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Aaron’s Flowering Staff: A Priestly

Asherah? Custom S

The story of Aaron’s staff reads like an etiological tale, explaining a holy
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object in the Temple. The description of the object as a stylized tree Email Address:

suggests a connection with the asherah, a ritual object forbidden by

Deuteronomy.
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Dr. Raanan Eichler

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Following a number of challenges against the authority of Moses and Aaron,[1] YHWH tells
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Moses to gather the staffs of the leader of each of the twelve tribes, as well as (or including)
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‫כ וְ הָ יָה הָ ִאישׁ אֲשֶׁ ר אֶ בְ חַ ר בּוֹ מַ טֵּ הוּ‬:‫במדבר יז‬ Num 17:20 The staff of the man whom I choose shall

‫יִ פְ ָרח ַוה ֲִשׁכֹּ ִתי מֵ ָﬠלַי אֶ ת ְתּלֻנּוֹת בְּ נֵי יִ ְשׂ ָראֵ ל‬ sprout, and I will rid Myself of the incessant mutterings Which Relatives Are You Prohibited
.‫אֲשֶׁ ר הֵ ם מַ לִּ ינִ ם ֲﬠלֵיכֶם‬ of the Israelites against you. from Marrying?

Moses explains the test to the people and puts the staffs into the Tent of Meeting overnight.

‫כג וַיְ הִ י ִממָּ ח ֳָרת ַו ָיּב ֹא מֹ שֶׁ ה‬:‫במדבר יז‬ Num 17:23 The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Please Support TheTorah.com
‫אֶ ל אֹ הֶ ל הָ ﬠֵדוּת וְ הִ נֵּה פּ ַָרח מַ טֵּ ה‬ Testimony,[2] and there the staff of Aaron of the house of Levi
‫אַ הֲרֹ ן לְ בֵ ית לֵוִ י וַיֹּ צֵ א פ ֶַרח ַויָּצֵ ץ‬ had sprouted: it had brought forth sprouts, produced
.‫צִ יץ וַיִּ גְ מֹ ל ְשׁקֵ ִדים‬ blossoms, and borne almonds. [3]

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Moses shows the people what happened with the staffs, after which Yhwh commands him:
Meeting David Steinberg and the
‫כה הָ שֵׁ ב אֶ ת מַ טֵּ ה אַ הֲרֹ ן לִ פְ נֵי‬:‫במדבר יז‬ Num 17:25 Put Aaron’s staff back in front of the
Genesis of TheTorah.com – Chanukah
…‫הָ ﬠֵדוּת לְ ִמ ְשׁמֶ ֶרת לְ אוֹת לִ בְ נֵי מֶ ִרי‬ Testimony, to be kept as a sign to defiant people… 2012

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Blossoms [5](‫)צִ יץ‬
Almonds [6] (‫)שׁקֵ ִדים‬
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Despite the overall image of a tree, leaves are not mentioned, nor are roots and branches.
Biblical Studies: No More Corrupt than
Thus, the description is more of a stylized tree than of a tree. The precise combination of
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buds, blossoms, and almonds does not occur anywhere else in the Bible,[7] which brings up
the question: Why did this author have Aaron’s staff undergo this particular transformation?
[8]

An Etiological Narrative
As observed by a number of scholars,[9] the culmination of the narrative in the permanent
placement of the staff in the sanctuary indicates that the narrative is etiological: it provides an
origin story for an object that was familiar to its original audience, presumably an object that
resembled a flowering staff and was located in the sanctuary.[10] I believe that from
archaeology and other biblical texts we can identify the object in question as another familiar
stylized tree, the asherah.

Asherah—A Stylized Tree

An asherah (‫אֲשֵׁ ָרה‬, pl. asherim, ‫ )אֲשֵׁ ִרים‬is a class of cultic objects mentioned some forty times
in the Tanakh. In a few instances, the word asherah seems to refer to a deity (Judg 3:7; 1 Kgs
15:13 [≈ 2 Chr 15:16]; 1 Kgs 18:19; 2 Kgs 23:4), causing many scholars to posit a connection
between the asherah and the Ugaritic goddess Athirat.[11] Whether this is correct or not, in
the vast majority of cases, the biblical text is referring to a physical object and not a goddess.

The biblical asherah is usually identified by scholars as a wooden, staff-like, “stylized tree.”[12]
In fact, John Day suggests that the rhabdoi (ῥάβδοι), “staves,” dedicated by the Phoenicians
and Egyptians to their Gods, according to the testimony of Philo of Byblos (Eusebius,
Praeparatio Evangelica 1.10.11), are akin to what the Tanakh calls asherim.[13] The word
rhabdos (ῥάβδος) is precisely the term used by the Septuagint when referring to Aaron’s staff.

