Rod Almighty!  🔗 **Source:** [Rod Almighty!](https://share.snipd.com/episode/f22eac81-4bb8-48fb-8b08-faccafc8c9ae) ## Highlights - **Aaron's Rod Stood In Front Of The Ark** - Aaron's budding rod was placed lifne haedut, meaning in front of the Ark, not inside it as later traditions claim. - That phrasing suggests the rod functioned as a visible divine emblem kept beside the testimony rather than enclosed within the Ark. Transcript: Dan McClellan Yeah, and we have this, there's controversy. And, you know, if you've read the Pentateuch, you are familiar with the fact that the Israelites were always mumbling and grumbling. Dan Beecher They were a mumbling and grumbling group. Dan McClellan Yeah, they were always challenging Moses' authority. We have these dudes named Korah and I forget the name of the other. Dathan and Abiram are kind of like, hey, we want to be in charge. And things didn't go great for them. We'll discuss the Korah episode in another episode. Dan Beecher Yeah, we might do that next week. We'll see when we do that. But yeah, that is a whole bunch of stuff. And I'm actually excited to talk to you about it. Because, you know, this rebellion, as you say, all through the Exodus, there were all of these little like, what gives you the right? Who are you? And then like, you know, everybody starts starving for a while and then God. Yeah. Dan McClellan And the earth opens up and swallows a bunch of people or there's a plague that suddenly. Right. Right. Kills 14,700 people. And then, you know, it's kind of like a sitcom where you roll credits and then you get the title sequence. And now we're back to, so anyway, everybody was mumbling. And so in your English translation, this starts in number 17.1. And oddly enough though, if you are in your Hebrew Bible, then it's not 17.1. It's actually 17.16. Oh. Yes. In the Hebrew, chapter 17 of the book of Numbers begins at number 16.36 in the English. Okay. So we have the whole plague story. Which we're not going to do any more spoiling of. Dan Beecher No more spoilage. Dan McClellan Yes. So, uh, we get into chapter 17 in the English, the, the latter part of chapter 17 in the Hebrew. And the Lord is basically like, look, we've had enough of this. Uh, they're, they're challenging your authority. So we're going to make it clear who has the authority. And we're going to, it's kind of like a reality show challenge. It is. Dan Beecher It's very much who gets the rose at the end of this one. Dan McClellan Or almond bud. Yeah, is quite literally what it is. But God says, speak to the Israelites and get 12 staffs from them. One for each ancestral house, from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. Write each man's name on his staff and write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi, for there shall be one staff for the head of each ancestral house. Place them in the tent of meeting before the covenant where I meet with you. And this reference to the covenant is basically the Ark of the Covenant and the tablets of the covenant. Dan Beecher Okay, thank you. Because I read that and I was like, okay, I don't know what that is before the covenant. Yeah, and this is an important phrase. We're going to come back to this phrase. Dan McClellan Yeah. Lifne haedut. That is before, in front of the presence of the covenant. Not berit. Berit is the normal Hebrew noun for covenant. Edut is more like the testimony. And so that is the tablets of the law. Okay. And as I have argued in print, the testimony is a stand-in for God. Like to be before the testimony is kind of like being before God. But when we're thinking about the temple, it means in front of the Ark of the Covenant. So keep that in mind, in front of the Ark of the Covenant. So the rods are all placed in front of the Ark of the Covenant. Everybody brings their stick, all the 12 tribes. You got to pick out a nice stick. Got to get a good stick. Yeah. We see videos on TikTok of guys who are like, look at the stick I found. And you can just imagine they were like, we got to get the best stick in our tribe. So they get all the sticks. And God says, the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus, I will put a stop to the complaints of the Israelites that they continually make against you. Dan Beecher So Moses, go ahead. As I was imagining this story, it's Moses who's sort of God saying this to Moses, and then Moses is repeating it to these people, right? Right, right. I think that that is funny to me that these guys are all like, who made you the mouthpiece of God? Why do we have to listen to you? And then he's like, well, here's what God says about how that's going to work. Dan McClellan Yeah, you can imagine a lot of them being like, this kind of feels like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Dan Beecher Right. So you tell us what the game is and how the rules work, and then we just go along with that? Dan McClellan We just pick a card from you. You're