Was Aaron's Rod an Asherah Pole?

Dan McClellan Hey, everybody, I'm Dan McClellan. And

Dan Beecher I'm Dan Beecher.

Dan McClellan And this is Data Over Dogma, where we increase public access to the academic study of the Bible and religion, and we combat the spread of misinformation about the same. And whenever we have an opportunity to secure some holy vestments- ... we spring at the opportunity. And I'm talking about the lovely mitre, the pope's hat, with the Chicago White Sox emblem on it over Dan Beecher's right shoulder. Yes.

Dan Beecher Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dan McClellan Isn't that nice?

Dan Beecher Hopefully, our, our editor gives, gives us a wide shot so that everybody can see this beautiful, uh, pope's mitre that I received from the White Sox. Uh, they, they had a big, uh, promotion, and it was excuse enough to get- Yeah ... me out to Chicago- ... for, for a game. So had a, had a blast out there.

Dan McClellan Yeah. Uh- If you want Dan Beecher to come to your city, uh, just-

Dan Beecher And you do ...

Dan McClellan offer something silly and, uh, and he might come out and bring- It's- ... his whole crew with him.

Dan Beecher It's a, it's a distinct possibility. Uh, the sillier, the better. But yeah, you'll, you'll, you may well get me there. Uh, that is a... I, I have a, uh, I have a rule about travel, and that is that, yeah, fun reasons are good enough. Yeah. Silly, wacky reasons are good enough. All right. Uh, today we're doing a What's That? And the What's That that we're doing is Aaron's rod. So, uh, that's pretty fun. Yeah. Uh, get your mind out of the gutter, everybody- Yeah ... uh, 'cause we're gonna be talking about- ... Aaron's rod budding, and, uh, that's gonna, that's, it, I know if your mind is like mine, it's gonna go to some places, but we're not doing that. We're, we're gonna be, we're gonna be good little boys and girls.

Dan McClellan Yeah, this is not the film that inspired Boogie Nights.

Dan Beecher No.

Dan McClellan Uh, it is entirely different. Entirely distinct.

Dan Beecher So let's dive in with What's That? Okay, so the What's That is, uh, is Aaron's rod. Let, Aaron wro- let's remind ourselves, uh, a, a little bit. Aaron- Yeah ... is the brother of Moses.

Dan McClellan Brother of Moses. Um- Moses' spokesperson. Yeah. So, uh, when we have in, um, Exodus 7, when God tells Moses, "I will make you a god to Pharaoh," goes on to say, "And Aaron will be your prophet." And so it's actually usually Aaron doing the talking-

Dan Beecher Right, right- ...

Dan McClellan in, in a lot of his confrontations with Pharaoh ...

Dan Beecher because Moses was slow of speech or had some sort of speech impediment or something.

Dan McClellan Yeah. So he was, he was mainly there to, Aaron would be like, "And now, behold," and, and Moses would probably step forward and slam his rod on the ground, and then, "Frogs," or something like that.

Dan Beecher Right, right.

Dan McClellan So, um-

Dan Beecher Or the, or the stick turns into snakes or whatever.

Dan McClellan Yeah, yeah. So, um-

Dan Beecher Uh, we have no way of knowing if this is the same rod that turned into a snake.

Dan McClellan Uh, probably a very different one. We're actually gonna be in the Book of Numbers.

Dan Beecher Yeah. We're, we, we're- So- ... we're way outside of Exodus. We're- Yes ... we're, uh, we're all, all the way to Numbers, so.

Dan McClellan Yeah. And we have this, there's controversy, and, and this, you know, if, if you've read the Pentateuch, uh, you are familiar with the fact that the, the Israelites were always mumbling and grumbling.

Dan Beecher There's, they were a mumbling-

Dan McClellan And not a lot of

Dan Beecher mumbling- ... grumbling group.

Dan McClellan Yeah. They, they were always challenging Moses' authority, and we have these dudes w- uh, named, uh, Korah, and I forget the, the name of the other. Dathan and Abiram- Yeah ... are kinda like, "Hey, we wanna, we wanna, we wanna be in charge." And things didn't go great for them. We're- Uh, we're- ... we'll discuss the Korah episode in another, uh, episode-

Dan Beecher Yeah, we might- ... 'cause- ... we might do that next, next week. May- we'll see, we'll see when we do that. But, uh, but yeah, the, that is a, that is a whole bunch of stuff. And I'm actually excited to talk to you about it 'cause, uh, you know, this rebellion, uh, as you say, all through the Exodus, there were all of these little, like, "Why are you, who, what gives you the right? Who are you?"

Dan McClellan Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dan Beecher And then, like, you know, everybody starts starving for a while, and then God comes and saves them and-

Dan McClellan Yeah, and the earth opens up and swallows a bunch of people, or there's a plague that suddenly-

Dan Beecher Right, right ...

Dan McClellan kills 14,700 people. And then, you know, it, it's kind of like a sitcom where-

Dan Beecher Yeah, yeah ...

Dan McClellan you roll credits, and then you get the title sequence, and now we're back to, "So anyway"- So anyway ... "everybody was mumbling." Uh, and so in, in your English translation, this starts in Numbers 17:1. And oddly enough, though, if you are in your Hebrew Bible, then it's not 17:1. It's, uh, actually 17:16 'cause-

Dan Beecher Oh.

Dan McClellan Yes. In the Hebrew, chapter 17 of the Book of Numbers begins at Numbers 16:36 in the English.

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan So we have these, uh, the whole plague story, um, takes place.

Dan Beecher Which we're, which we're not gonna do in any more spoiling of 'cause, uh-

Dan McClellan No, no more spoilage. Yes. So, uh, we get into, uh, chapter 17 in the English, the, the latter part of chapter 17 in the Hebrew. And the Lord is basically like, "Look, we've had enough of this. Uh, they're, they're challenging your authority, so we're gonna make it clear who has the authority." Uh, we're going to... It's kind of like a reality show challenge.

Dan Beecher It is. It's, it's- Uh,

Dan McClellan God says- ...

Dan Beecher it's very much who gets the rose at the end- ... of this one.

Dan McClellan Or almond bud, uh- Yeah ... yeah, is, is quite literally what it is. But God says, "Speak to the Israelites and get 12 staffs from them, one for each ancestral house from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. Write each man's name on his staff, and write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi, for thou sh- there shall be one staff for the head of each ancestral house. Place them in the tent of meeting before the covenant" ... where I meet with you. And this, uh, reference to, uh, the covenant is the, basically the Ark of the Covenant and the tablets of the covenant.

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan Yes.

Dan Beecher Thank you. Because I read that, and I was like, "I don't... Okay, I don't know what that is- ... before the covenant."

Dan McClellan Yeah, and, and this is an important phrase. We're gonna come back to this phrase.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan Lifnei ha'edut. That is before, in front of the presence of the covenant. And not berit. Berit is, is, uh, the normal Hebrew noun for covenant. 'Edut is, is more like the testimony. