Numbers 17:5 And it shall come to pass, that the man’s rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you.
To War Against the Universe
When I was a child, if there was a conflict between my sisters and I about who would get the last cookie, my mother would sometimes resort to “drawing straws.” One straw or stick was shorter than the others. Mom would put the straws in her fist so no one could see how long they were, and each child drew a straw. Whoever got the short straw won or lost as the case might be.
In Numbers 17 there is something similar to drawing straws. The Bible tells us that Moses was to take from each of the tribes a rod or stick with their tribe’s name written on it and lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation. Verse 5 says, “And it shall come to pass, that the man’s rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you.”
You may recall that a man named Korah and his followers rebelled against God by coveting the positions that Moses and Aaron possessed. You see two words in verse 5 that are very instructive. The words are “choose” and “murmur.” Who had done the choosing? God did, because He is God. Who had done the murmuring? That was the rebels. We have here a war of wills. The lesson to learn is that to murmur against God is to war against the universe: you just can’t win.
In this story there is a stick that blossoms as if it were a tree. In the previous chapter rebels against God were literally swallowed alive as the earth opened up. Only God could do these things. Numbers 16:35 says, “And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.” They had done this in rebellion against God. Hence, in Numbers 16:38 these rebels are referred to as “sinners against their own souls.” They sinned against their own souls by warring against the universe, and they warred against the universe by refusing to take their place in it.
There is a difference between a murmur and a prayer. Sometimes we come to God and say, “God, if it be your will, please do thus and so.” Well, prayer should always be in the will of God, but there are times when I say, “God, please help.” I don’t know God’s will sometimes. I am just asking as a child to a father. There‘s a difference between bringing a question before God and living in defiance when you know God’s will. One is an attitude of dependence in prayer, and one is an attitude of defiance in murmuring.
By way of illustration there is a difference between Moses and the rebels. The difference was not their position, but their submission. Numbers 17:11 tells us that Moses responded to God’s command “as the LORD commanded him.” The Bible never says something like that about Korah and his rebels.
I can pray or I can murmur, but to murmur against God is to war against the universe. If that is true, that means that to pray and to be dependent upon God is to join myself to the power sovereign over the universe.