“1 The Lord instructed Moses: 2 ‘Speak to the Israelites and take one staff from them for each ancestral house, 12 staffs from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. Write each mans name on his staff. 3 Write Aaron’s name on Levi’s staff, because there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral house. 4 Then place them in the tent of meeting in front of the testimony where I meet with you. 5 The staff of the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid Myself of the Israelites complaints that they have been making about you.’
6 So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff, one for each of the leaders of their ancestral houses, 12 staffs in all. Aaron’s staff was among them. 7 Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the testimony.”

None of this was about Aaron. It wasn’t about Moses either. But the people of Israel were so concerned about perception and position that there had been a constant issue with who was in charge, who made decisions, who was ‘holiest’ and so on. The people of Israel were so used to the way the Egyptians did things, they had so enmeshed their understanding of ‘power’ and authority with other heathen ideals that they didn’t understand the reality or nature of the service that Moses, Aaron or the Levites undertook. They forgot that God set them apart at the incident with the golden calf, they forgot that God went so far as to have the whole nation commission them offering them as a sacrifice rather than their own firstborn for His service. They now see it as some kind of power grab, and their jealousy seems interminable.

When God calls an individual to full time ministry, both that person and anyone else who may be served by them for the sake of God must know and understand that at no point is anything about them, pointing toward them, or a tool to lift up that person instead of simply glorifying God. The Israelites saw the Levitical priesthood and rather than seeing servants, they saw overlords. Rather than seeing ministers & priests, they saw rulers, which only goes to show how little they had been paying attention, and how corrupted their understanding had become from living in Egyptian culture.

No minister of the Gospel of Christ should ever seek a name for himself so that he would be recognized, lifted up and praised. No minister should seek fame, wealth or privilege because of the position that God has called them to serve within. Every minster serves so that God’s Name is praised, His Word is lifted up and His grace is spread and shared. It is never about fortune, book tours or video series. It isn’t about having your name as the headliner for a conference, or to have people flocking to hear you lead a workshop. Every ounce of effort, every motivation of their heart should be for Christ, that all hearts and eyes would be drawn to Him, and that His fame would be spread so that the nation’s would be drawn to Him and the salvation He affords.

Moses and Aaron were simply servants, alongside the rest of their tribe, before God. And it took several signs, judgments and warnings for the Israelite people to begin to see that it wasn’t just some scam, but rather a God-ordained authority that had been conferred.

Jesus said it best when He said ‘No servant is above his master.’ And that stands just as true with Moses and Aaron as it did with the disciples as it does with us today. As we GoLove others for the sake of Christ, He remains as the object of our affection, the recipient of all our efforts and the One to whom all glory is due. It’s not about us, it’s all about Him, and anyone who thinks otherwise lacks understanding.

Numbers 17:8-13
“The next day Moses entered the tent of the testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, formed buds, blossomed, and produced almonds! 9 Moses then brought out all the staffs from the Lord’s presence to all the Israelites. They saw them, and each man took his own staff. 10 The Lord told Moses, ‘Put Aarons staff back in front of the testimony to be kept as a sign for the rebels, so that you may put an end to their complaints before Me, or else they will die.’ 11 So Moses did as the Lord commanded him.
12 Then the Israelites declared to Moses, ‘Look, were perishing! Were lost; were all lost! 13 Anyone who comes near the Lords tabernacle will die. Will we all perish?'”