the one holding the deck. And I will prove to everybody that God has chosen me when you tell me what card you chose. They're like, what's up your sleeve? Dan Beecher The Lord has told me that there is nothing up my sleeve. Dan McClellan So they bring their sticks. They go out and they find their prettiest sticks. They bring it back. Moses places the staffs before the Lord. And what did I just say? Before the testimony or before the covenant? Right. Now they're being placed before the Lord. So this is where we've got this synonymous kind of one is standing in for the other. And as I argue in my book, Adonai's Divine Images, the Ark of the Covenant, the Tablets of the Law, are divine images which manifest the presence of God. Same, same. Right. It's same difference. Dan Beecher Yeah, they don't make a distinction between the Ark of the Covenant and before the Lord. Dan McClellan Yeah. And so Moses goes into the tent of the covenant on the next day, and the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted. It put forth buds, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds. And Moses had something to put in his oatmeal. That's impressive. Dan Beecher That's a lot of stuff to happen overnight. Dan McClellan Yeah. And then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the Israelites, and they looked, and each man took his staff. ([Time 0:04:12](https://share.snipd.com/snip/ff17342c-9095-4cb4-9298-ba1b276cbda6)) - **Budding Rod As A Sanitized Asherah Pole** - The blossoming almond rod may be a sanitized explanation for an Asherah pole placed near the Ark in older worship practices. - Dan McClellan connects stylized almond-tree imagery from Kuntilad-Ajrud and Lachish artifacts to a priestly attempt to account for that pole. Transcript: Dan McClellan Oh. But in this story, it's not. It's before the testimony, which means it's in front of or next to the Ark of the Covenant. Now, I want to talk about—there's another story in Numbers where we have the bronze or the brazen serpent you remember this story the nehushtan no i don't know i don't know this you don't Remember this okay so this is where they have the the serpents the fiery serpents uh bite the israelites and they're they're gonna die but then god tells moses to put a bronze serpent On the end of a pole okay yeah they look at the serpent and they live. Yes. And then that gets put in the temple. And then later on, they have to, Hezekiah has to take it out and smash it to dust because they're worshiping it as an idol, as a divine image. Right. Now, in Josiah's day, they bring some things out of the temple and smash them to dust because they were being worshipped. And one of those things was an Asherah pole. Oh, wait. I think I see where you're going with this. Yeah, where some dots are slowly beginning to connect. Yes. So according to the Deuteronomistic authors who are telling the stories about what was going on with the worship of Adonai, there was an Asherah pole in the temple in the days of Josiah. Right. Now, what we're reading here is not from the Deuteronomistic layer. It's from the priestly layer. And the priestly layer never condemns Asherah or Asherah poles. But an Asherah pole would have been a stick, maybe a stylized tree. And one of the, we've talked about the Kuntilad-Ajrud drawings and inscriptions in the past on the show, The big pithos A that has the drawing of Adonai and his Asherah and the inscription, The other side of that pithos has a stylized tree with ibixes feeding on either side of it. And what's interesting is a lot of people have suggested that the particular tree that is being depicted is an almond tree. Okay. Because it has some buds, some flowers, and what look like almonds. And so, hmm, isn't it peculiar that we have a story where we have this narrative that accounts for why there is a stylized tree, not in the Ark of the Covenant, but in the temple next to the Ark of the Covenant. Dan Beecher You know, there are certain things in our lives that we don't want transparency in, like your swimsuit or your search history. ([Time 0:13:54](https://share.snipd.com/snip/b0ffa399-683c-4124-9d22-d712a570c896)) - **Moses Took The Sanctuary Rod To Strike The Rock** - Numbers 20 instructs Moses to take 'the staff from before the Lord', implying he used the same rod kept by the sanctuary when striking the rock. - If the staff was Aaron's budding rod/Asherah pole, Moses' action carries symbolic sacramental significance beyond a single mistake. Transcript: Dan McClellan Okay. Wait, it doesn't say the Lord. Okay, yeah, before the Lord. So this is a staff that's sitting before the Lord. So this is not like, hey, that staff that's in your hand, do it with that. No, God says take the staff from before the Lord. What staff is before is Lifne Adonai. Dan Beecher It's Aaron's budding rod. There you go. That's, that's only two chapters earlier. So yeah, that makes like, if this were in a different book, then it