A prime Israelite example of a depiction of such a “stylized tree” is a red-ink drawing on

Pithos A from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud [Figure 1]. This drawing may in fact depict the very asherah set
up by Ahab in Samaria (1 Kgs 16:33; 18:19; 2 Kgs 17:16), which is stated to have been extant
during the reign of Jehoahaz (2 Kgs 13:6)[14] around the time of the drawing’s creation.[15]
 Fig.1a: Red-ink drawing, Pithos A, Kuntillet ‘Arjud. Meshel Et Fig. 1b : Sketch of the Stylized
al, Kuntillet ‘Arjud Fig. 6.10 Courtesy of Z. Meshel  tree element. Z. Meshel 

It is difficult to imagine a more precise pictorial

representation of the object described verbally in
the Torah’s account than this drawing. The central element
of the drawing plainly resembles a staff.[16] It is adorned
with six buds alternating with eight blossoms. And at the
top are two elements shaped like almonds in the shell and
speckled with dots that match the pockmarks typical of
these shells [Figure 2].[17]
Fig. 2: Almonds in the shell 
The Asherah in Jerusalem

Generic asherim are portrayed as having been placed ubiquitously at local cultic sites,
whether Canaanite (Exod 34:13; Deut 7:5; Deut 12:3), Israelite (1 Kgs 14:15; 2 Kgs 17:10), or
Judahite (1 Kgs 14:23; Isa 17:8; 27:9; Jer 17:2; Mic 5:13; 2 Chr 14:2; 17:6; 19:3; 24:18; 31:1).
[18]

The book of Kings attests that there was a particular, prominent asherah in the Jerusalem
Temple. The author of Kings sees this fact as something negative, and blames it on the sinful
King Manasseh who ‫“ ַו ַיּﬠַשׂ אֲשֵׁ ָרה‬made an asherah” (2 Kgs 21:3) and:

‫ז ַויָּשֶׂ ם אֶ ת פֶּסֶ ל הָ אֲשֵׁ ָרה‬:‫מלכים ב כא‬ 2 Kgs 21:7 He placed the sculptured image of Asherah that he

‫אֲשֶׁ ר ﬠָשָׂ ה בַּ בַּ יִ ת אֲשֶׁ ר אָ מַ ר יְ ־הוָה אֶ ל‬ made in the House concerning which YHWH had said to
‫דָּ וִ ד וְ אֶ ל ְשׁ מֹ ה בְ נוֹ בַּ בַּ יִ ת הַ זֶּה‬ David and to his son Solomon, “In this House and in
‫וּבִ ירוּשָׁ ַל ִם אֲשֶׁ ר בָּ חַ ְר ִתּי ִמכֹּ ל ִשׁבְ טֵ י‬ Jerusalem, which I chose out of all the tribes of Israel, I will
.‫יִ ְשׂ ָראֵ ל אָ ִשׂים אֶ ת ְשׁ ִמי לְ עוֹלָם‬ establish My name forever.”[19]

Whether the Temple’s asherah really was made by Manasseh, or whether the
Deuteronomistic author of Kings is simply pinning a problematic item from the Temple’s past
on a hated king, is hard to say. Either way, the book of Kings goes on to say that one of the
book’s main heroes, Manasseh’s pious grandson, Josiah, destroyed the asherah and its
implements (23:4 ,‫)כֵּלִ ים‬, and purged the Temple of them:

‫ו וַיֹּ צֵ א אֶ ת הָ אֲשֵׁ ָרה ִמבֵּ ית‬:‫מלכים ב כג‬ 2 Kgs 23:6 He brought out the asherah from the House of

‫יְ ־הוָה ִמחוּץ לִ ירוּשָׁ ַל ִם אֶ ל נַחַ ל קִ ְדרוֹן‬
‫וַיִּ ְשׂרֹ ף אֹ תָ הּ בְּ נַחַ ל קִ ְדרוֹן ַויָּדֶ ק לְ ָﬠפָר‬
.‫ַויּ ְַשׁ ֵל אֶ ת ֲﬠפ ָָרהּ ﬠַל קֶ בֶ ר בְּ נֵי הָ ﬠָם‬
‫ז וַיִּ תֹּ ץ אֶ ת בָּ תֵּ י הַ קְּ דֵ ִשׁים אֲשֶׁ ר‬:‫כג‬
‫בְּ בֵ ית יְ ־הוָה אֲשֶׁ ר הַ נּ ִָשׁים אֹ ְרגוֹת שָׁ ם‬
.‫בָּ ִתּים ָלאֲשֵׁ ָרה‬
YHWH to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem, and burned
it in the Kidron Valley; he beat it to dust and scattered its
dust over the burial ground of the common people. 23:7 He
tore down the cubicles of the male prostitutes in the House
of YHWH, at the place where the women wove coverings for
Asherah.
If the asherah in the Jerusalem Temple corresponded to the Kuntillet ‘Ajrud drawing, the
author of the account of Aaron’s staff provides an excellent etiological backstory for the
object, as the Jerusalem Temple was the home of the Aaronide priesthood.

Deuteronomistic Polemic against Asherim

Why would the Torah have an etiological tale explaining an asherah in the Temple as a
symbol of the Aaronide priesthood? Are not asherim sinful objects hated by YHWH? The
answer is: It depends on the source.

Deuteronomy prohibits the use of asherim along with standing stones:

‫כא ל ֹא ִתטַּ ע לְ אֲשֵׁ ָרה כָּל ﬠֵץ‬:‫דברים טז‬ Deut 16:21 You shall not set up (or “plant”) an asherah—any

‫אֵ צֶ ל ִמזְבַּ ח יְ ־הוָה ֱא הֶ י אֲשֶׁ ר תַּ ﬠֲשֶׂ ה‬ kind of pole (or “tree”) beside the altar of YHWH your God
‫כב וְ ל ֹא תָ קִ ים לְ מַ צֵּ בָ ה אֲשֶׁ ר‬:‫ טז‬. ‫ָלּ‬ that you may make—16:22 or erect a stone pillar; for such
. ‫שָׂ נֵא יְ ־הוָה ֱא הֶ י‬ YHWH your God detests.

Moreover, Deuteronomy mandates the destruction of the Canaanites’ asherim along with
their altars, standing stones, and sculptures (Deut 7:5; 12:3).

‫ה ִמזְבְּ חֹ תֵ יהֶ ם ִתּתֹּ צוּ וּמַ צֵּ בֹ תָ ם‬:‫דברים ז‬ Deut 7:5 You shall tear down their altars, smash their

‫ְתּשַׁ בֵּ רוּ ַואֲשֵׁ ֵירהֶ ם ְתּגַדֵּ עוּן וּפְ ִסילֵיהֶ ם‬ pillars, cut down their asherim, and consign their images
.‫ִתּ ְשׂ ְרפוּן בָּ אֵ שׁ‬ to the fire.[20]

We see this same law in Exodus 34, in what some scholars call the Cultic Decalogue:

‫יג כִּ י אֶ ת ִמזְבְּ חֹ תָ ם ִתּתֹּ צוּן וְ אֶ ת‬:‫שמות לד‬ Exod 34:13 For you must tear down their altars, smash

.‫מַ צֵּ בֹ תָ ם ְתּשַׁ בֵּ רוּן וְ אֶ ת אֲשֵׁ ָריו ִתּכְ רֹ תוּן‬ their pillars, and cut down their asherim. [21]

Although this text is not part of Deuteronomy, it certainly shares its perspective on this style
of worship.

The book of Kings, part of the Deuteronomistic History, states that King Jeroboam’s dynasty
will be removed for its sins, including

‫טו ַיﬠַן אֲשֶׁ ר ﬠָשׂוּ אֶ ת אֲשֵׁ ֵריהֶ ם‬:‫מלכים א יד‬ 1 Kgs 14:15 Because they have made for themselves asherim

.‫יסים אֶ ת יְ ־הוָה‬
ִ ִ‫מַ כְ ﬠ‬ and thus provoke YHWH.

Ahab is condemned for this same sin—‫“ ַו ַיּﬠַשׂ אַ חְ אָ ב אֶ ת הָ אֲשֵׁ ָרה‬Ahab made an asherah” (1 Kgs
16:33)—a practice that the book repeatedly condemns along with high places and standing
stones (most clearly in 1 Kgs 14:23; 2 Kgs 17:10). It would thus be unthinkable for a
Deuteronomic text to include an etiology in favor of an asherah, and in the Jerusalem Temple
no less. The story of the flowering staff, however, is not Deuteronomic but is part of the
Priestly Text.

No Priestly Objection to Asherim

Unlike Deuteronomy, the priestly literature—both P and H—expresses no hostility to

asherim. Priestly literature has its own conception of what constitutes heterodox worship and
condemns it. For example, it prohibits the use of idols and cast metal gods (Lev 19:4), and of
idols (again), sculptures, standing stones, and stone reliefs (Lev 26:1). It condemns high
places and “incense stands” (‫( )חַ מָּ נִ ים‬Lev 26:30). And it mandates the destruction of the
Canaanites’ reliefs, cast metal images, and high places (Num 33:52). Nevertheless, it never
mentions asherim.

Ezekiel the Priestly Prophet

This lack of hostility toward asherim is apparent in the book of Ezekiel as well, a work which
has well-known ties to the priestly literature of the Torah. Like the Priestly texts, although
Ezekiel condemns high places, altars, and incense stands (Ezek 6:3–6), he says nothing about
asherim.

In this regard, the book of Ezekiel contrasts with other prophetic books: Isaiah condemns
asherim along with altars and incense stands (Isa 17:8; 27:9); Micah condemns them along
with sculptures and standing stones (Mic 5:12–13); and Jeremiah condemns them along with
altars and high places (Jer 17:2–3).

The Deuteronomic and Deuteronomistic authors, and, presumably the authors of the cited
passages in Isaiah, Micah, and Jeremiah, viewed the asherah as illegitimate. Unlike them, the
priestly author(s), and presumably Ezekiel, thought that the asherah could serve as a
legitimate symbol of the Aaronide priesthood.

Sources of Blessing

The asherim and the Aaronide priesthood both have similar functions: they are sources of
YHWH’s blessing. Priests, in addition to offering sacrifices, bless the people:

.‫כב וַיְ דַ בֵּ ר יְ ־הוָה אֶ ל מֹ שֶׁ ה לֵּאמֹ ר‬:‫במדבר ו‬ Num 6:22 YHWH spoke to Moses: 6:23 Speak to Aaron and

‫כג דַּ בֵּ ר אֶ ל אַ הֲרֹ ן וְ אֶ ל בָּ נָיו לֵאמֹ ר כֹּ ה‬:‫ו‬
‫כד‬:‫ ו‬.‫ְתבָ ְרכוּ אֶ ת בְּ נֵי יִ ְשׂ ָראֵ ל אָ מוֹר לָהֶ ם‬
‫כה יָאֵ ר יְ ־הוָה‬:‫ ו‬. ‫יְ בָ ֶרכְ יְ ־הוָה וְ יִ ְשׁ ְמ ֶר‬
‫כו יִ שָּׂ א יְ ־הוָה ָפּנָיו‬:‫ ו‬.ָ‫ָפּנָיו אֵ לֶי וִ י ֻח ֶנּךּ‬
‫כז וְ שָׂ מוּ אֶ ת ְשׁ ִמי‬:‫ ו‬.‫אֵ לֶי וְ יָשֵׂ ם לְ שָׁ לוֹם‬
.‫ﬠַל בְּ נֵי יִ ְשׂ ָראֵ ל ַואֲנִ י אֲבָ רֲ כֵם‬
his sons: Thus shall you bless the people of Israel. Say to
them: 6:24 YHWH bless you and protect you! 6:25 YHWH
deal kindly and graciously with you! 6:26 YHWH bestow
His favor upon you and grant you peace! 6:27 Thus they
shall link My name with the people of Israel, and I will
bless them.

The notion that the priests were chosen to bless in Yhwh’s name is endorsed in a number of
other places in biblical literature (Deut 10:8; 21:5; 1 Chr 23:13; and Sir 45:15; see also Gen
14:18–19; 2 Chr 30:27). In fact, kohanim (held to be the descendants of Aaronide priests)
continue this practice, using the cited formula, to the present day.

Various pieces of evidence suggest that asherim were thought to facilitate the grant of Yhwh’s
blessing as well.

