Aaron’s rod blossoms: Christ the High Priest rises from death
Cyril: …give them. And you shall set them in the tent of witness, before the testimony, where I will make myself known to you. And the rod of the man whom I choose shall sprout; and I will take away from me the grumbling of the sons of Israel, which they grumble against you. And Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their leaders gave him a rod, one rod for each leader, according to their fathers’ houses, twelve rods; and Aaron’s rod was among their rods. And Moses laid up the rods before the Lord in the tent of witness. And on the next day Moses and Aaron went into the tent of witness; and behold, Aaron’s rod for the house of Levi had sprouted, and put forth a shoot, and burst into flower, and borne almonds. And Moses brought out all the rods from the presence of the Lord to all the sons of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his own rod. And the Lord said to Moses: Lay up Aaron’s rod before the testimonies, to be kept as a sign for the sons of the disobedient; and let their grumbling against me cease, so that they do not die’ (Numbers 17:3–10). So the blossoming of the rod was no obscure sign that the inspired Aaron, as one of the blood of Levi, had been chosen with distinction and set apart for the priestly service. But when the account is turned once more to spiritual contemplation, the mystery of Christ will shine out again, though still, as it were, in very coarse types.
Palladius: In what way?
Cyril: Emmanuel has been appointed for us by God the Father as Lawgiver and High Priest at once, to offer himself for us as the sacrifice. For as blessed Paul said: ‘The law through Moses appoints as high priests men who have weakness; but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints a Son made perfect for ever’ (Hebrews 7:28). So the Word came down from heaven and became one of us, ‘a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tent, which the Lord pitched, and not man’ (Hebrews 8:2). But those of the blood of Israel did not see fit to think rightly. Setting their own will against him, as it were, they shot at him in many ways with the arrows of envy, no longer holding back their tongues, their insolence or their outrageous schemes; and the wretches, destroying themselves, at last crucified him. Yet the rod from the root of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1) blossomed again. For Christ sprang up again and came back to life, ‘having loosed the pangs of death’ (Acts 2:24), as it is written. Since he is Life by nature, as God, how could he be held by death (Acts 2:24), and not rather triumph over corruption? Just as the springing up of the rod, when wood already past flowering unexpectedly sprouted again, was a sufficient sign to the people of old that Aaron had been appointed high priest by decree from above, so we say that his trampling on death and coming back to life as befits God is a clear, plain and fully sufficient proof that Emmanuel is also God by nature. Indeed Christ himself, although…
Greek
