set on fire; but if you have acted justly, your portion will be made in the nut rod with the great high priest. But also in the Song of Songs the bride is said to go down into the garden of the nut, where too she is described as having found, together with the nuts, an abundance of priestly fruits, as it were. But nevertheless concerning the rods, as we had begun to say, God promised that one would sprout among the rods, and he gave more. But attend more carefully, in case perhaps we can teach that the liberality of God is more generous even than his own promises; in case perhaps from these things too we may be able to search out and investigate that ineffable goodness of God, which is always veiled in the letter of the Scripture, since we see him more generous in bestowing than in promising.

We can also learn from other sources how awesome was the dignity of the priesthood. Indeed, there was a day when some wicked and evil men revolted against Aaron, quarreled with him over his position in the community and tried to drive him from his leadership. Moses, the mildest of men, wanted to persuade them by the facts themselves that he had not brought Aaron to the leadership because he was a brother, relative or member of his family but that it was in obedience to God's decree that he had entrusted the priesthood to him. So he ordered each tribe to bring a staff, and Aaron was instructed to do the same.When each tribe had brought a staff, Moses took all of them and put them inside the meeting tent. Once he had put them there, he gave orders that they await the decision of God which would come to them through those staves. Then all the other staves kept their same appearance, but a single one—Aaron's—blossomed and put forth leaves and fruit. So the Lord of nature used leaves instead of letters to teach them that he had again elected Aaron.

In the book of the prophet it is written: "Take to thyself the rod of an almond tree." We ought to consider why the Lord said this to the prophet, for it was not written without a purpose, since in the Pentateuch too we read that the almond rod of Aaron the priest, after being long laid up, blossomed. For the Lord seems to signify by the rod that the prophetic or priestly authority ought to be straightforward, and to advise not so much what is pleasant as what is expedient.

And so He Himself also chose Aaron as priest, that not the will of man but the grace of God should have the chief part in the election of the priest; not the voluntary offering of himself, nor the taking it upon himself, but the vocation from heaven, that he should offer gifts for sins who could be touched for those who sinned, for He Himself, it is said, bears our weakness. No one ought to take this honour upon himself but they are called of God, as was Aaron, and so Christ did not demand but received the priesthood.

For Paul came to preach the cross of the Lord, always green like the holly oak, and the nuts, which have a harder shell and a tender fruit, and rightly so, for the priestly rod of Aaron was a nut tree, and the staff of Jeremiah was of the same kind. Who would doubt that silver is also a dual-purpose, not idle gift; when both the life of the Patriarchs and the discourse of the Apostles always flourish in the hearts of individuals; and the speech of the saints, like silver tested by fire, shines with the bright light of salutary instruction? And not without reason do they refer to dual-purpose silver in which the coming of Paul was prefigured, who bestowed double honor on the laboring elders in word and doctrine.

A figure preceded in the rod and flower of Aaron. The history is in the rod of Aaron, which, cut off and dry, in the space of a single night put forth leaves, flowered, and brought forth fruit. Who brought it about that the Virgin conceived? Certainly the Holy Spirit, who is a love fervent, fruitful, undefiled, virile, incorrupt, and deifying. That he is a fruitful love is signified in the rod of Aaron, which in the space of a night put forth leaves, flowered, and brought forth fruit.

There is only one true high priest, as Scripture says, of whom the high priest Aaron presented a figure. For this reason his rod blossomed. Just as Aaron's rod sprouted among the Jewish people, so the cross of Christ flowered among the Gentiles. However, since Christ is the true high priest, as we have often said, he is the only one whose rod of the cross not only sprouted but also blossomed and produced the fruit of all believers.What is the fruit which it bore? "Ripe almonds." Almonds are nuts, brethren. This fruit is bitter indeed in its first covering, is protected and defended by the second, but in the third part [it] feeds and nourishes whoever eats it. Such then is knowledge of the law and the prophets in Christ's church. The first appearance of the letter is quite bitter, because it commands circumcision of the flesh, enjoins sacrifices and ordains other things which are designated as the killing letter. Throw away all these things as the bitter shell of the nut. In the second place, you will come to the protective covering, in which is indicated moral doctrine or the idea of self-restraint. This is necessary for the protection of what is kept inside but doubtless must sometimes be broken and destroyed. For example, fasting and chastisement of the body are no doubt necessary as long as we are in this corruptible body which is subject to suffering. However, when it has been destroyed and dissolved at the approach of death, it will become incorruptible at the time of the resurrection when it has been restored from corruption, spiritual after being natural, and without any flattery to the body will dominate, with no difficult suffering or propitiatory fasting but by its own nature. Thus then that rather hard covering of the nut seems to be a means of self-control at present that will not be sought later. Third, you will find hidden as in the nut the secret meaning of the mysteries of God's wisdom and knowledge. With these, holy souls are nourished and fed not only in the present life but also in the future one. This is that priestly fruit concerning which it is promised to those "who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied."