would, then there would be much more question, but this is the same book. This is just two chapters separated. So it feels like, yeah, it's very safe to assume that we're talking about that rod. Yeah. Dan McClellan I, so yeah. Vayikach Moshe et hamateh milifnei Adonai. Commanded him. So we've got what seems to be Aaron's budding rod or an Asherah pole. And God tells Moses, take the Asherah pole and then command the rock and it will bring forth water. And Moses goes, and basically just smacks the rock with the budding rod, which may be the ash or a pole. ([Time 0:24:43](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e9cdbc3e-3c94-4635-9c54-827fbf601517)) - **Temple Stored Multiple Divine Images Over Time** - The temple collected multiple divine images (rod, nehushtan serpent, tablets) which later reformers smashed as idolatrous. - McClellan argues Hezekiah and Josiah's reforms targeted these visible cult objects the priests maintained. Transcript: Dan McClellan And I have argued that the tablets of the law were a divine image that were put into the temple. They were just collecting all kinds of divine images there in that temple, and that's why Hezekiah and later Josiah, at least from the perspective of the southern Judahite authors Who are telling these stories, that was all big time no-no. And those things had to be brought out. They had to be crushed to dust. And the people who were responsible for facilitating that worship were killed and their bones were ground to dust and all kinds of bizarre stuff happened. And the connection with the Tree of Life is interesting. We've talked about the menorah on the show in the past, haven't we? Maybe. I don't know. How do I know what we've talked about? Because the menorah is another connection here. Because even if we, you know, Aaron's budding rod is not always in the picture. Right. We have a story about it here. Later on, it's in the Ark of the Covenant. ([Time 0:28:52](https://share.snipd.com/snip/4dd26b1e-3438-4e38-874d-72c8bd6f22c3)) - **Menorah Imagery May Echo Asherah Tree Symbolism** - The menorah's iconography may echo Asherah/tree imagery, linking lampstand form to earlier fertility symbols. - Archaeological items like the Lachish ewer show tree-with-ibex motifs similar to stylized menorah branches. Transcript: Dan McClellan Right. We have a story about it here. Later on, it's in the Ark of the Covenant. But there is something else that is always in front of, or leaf nay, haidut, or the Ark of the Covenant. And that is the menorah, the lampstand. Okay. Is early drawings of it, kind of crude drawings, represent a central branch and then three half circles pointed up crossing that central branch. Right. And that's a menorah. But there's an interesting artifact known as the Lachish Ewer from a place that is called Lachish. It has a painting. Well, it has a few drawings and an inscription. And one of the drawings is a tree with ibexes feeding on either side of it. But the tree is a central branch and then three upturned half circles representing the other branches. Dan Beecher Okay. Dan McClellan And so there are a number of scholars who have argued that the menorah in its own way represents Asherah or an Asherah pole. Okay. And that Lachish you are has an inscription that says for the goddess on it. ([Time 0:29:51](https://share.snipd.com/snip/7d52d20b-94d4-4c41-be1e-f24de2f9f772)) - **Numbers Keeps Returning To Rebelling And Punishment** - Numbers repeatedly shows Israelites' complaints followed by divine punishments, yet the budding-rod demonstration fails to stop further dissent. - McClellan highlights the book of Numbers as eccentric and inconsistent in how authority and punishment are portrayed. Transcript: Dan McClellan Aaron's fine. Aaron's never threatened with death, but Moses slaps a rock with a stick and suddenly he's not allowed to enter the promised land. Dan Beecher So, you know, mysterious ways. The book of Numbers is bonkers. Dan McClellan It's wild. Is what we're trying to say. It's wild. Absolutely. ([Time 0:31:58](https://share.snipd.com/snip/03dbc6e8-c47e-4736-a3c6-b25e550538d8)) - **Eleazar's Death Is Written As A Moral Example For Youth** - 2 Maccabees frames Eleazar's martyrdom as an exemplary costly signal to youth, prioritizing law and honor over life. - The author explicitly crafts Eleazar's speech and death as a moral example rather than a political expiation. Transcript: Dan McClellan And so Eliezer, one of the scribes in high position, a man now advanced and in age and of noble presence was being forced to open his mouth to eat pig's flesh. So old guy. And, and in, in this time period, age seniority had a lot of honor that was associated with it. Dan Beecher Yeah. And that's made clear, like throughout this whole thing, it's like this guy was amazing from his whole birth. His whole life has been amazing. But now he's like the most honorable man. Yeah. Dan McClellan And it says, but he welcoming death