σουσι. Καὶ θῄσεις αὐτὰς ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ τοῦ μαρτυρίου, κατέναντι τοῦ μαρτυρίου, ἐν οἷς γνωσθήσομαί σοι ἐκεῖ. Καὶ ἔσται, ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὃν ἂν ἐκλέξωμαι αὐτὸν, ἡ ῥάβδος αὐτοῦ ἐκβλαστήσει. Καὶ περιελῶ ἀπ' ἐμοῦ τὸν γογγυσμὸν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, ἃ αὐτοὶ γογγύζουσιν ἐφ' ὑμῖν. Καὶ ἐλάλησε Μωσῆς τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτῷ πάντες οἱ ἄρχοντες αὐτῶν ῥάβδον, τῷ ἄρχοντι τῷ ἑνὶ ῥάβδον κατ' ἄρχοντα, κατ' οἴκους πατριῶν αὐτῶν, δώδεκα ῥάβδους. Καὶ ἡ ῥάβδος Ἀαρὼν ἀναμέσον τῶν ῥάβδων αὐτῶν, καὶ ἀπέθηκε Μωσῆς τὰς ῥάβδους ἔναντι Κυρίου ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ τοῦ μαρτυρίου. Καὶ ἐγένετο τῇ ἐπαύριον, καὶ εἰσῆλθε Μωσῆς καὶ Ἀαρὼν ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ τοῦ μαρτυρίου. Καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐβλάστησεν ἡ ῥάβδος Ἀαρὼν εἰς οἶκον Λευῒ, καὶ ἐξήνεγκε βλαστὸν, καὶ ἐξήνθησεν ἄνθη, καὶ ἐβλάστησε κάρυα. Καὶ ἐξήνεγκε Μωσῆς πάσας τὰς ῥάβδους ἀπὸ προσώπου Κυρίου πρὸς πάντας υἱοὺς Ἰσραήλ. Καὶ εἶδον, καὶ ἔλαβον ἕκαστος τῆν ῥάβδον αὐτοῦ. Καὶ εἶπε Κύριος πρὸς Μωσῆν· Ἀπόθες τὴν ῥάβδον Ἀαρὼν ἐνώπιον τῶν μαρτυρίων εἰς διατήρησιν, σημεῖον τοῖς υἱοῖς τῶν ἀνηκόων. Καὶ παυσάσθω ὁ γογγυσμὸς αὐτῶν ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἀποθάνωσι.» Σημεῖον οὖν οὐκ ἀσυμφανὲς τοῦ ἐξῃρῆσθαι λαμπρῶς καὶ ἐκκεκριμένως εἰς ἱερουργίαν, ὡς ἐξ αἵματος Λευῒ, τὸν θεσπέσιον Ἀαρὼν, τὸ ἐξανθῆσαι τὴν ῥάβδον. Περιτρεπομένης δὲ αὖθις εἰς θεωρίαν πνευματικὴν, ὡς ἐν τύποις ἔτι παχυτάτοις, τὸ Χριστοῦ μυστήριον ἀναλάμψει πάλιν.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Τίνα τρόπον;
{ΚΥΡ.} Κεχειροτόνηται μὲν γὰρ νομοθέτης ἅμα καὶ ἀρχιερεὺς ἐφ' ἡμᾶς παρὰ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς ὁ Ἐμμανουὴλ, ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν προσκομιῶν τὸ θῦμα. Ὡς γὰρ ὁ μακάριος ἔφη Παῦλος, «Ὁ μὲν νόμος διὰ Μωσέως, ἀνθρώπους καθίστησιν ἀρχιερεῖς ἔχοντας ἀσθένειαν· ὁ λόγος δὲ τῆς ὁρκωμοσίας τῆς μετὰ τὸν νόμον, Υἱὸν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τετελειωμένον.» Οὐκοῦν καθίκετο μὲν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ὁ Λόγος, καὶ γέγονε καθ' ἡμᾶς, τῶν ἁγίων λειτουργὸς καὶ τῆς σκηνῆς τῆς ἀληθινῆς ἣν ἔπηξεν ὁ Κύριος, καὶ οὐκ ἄνθρωπος. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐδόκει φρονεῖν ὀρθὰ τοῖς ἐξ αἵματος Ἰσραήλ· ἀντεξάγοντες δὲ ὥσπερ αὐτῷ τὸ ἴδιον θέλημα τοῖς ἐκ φθόνου βέλεσι πολυτρόπως ἔβαλλον, οὐ γλώττης, οὐ θράσους, οὐκ ἐκτόπων ἐπιχειρημάτων ἔτι φειδόμενοι, διολλύντες δὲ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς οἱ δείλαιοι, καὶ τελευταῖον ἐσταύρωσαν. Πλὴν ἀνέθαλλεν ἡ ῥάβδος ἡ ἐκ ῥίζης Ἰεσσαί· ἀνέφυ γὰρ δὴ καὶ ἀνεβίω Χριστὸς, λύσας τὰς ὀδύνας τοῦ θανάτου, καθὰ γέγραπται· ζωὴν γὰρ ὄντα κατὰ φύσιν, ὡς Θεὸν, πῶς ἦν εἰκὸς κρατεῖσθαι θανάτῳ, καὶ οὐχὶ δὴ μᾶλλον καταθλῆσαι φθορᾶς; Ὥσπερ δὲ τὸ ἀναφῦναι τὴν ῥάβδον, καὶ ἀναβλαστεῖν ἀδοκήτως τὸ ἀνανθὲς ἤδη ξύλον, διαρκὲς τοῖς ἀρχαιοτέροις σημεῖον ἦν τοῦ διὰ ψήφου τῆς ἄνωθεν εἰς ἀρχιερέα κεχειροτονῆσθαι τὸν Ἀαρών· οὕτω φαμὲν, ὅτι λαμπρά τε καὶ ἐναργὴς καὶ ἀποχρῶσα λίαν ἀπόδειξις τοῦ καὶ Θεὸν εἶναι κατὰ φύσιν τὸν Ἐμμανουὴλ, τὸ πατῆσαι θάνατον, καὶ ἀναβιῶναι θεοπρεπῶς. Καὶ γοῦν αὐτὸς ὁ Χριστὸς, καίτοι