The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write the name of each man on his staff. On the staff of Levi write Aaron’s name, for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe. Place them in the Tent of Meeting in front of the Testimony, where I meet with you. The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites.
So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their leaders gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and Aaron’s staff was among them. Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the Tent of the Testimony
The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, which represented the house of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds. Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the Lord’s presence to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each man took his own staff.
The Lord said to Moses, “Put back Aaron’s staff in front of the Testimony, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die. Moses did just as the Lord commanded him.
The Israelites said to Moses, “We will die! We are lost, we are all lost! Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all going to die?” Numbers 17:1-13
Ooh, I see this too often!
Women rebel and are corrected. Then they say, “Poor me—I’ll DIE!”
If you can finally convince them that obedience will not kill them, they sulkily say, “The whole thing in anti-woman!” although actually, they could greatly improve things FOR women by doing right.
If you attempt convincing them of that, they next will blame all their troubles on the church, or even more, on Christians, and deliberately and happily sow seeds of persecution.
Lastly, if they have a shred of intelligence coupled with an iota of wisdom they might try asking, “Is it dangerous?”
And then a few of them will see the delight and begin to live right-side up.
And live to catch the blame from the next barrage.
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photo credit: Wikipedia/Foster Bible Pictures 0078-1
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If we only realized how obedience to God is liberating, and not stifling, we would not rebel! Thanks for the post, Katharine.
Thank YOU, Jarm, for this comment! 🙂
You sure nailed it!
My attitude toward Catholicism: I want a Church that transforms me, not a church that transforms to suit me. I think very highly of the religious and priests. I continue to hope/pray one of my children will take up that life, but who knows… This business about ordaining women is just wrong-headed. People scream it’s anti-woman, but it isn’t. My own mother openly hates my conversion and hates that I’ve stayed married during difficult times instead of going out and looking for a better model (where? and like I’m some great catch? no, we both had rough edges that God is smoothing over time) and is rabidly prochoice. She would have so much more peace if she would just stop trying to be her own god.
I know what you mean. Although your tendency to preach to women may mean you’ll have a preacher son, yet! 😉
I, too, have suffered at the hands of those who would squelch my joy in Christ Jesus, but I SURVIVED! And you will, too.
I love your zeal, my friend! Thanks for this comment! 🙂