Therefore the passage of Scripture of which we now speak runs thus: "And it shall be," it says, "that the man, whomsoever I shall choose, his rod shall bud." This alone is what God promised: that the rod of the one whom he should choose would bud. But when it comes to the point, so that what was promised may be shown to be fulfilled, it is not said that only that one thing which had been promised was accomplished, but see how much is added. For it says: "And behold, the rod of Aaron budded in the house of Levi." This is without doubt that one thing which had been promised, but other things too are added, and it is said: "and it produced leaves and put forth flowers and budded nuts." Therefore, although the promise had been of budding alone, see how much God bestows: that he produced not only a bud, but also leaves, and not only leaves, but also flowers, and not only flowers, but also fruits. What then is it that we ought to gather and contemplate from these things? First of all, the mystery of the resurrection from the dead; for the dry rod buds, when the extinguished body has begun to come to life again. But what are those four things which will be granted to the rising body? That what is sown in corruption may rise in incorruption, and what is sown in weakness may rise in power, and what is sown in dishonor may rise in glory, and the body sown a natural body may rise a spiritual body. These are the four things which the rod of our dry body will put forth in the resurrection. But this too we shall say in the second place: that, just as in these matters God gave his promise fourfold and bestowed far more and more precious things than he had promised, so much more, in all the places of Scripture where any promise of God is contained—if indeed anyone should deserve to attain to it—in the future manifold provision will be made; and thus that will be truly fulfilled which the Apostle says: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love him." See therefore how many and of what kind are the things which not only was no one permitted to see and to hear, but which could not even enter into the heart, that is, into human thought. Whether therefore you name the earth or the heaven, or this sun and the brightness of visible light, all these the eye has seen and the ear has heard, and they cannot be among those things which the eye has not seen nor the ear heard nor which have entered into the heart of man. Pass beyond therefore all these things and transcend everything—whatever you see, whatever you hear, whatever also you can think—and know that that is laid up for those who love God which could not enter even into the thought of your heart. Whence I judge that in promises of this kind nothing is to be thought concerning bodily things. For the account of bodily matter would not altogether escape the perception of human thought, but those are the things which can enter into no one's perception, no one's heart, which are contained in the wisdom of God alone. But indeed it will seem that, by this reasoning by which the good things of the promises are given in greater measure than they were promised, likewise also the punishments which are threatened to sinners must be inflicted with multiplied torments, just as we also expounded in the earlier passages, where a year is set for a day in respect of vengeance—unless someone should think that some third thing can come to pass, gathering some consolation from those things which are contained in that threat which was made to David, where the coming devastation of death was pronounced for three days, and within six hours the time of the punishment appears to have been shortened. But these things can avail there, where time for repentance and place for satisfaction is granted. Yet God is written of as repaying the evil indeed unto the third and fourth generation, but showing mercy to the good not only unto the third and fourth generation, but, as the Scripture says, unto a thousand generations.

But let us return to the things which we had begun to say about the rods. We can still further understand thus the differences of those things which had budded on the rod. Everyone who believes in Christ first dies and after this is born again; and this too is a figure, that the dry rod afterward buds. The first bud, therefore, is a man's first confession in Christ. Secondly it puts forth leaves, when, born again, he has received the gift of grace from the sanctification of the Spirit of God. Then it brings forth flowers, when he has begun to make progress and to be adorned with sweetness of character and to pour out the fragrance of mercy and kindness. At the last also it even brings forth the fruits of righteousness, by which he not only himself may live, but may also afford life to others. For when he has come to perfection and has put forth from himself the word of faith, the word of the knowledge of God, and has won others, this is to have brought forth fruits by which others are nourished. So therefore each one of the believers buds from the rod of Aaron, who is Christ; and these four differences of theirs are in other places of Scripture designated as it were four ages, which John the Apostle in his epistle comprehends with a mystical distinction: for he says: "I have written to you, children," and: "I have written to you, adolescents," and: "I have written to you, young men," and: "I have written to you, fathers." In which he assuredly sets forth not bodily ages, but the differences of the soul's advances, as we have observed to be designated also in this budding of the priestly rod. All these things therefore are contained not so much in the rod of Aaron as in that rod which came forth from the root of Jesse, and the flower ascended from its root, upon which the Spirit of God rests. In which this very thing too does not seem idle, that the rod is said to come forth and the flower to ascend. For although Christ is one in substance, yet to individuals he is made diverse, according as the one in whom he works has need. He therefore who is more sluggish and more negligent, for his discipline Christ becomes for him a rod, and in the rod he is said not to ascend, but to come forth. For he who is idle and sluggish must go forth from that state in which he does not rightly stand, and must pass over to another state, being driven as it were by a rod, that is, being admonished by the severity of a more rigorous teaching; but he who is righteous—because the righteous flourishes like a palm—in him Christ is said to ascend. So therefore for him who has need of stripes, the rod goes forth to him; but for him who advances toward righteousness, it ascends for him into a flower. And it ascends, until it brings forth the fruits of the spirit, which are love, joy, peace, patience, and the remaining virtues, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.