Inscriptions—All three clear occurrences of the word asherah in inscriptions are situated
within blessing formulae:

1. Khirbet el-Qom inscription 1 reads,

‫ברכ אריהו ליהוה >ו<לאשרתה‬ Blessed is Uriahu by Yhwh <and> his asherah.[22]

2. Kuntillet ‘Ajrud inscription 3.1 reads,

‫ ולאשרתה‬.‫ שמרנ‬.‫ ליהוה‬.‫ אתכמ‬.‫ברכת‬ I bless you [pl.] by Yhwh of Samaria and his asherah.[23]

3. And Kuntillet ‘Ajrud inscription 3.6 reads,

.‫ ליהוה תמנ ולאשרתה‬.‫ברכתכ‬ I bless you by Yhwh of Teman and his asherah; may he bless
‫יברכ וישמרכ‬ you and watch over you.[24]

The formula in the last example is identical to the formula referenced in Numbers as the
proper Aaronide blessing.[25]

The Hebrew Root—One of the essential meanings of the root ‫ר‬.‫שׁ‬.‫ א‬overlaps to a great
degree with that of ‫ך‬.‫ר‬.‫ב‬, “bless.” This seems to be the meaning of the name given the
eponymous ancestor of the tribe Asher by his mother:

‫יג ַותּ ֹאמֶ ר לֵאָ ה בְּ אָ ְשׁ ִרי‬:‫בראשית ל‬ Gen 30:13 Leah declared, “What fortune (oshri)! For women will

‫כִּ י ִא ְשּׁרוּנִ י בָּ נוֹת ו ִַתּקְ ָרא אֶ ת ְשׁמוֹ‬ deem me fortunate/blessed (ishruni).” So she named him
 .‫אָ שֵׁ ר‬ Asher.

In fact, the blessing of Moses (Deut 33:24), in an apparent play on the tribe’s name, reads,
“blessed among children is Asher” (‫)בָּ רוּ ִמבָּ נִ ים אָשֵׁ ר‬.

In addition, the terms ‫ר‬.‫שׁ‬.‫ א‬and ‫כ‬.‫ר‬.‫ ב‬are used in poetic parallelism. For example, Psalm 72,
the finale of “the prayers of David son of Jesse” (v. 20), reads,

‫יז וְ יִ ְתבָּ ְרכוּ בוֹ כָּל‬:‫תהלים עב‬ Ps 72:17 May [people] bless themselves (‫כ‬.‫ר‬.‫ )ב‬by him; may all

‫אַשּׁרוּהוּ‬
ְ ְ‫גּוֹיִ ם י‬ nations call him blessed (‫ר‬.‫שׁ‬.‫”)א‬

A subtler but perhaps stronger connection between these terms can be seen in the parallel
between Jeremiah 17:7, which reads, “blessed is the man” (‫ )בָּ רוּ הַ גֶּבֶ ר‬and Psalm 1:1, which
reads, “fortunate is the man” (‫)אַשׁ ֵרי הָ ִאישׁ‬.
ְֽ In both cases, this declaration is followed by an
extended simile of a flourishing tree, implying that both poets were using a stock image:
blessing is like a tree.[26]

These similes remind us of an additional connection between asherim and blessing: the
stylized tree motif, with which the asherah has been independently identified, immediately
evokes the notion of blessing. Its typical blossoms and curlicues suggest flourishing, and the
caprids often shown feeding from it, as in the aforementioned specimen from Kuntillet
‘Ajrud, suggest sustenance and bounty.[27]

Placement Near Altars—The assumption that asherim were thought to facilitate blessing
accounts for their portrayal in the Tanakh as objects conventionally placed by altars (most
clearly in Deut 16:21; Judg 6:25–30; 2 Kgs 23:15). One of the purposes of altar compounds
was to attract the blessing of Yhwh, as we read in the Covenant Collection,

‫כד בְּ כָל הַ מָּ קוֹם אֲשֶׁ ר אַזְכִּ יר אֶ ת ְשׁ ִמי‬:‫שמות כ‬ Exod 20:24 Anywhere I have my name mentioned, I will

. ‫אָבוֹא אֵ לֶי וּבֵ ַרכְ ִתּי‬ come to you and bless you.

Given that “standing stones” (‫ )מַ צֵּ בוֹת‬may have been thought to house deities,[28] one might
even suggest that the logic behind the common pairing of asherim with standing stones at
altars is that the standing stones ensure the fulfillment of “I will come to you” while the
asherim ensure the fulfillment of “… and bless you.”

In Defense of the Priestly Asherah

The Priestly account of Aaron’s flowering staff interprets the asherah in the temple of Yhwh
as the age-old staff of Aaron put there at Yhwh’s command in order to serve as a warning
against usurpation of the Aaronic office. By means of this interpretation, the account at once
gave qualified approval for the asherah and appropriated its popularly conceived function,
namely facilitating the grant of Yhwh’s blessing, to the Aaronides.