with honor rather than life with pollution, went up to the rack of his own accord, spitting it out as all ought to go who have the courage to refuse things That it is not right to taste even for the natural love of life and so the idea is you know honor and purity you should love more than you should love your own life. Yeah. So we're getting a story of basically the ultimate costly signal. Because that's kind of the ideal that is being explicitly repeated here. Love the law, love purity, love honor more than even your own life. And as I'm reading this, I'm reminded of stories that we've lamented within my own tradition. But this is something we find in a lot of different traditions. Yeah. Where people will talk about chastity being more important than your own life. ([Time 0:36:11](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d6078bf8-38da-494f-b67d-48a75130c158)) - **Photographer Used Fake Christmas Photos To Escape Nazi Germany** - Dan McClellan recounts a Jewish photographer in Nazi Germany who used posed Christian Christmas photos as escape evidence. - That fabrication helped the family convince border officials they were Christian and ultimately flee Germany. Transcript: Dan McClellan In Nazi Germany, there was a Jewish family that was trying to get out. And the father was a photographer and he was surrounded by Christians. And so one of an advertisement that he put together was a way to promote his business. He had his family pose as if they were celebrating Christmas. And he took photos of his family celebrating Christmas. They were Jewish. They were not Christians. He used that as evidence at the border. Oh, wow. That they were not Jewish and got out. Escaped Nazi Germany. And I've always thought, wow, what a, well, one, just awful, awful circumstances. ([Time 0:40:06](https://share.snipd.com/snip/ce1ab69a-1224-4238-98b3-b6617f136b9d)) - **Eleazar Rejects Secret Compromise To Protect Public Example** - Eleazar refuses a private pretense (bring your own meat) because public compromise would mislead the young and defile his old age. - The text emphasizes his age, honor, and explicit refusal to avoid hypocrisy even at the cost of life. Transcript: Dan McClellan It's pork and it'll be cool yeah yeah so that by doing this he might be saved from death and be treated kindly on account of his old friendship with them. But making a high resolve, worthy of his years and the dignity of his old age and the gray hairs that he had reached with distinction and his excellent life, even from childhood. And moreover, according to the holy God given law, he declared himself quickly, telling them to send him to Hades. So, yeah, he's not having it. And I love that he's earned these gray hairs. I think it's an interesting ideal that people with gray hair ought to be honored. I see that in text and I hear that a lot. I don't know anybody who's actually, actually feels like, uh, like gray hair is, um, is, uh, something that, that merits praise. Dan Beecher As an, as an increasingly gray person, uh, I would like us to bring that back. Dan McClellan I would like us to revive the revering of older folks. So I, as you know, I have had to shave for the better part of my adult life as a Latter-day Saint, whether I was a missionary or working for the LDS church or whatever. When I was able to let my beard grow back in, and this actually wasn't when I left my old job, it was during COVID because they sent us to work from home and the, the no beard policy was kind Of, uh, the status of that was up in the air and I let my beard grow out and I was like, it's gray. I was like, this is awesome because it was, it's gray in the corners. It's like, I look like freaking Doctor Strange. This is awesome. So I was excited to have gray hair. But yeah, but anyway, so such, and then Eliezer makes his own little speech. And this is funny. At the end, it's going to be like with his dying breath, he made this long speech. And it's like, people don't make long speeches punctuated by a bunch of grammatical flourishes no and with their dying breath yeah this isn't the dying breath speech right you're on Dan Beecher This you're on verse 24 when we get to the dying breath speech i will make my complaint about the dying breath speech yeah such pretense is not worthy of our time of life, he said, for many Dan McClellan Of the young might suppose that Eliezer, now he's speaking in the third person, in his 90th year had gone over to a foreign way of life, and through my pretense, for the sake of living a Brief moment longer, they would be led astray because of me, while I defile and disgrace my old age. Even if for the present I would avoid the punishment of mortals. Yet whether I live or die, I will not escape the hands of the Almighty. Therefore, by bravely giving up my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age and leave to the young a noble example of how to die a good death, willingly and nobly, for the