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Aaron's rod refers to any of the walking sticks carried by Moses's brother, Aaron, in the Torah. The Bible tells how, along with Moses's rod, Aaron's rod was endowed with miraculous power during the Plagues of Egypt that preceded the Exodus. Later, his rod miraculously sprouted blossoms and almonds to symbolize God's choice of Aaron and his tribe for holy service. In Israelite culture, the rod (מַטֶּה maṭṭeh) was a natural symbol of authority, as the tool used by the shepherd to correct and guide his flock. Moses, in fact, initially carried his rod while tending his sheep, and later it became his symbol of authority over the Israelites. The rods of both Moses and Aaron were endowed with miraculous power during the Plagues of Egypt. God commanded Moses to raise his rod over the Red Sea when it was to be split and in prayer over Israel in battle; at Meribah Moses brought forth water from a stone using his rod. Aaron's rod - perhaps a different rod - reappears in . Here Korah's rebellion against Moses's proclamation of the tribe of Levi as the priesthood has been quashed and the entire congregation's ensuing rebellion has resulted in a plague, ended only by the intercession of Moses and Aaron. In order to "stop the complaints" of the Israelites, God commands that each of the Twelve Tribes provide a rod; and only that of the tribe chosen to become priests will miraculously sprout overnight. Aaron provides his rod to represent the tribe of Levi, and "it put forth buds, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds", as an evidence of the exclusive right to the priesthood of the tribe of Levi. In commemoration of this decision, it was commanded that the rod be stored "before the testimony". Aaron's rod is cited as exhibiting miraculous power on its own, when not physically held by its owner. In , Aaron "cast down his rod" and it became a serpent. When he does so, the Pharaoh's sorcerers counter by similarly casting down their own rods, which also become serpents, but Aaron's rod swallowed them all.

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Related concepts (2)

Nehushtan

In the biblical Books of Kings (2 Kings 18:4; written c. 550 BC), the Nehushtan (נְחֻשְׁתָּן Nəḥuštān nəħuʃtaːn) is the name given to the bronze image of a serpent on a pole. The image is described in the Book of Numbers, where Yahweh instructed Moses to erect it so that the Israelites who saw it would be cured and be protected from dying from the bites of the "fiery serpents", which Yahweh had sent to punish them for speaking against him and Moses ().

Israelites

The Israelites (ˈɪzrəlaɪts,_-riə-; , Bənēy Yīsrāʾēl, ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt, dated to about 1200 BCE. According to the modern archaeological account, the Israelites and their culture branched out of the Canaanite peoples and their cultures through the development of a distinct monolatristic—and later monotheistic—religion centred on the national god Yahweh.