In this sense, the story is a counterpart of the non-priestly account of the bronze snake (Num
21:4–9), which is an etiology for the copper serpent Nehushtan destroyed by Hezekiah (2 Kgs
18:4), and which attributes that object’s powers of revival to the will of Yhwh as carried out
through the exclusive authority of Moses.[29]

This also gives us a terminus ad quem for when the story of Aaron’s flowering staff must have
been composed, namely, before (or around) the time of Josiah’s purge,[30] as it is implausible
that anyone would compose and successfully propagate a subversive etiology of an object that
was not in contemporary use.[31]

If this conclusion is correct, it shows that there was disagreement among the biblical authors
about the very legitimacy of what was likely the central cultic object for many Israelites, and it
illustrates a method by which a biblical author could give qualified approval to an object
condemned by his peers.
 ___________________

Dr. Raanan Eichler is Senior Lecturer of Bible at Bar-Ilan

University. He holds a Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem and has been a Fellow at Harvard University and Tel
Aviv University. His articles, published in JBL, VT, ZAW, JSS, and
other journals, focus mainly on biblical beliefs and worship and on
understanding the Bible in light of the natural environment,
material culture, and iconography of the ancient Near East. His
book, The Ark and the Cherubim, is forthcoming in Mohr Siebeck’s FAT series. He is
married to Hayah, and they live in Jerusalem with their four children.

07/03/2019

[1] This piece is based on research presented in greater detail in Raanan Eichler, “The Priestly
Asherah,” Vetus Testamentum 69.1 (2019): 33–45. The piece was edited extensively by the
TABS editors in consultation with the author.

[2] Aaron’s staff is the third of three objects said in the priestly pentateuchal literature to have
been placed in front of the Testimony. The first is a container with an omer (a unit of capacity
equaling about one to two liters) of manna, placed by Aaron “in front of the Testimony to be
kept” (‫לִ פְ נֵי הָ ֵﬠדֻת לְ ִמ ְשׁמָ ֶרת‬: Exod 16:34). The second object is an unspecified amount of sacred
incense that Yhwh commands Moses to place “in front of the Testimony, in the Meeting Tent
where I [Yhwh] meet with you [Moses]” (‫לִ פְ נֵי הָ ֵﬠדֻת בְּ אֹ הֶ ל מוֹﬠֵד אֲשֶׁ ר ִא ָוּﬠֵד לְ שָׁ מָּ ה‬: Exod 30:36).

[3] HALOT: “stick, staff.” Aaron’s ‫ מַ טֶּ ה‬is previously mentioned in the account of the wonders
performed in Egypt: Exod 7:9, 10, 12 (crocodile), 19 (blood); 8:1 (frogs), 12, 13 (lice).
However, the flowering staff is said to have originally been the staff of Levi, appropriated to
Aaron only by virtue of the inscription of his name upon it (Num 17:18). Perhaps the purpose
of this specification is precisely to indicate that the flowering staff was not the staff used in
Egypt. Editor’s note: For a redaction critical approach to this problem arguing that Aaron was
added in later, see David Frankel, “Adding Aaron’s Name to the Flowering Levitical Staff,”
TheTorah.com (2019).

[4] HALOT: “bud, blossom.” The singular forms obviously have a collective sense here; for
this phenomenon see GKC §123b; Joüon §135b.

[5] HALOT: “flowers, blossoms.”

[6] HALOT: “almond tree, almonds.”

[7] The closest image is the tabernacle lampstand, which is adorned with “almonded bowls”
along with “knobs” and buds (‫גְ בִ ﬠִ ים ְמשֻׁ קָּ ִדים … כַּפְ תֹּ ר … פּ ֶַרח‬: Exod 25:31–39 = 37:17–24). For
comparison, see Gen 40:10; Isa 18:5; 27:6; Jer 1:11–12; Ezek 7:10; Ps 92:8; Song 6:11; 7:13.
See also Ezek 7:10.

[8] Perhaps the peculiarity of the almonds is what spurred Josephus to posit (Antiquities
4.65) that the staff was made of almond wood. See also Philo, Moses 2.180–186; Gordon J.
Wenham, “Aaron’s Rod (Numbers 1716-28),” ZAW 93 (1981): 280–281 [281].