revered And holy laws. ([Time 0:47:10](https://share.snipd.com/snip/7d73cbf3-269e-43b8-a9e5-9bb98ce70ef2)) - **Maccabees Marks Shift Toward Actual Martyrdom Stories** - 2 Maccabees shows a theological shift: earlier biblical martyr-like figures are miraculously saved, but Maccabean martyrs actually die, inaugurating a martyrdom genre. - McClellan links this shift to later Jewish and Christian martyr narratives where dying for law becomes central. Transcript: Dan McClellan When he had said this, he was dragged at once to the rack. Those who a little before had acted toward him with goodwill now changed to ill will because the words he had uttered were in their opinion, sheer madness. When he was about to die under the blows, he groaned aloud and said, it is clear to the Lord in his holy knowledge that though I might have been saved from death, I am enduring terrible sufferings In my body under this beating, but in my soul, We got multiple clauses being strung together here. Dan Beecher It's truly an elegant thing to have proclaimed while you're on the rack. Yes, groaning in agony. Your bones are being broken while you're, but he had some serious wherewithal to get that one out. Dan McClellan Yeah. And then verse 31, the end of the story. So in this way, he died, leaving in his death an example of nobility and a memorial of courage, not only to the young but to the great body of this nation so like multiple times the author Is like in case you haven't gotten it yet this is the point of this story um it is quite on the nose yeah it feels and it's reiterated multiple times it does feel like if ever there was a story Dan Beecher That was written, not based on anything true, but like written as a parable, as a specific illustration of a specific concept, this feels like it's this. Dan McClellan There's a joke about how TV execs these days are like, because of the attention span of the TikTok generation, you have to like explicitly lay out the plot over and over and over again. Like, I think I heard somebody complain that TV executives are like, there's, you can't be subtle. You have to be explicit about the plot. And then they they made fun of it by by like imagining here's the plot of some famous story where everybody's like and just to be sure this symbol represents this thing over here. And like, I'm sure there are people out there who could rattle off the names of like directors or producers or something who are like that. I can't. ([Time 0:53:20](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d4a0d52e-0896-4b0a-bfa9-9d78ff54f286)) - **Different Maccabees Passages Use Different Theological Motifs** - Eleazar's story lacks explicit resurrection hope, unlike the later mother-and-sons passage which promises renewal of everlasting life. - This contrast shows varying theological motifs (exemplary death vs. redemptive sacrificial death) within adjacent Maccabean texts. Transcript: Dan Beecher Eliezer doesn't have it oh well he, he said, what does he say? I thought he had something, uh, though I might be saved from my, from death. Oh no. I'm, I mean, that's talking about that thing. Okay. So Eleazar doesn't have it. Dan McClellan Yeah, no, Eleazar, and that's, and that's another way the story is different. Right. Is the, uh, and here it is in, in chapter seven, we have, um, verse nine, and when he was at his last breath, again, the final groan siloiquy, you accursed wretch, you dismiss us from this Present life, but the king of the universe will raise us up to a renewal of everlasting life because we have died for his laws. Right. And then they say, we will be resurrected. I thought he said the word resurrected, but let me... Because I thought they said, we will be resurrected to life, but you will not, or something like that. Right. I don't remember where it is and I'm not going to waste. Dan Beecher Well, everyone can go back and listen to our episode about the mother and the sons if they want to. But yeah, that is interesting that that's of starting to rattle around here. Yeah. But I think significant that Eleazar doesn't mention that. I believe it is significant. Dan McClellan Yeah. And another interesting thing is when we, in the book of Daniel, you've got Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who they're told to violate the laws, their ancestral laws. And they said they will trust in God. And then they say, but if not, we're not going to do what you tell us. And basically they're showing themselves willing to die for their faith, but they get saved. In 2 Maccabees, we have two examples of people who are willing to die for their faith, but they are not saved. They end up dying for their faith. And so it's a development in this ideology where when you look in the earlier stories, particularly in the canonical Hebrew Bible stories, when people are willing to die, God swoops In and saves them. ([Time 0:57:47](https://share.snipd.com/snip/0a75fbf7-22b6-4501-9ce5-a6b87d71b6e8))