[9] Hugo Gressmann, Mose und seine Zeit: Ein Kommentar zu den Mose-Sagen (Göttingen,
1913), 281; A. H. J. Gunneweg, Leviten und Priester: Hauptlinien der Traditionsbildung und
Geschichte des Israelitisch-Jüdischen Kultpersonals, FRLANT 89 (Göttingen, 1965), 184;
Samuel E. Loewenstamm, “Staff” [in Hebrew], ‫[ אנציקלופדיה מקראית‬Encyclopaedia Biblica]
(Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 1970), 4:825–832 [831]; Michael V. Fox, “The Sign of the
Covenant: Circumcision in the Light of the Priestly ’ôt Etiologies”, RB 81.4 (1974): 557–596
[581–582]; Karol van der Toorn, “Did Jeremiah See Aaron’s Staff?” JSOT 43 (1989): 83-94;
Jacob Licht, A Commentary on the Book of Numbers [in Hebrew] (Jerusalem: Magnes,
1991), 2:120. And see already b. Yoma 52b; Midrash Hagadol on v. 25, in Z. M. Rabinowitz,
ed., Midrash Haggadol on the Pentateuch: Numbers (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1967),
287.

[10] The closest extrabiblical parallels to this narrative, the story of Heracles’ wild-olive club
that took root in the earth and grew (Pausanius, Description of Greece 2.31.10) and the story
of Romulus’ spear that turned into a rooted tree with leaves (Ovid, Metamorphoses 15.560),
also seem to be etiologies, but of living trees. Aaron’s staff is not a rooted tree but a portable
object.

[11] For relatively recent introductions to the vast scholarly literature on asherim, see John
Day, “Asherah,” ABD 1:483-487; Nicholas Wyatt, “Asherah,” DDD, 183-195; Paolo Merlo,
“Asherah,” EBR 2:975-980.

[12] Merlo, “Asherah,” 976: “it is now generally held that the object [i.e., the asherah] was a
stylized tree or a pole made of wood”. See also Day, “Asherah,” 486; Wyatt, “Asherah,” 187.

[13] Day, “Asherah,” 486.

[14] Mordechai Cogan, “Chronology: Hebrew Bible,” ABD 1: 1002-1011 [1010]: Jehoahaz
reigned 817–800.

[15] I. Carmi and D. Segal, “14C Dates from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud” [1995], in Kuntillet ’Ajrud
(Horvat Teman): An Iron Age II Religious Site on the Judah-Sinai Border, ed. Ze’ev Meshel
(Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2012), 61–63 [61]: “The average range of calibrated
dates indicates that the site was occupied from the end of the 9th to the beginning of the 8th
century bce (about 830–750 B.C.E.).” See also Ze’ev Meshel, “The Nature of the Site and Its
Biblical Background”, in Meshel, Kuntillet ’Ajrud, 65–69 [69]: “the date of the site […] [is]
around 800 BCE.”

[16] In terms of size, its height is a little greater than the length of the ibexes flanking it,
which is about the height one would expect for a staff.

[17] Beck and Ornan both refer to the two elements at the top as “buds” and do not explain
the dots with which they are speckled; see Pirhiya Beck, “The Drawings and Decorative
Designs” [1982], in Meshel, Kuntillet ‘Ajrud, 143–203 [154]; T. Ornan, “The Drawings from
Kuntillet ‘Ajrud,” in To Yhwh of Teman and His Ashera: The Inscriptions and Drawings
from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud (‘Ḥorvat Tēman’) in Sinai [in Hebrew], ed. S. Ahituv and E. Eshel
(Jerusalem: Magnes, 2015), 42-69 [62-63].

[18] Israelite/Judahite cultic sites with asherim included ones dedicated to Yhwh (Deut
16:21; 2 Kgs 23:15), Ba‘al (Judg 6:25, 26, 28, 30), Be‘alim (2 Chr 34:3, 4, 7), Ashtoreth,
Chemosh, and Milkom (2 Kgs 23:14).

[19] cf. 2 Chr 33:3, 19.

[20] Also,

‫ג וְ נִ תַּ צְ תֶּ ם אֶ ת ִמזְבּחֹ תָ ם וְ ִשׁבַּ ְרתֶּ ם אֶ ת‬:‫דברים יב‬ Deut 12:3 Tear down their altars, smash their pillars,

‫מַ צֵּ בֹ תָ ם ַואֲשֵׁ ֵריהֶ ם ִתּ ְשׂ ְרפוּן בָּ אֵ שׁ וּפְ ִסילֵי‬ put their asherim to the fire, and cut down the images
‫ֱא הֵ יהֶ ם ְתּגַדֵּ עוּן וְ ִאבַּ ְדתֶּ ם אֶ ת ְשׁמָ ם ִמן הַ מָּ קוֹם‬ of their gods, obliterating their name from that site.
.‫הַ הוּא‬

[21] This verse is part of a section that has usually been ascribed to J; see, e.g., B. J. Schwartz,
“What Really Happened at Mount Sinai? Four Biblical Answers to One Question”, BR 13.5
(1997): 20-30, 46 [27]. Propp calls it “D-like”; see William H.C. Propp, Exodus 19–40: A New
Translation with Introduction and Commentary, Anchor Bible 2B (New York: Doubleday,
2006), 50, 184. For further bibliography, see Shimon Gesundheit, Three Times a Year:
Studies on Festival Legislation in the Pentateuch, FAT 82 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012),
12 [n2], 37 [n60].
[22] Shmuel Ahituv, Echoes from the Past: Hebrew and Cognate Inscriptions from the
Biblical Period, Carta Handbook (Jerusalem: Carta, 2008), 221–224. The waw in the angled
brackets is a restoration by Ahituv.

[23] Shmuel Ahituv, Esther Eshel, and Ze’ev Meshel, “The Inscriptions”, in Meshel, Kuntillet
‘Ajrud (Ḥorvat Teman), 73–142 [87–91].

[24] Ahituv, Eshel, and Meshel, “The Inscriptions,” 95–97.

[25] The formula appears also on Ketef Hinnom scrolls 1 and 2, as well as the Achish
inscription from Ekron (where the blessing deity is ptgyh). See further Jeremy D. Smoak, The
Priestly Blessing in Inscription and Scripture: The Early History of Numbers 6:24–26
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 12–42, 113–121.

[26] Editor’s note: For more on the simile in Jeremiah, see Andrea Weiss, “Jeremiah’s
Teaching of the Trees,” TheTorah.com (2018).

[27] Othmar Keel and Christoph Uehlinger, Gods, Goddesses and Images of God in Ancient
Israel, trans. Thomas H. Trapp (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 1998), 215; translation
of, Göttingen, Götter, und Gottessymbole, QD 134 (Fribourg: Herder, 1992): The stylized tree
flanked by caprids at Kuntillet ‘Ajrud is a religious depiction of blessing.

[28] Tryggve N. D. Mettinger, No Graven Image? Israelite Aniconism in Its Ancient Near
Eastern Context, Coniectanea Biblica, Old Testament Series 42 (Stockholm: Coronet Books,
1995), 130–132.

[29] See discussion in Richard Lederman, “Nehushtan, the Copper Serpent: Its Origins and
Fate,” TheTorah.com (2017). It is also a relative of the Deuteronomic and Deuteronomic-
compatible account of the golden calf (Exod 32; Deut 9:12–21; Ps 106:19–23; Neh 9:18),
which is a quasi-etiology for another central cultic institution during the monarchic era, the
golden calves at Bethel and Dan (1 Kgs 12:26–32; 2 Kgs 10:29; 17:16; Hos 8:5–6; 2 Chr 11:15;
13:8).

[30] The book of Kings implies that Josiah’s purge occurred in the eighteenth year of his
reign (2 Kgs 22:3; 23:23). Chronicles states explicitly that it began in the twelfth year of his
reign (2 Chr 34:3), which Cogan and Tadmor put at 628 bce; see Mordechai Cogan and Haim
Tadmor, II Kings: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, Anchor Bible
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1988), 298.

[31] Unfortunately, this insight cannot easily shed light on the composition of the rest of the
priestly literature, the relation of this story to which is debated. Martin Noth, Numbers. A
Commentary, trans. James D. Martin, Old Testament Library (London: SCM Press, 1968),
130–131; translation of: Das vierte Buch Mose, Numeri (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht, 1966): the story of Aaron’s flowering staff is “phrased in the style of P, but is
probably of somewhat later origin.” Budd (Numbers, 194): the story is “in all essentials …
likely to be the work of the priestly author of Numbers.” Israel Knohl, The Sanctuary of
Silence: The Priestly Torah and the Holiness School, trans. Jackie Feldman and Peretz
Rodman (1995; repr., Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2007), 81–82; trans. of, ‫מקדש הדממה עיון‬
‫( ברובדי היצירה הכוהנית שבתורה‬Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1992): the story is a product of the later
Holiness School. Levine, Numbers, 431: the story “may derive from a different priestly
archive [than the rest of Num 17].” For further bibliography, see Joel S. Baden, “Source
Stratification, Secondary Additions, and the Documentary Hypothesis in the Book of
Numbers: The Case of Numbers 17”, in Torah and the Book of Numbers, ed. Christian Frevel,
Thomas Pola, and Aaron Schart, FAT II 62 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013), 233–247.

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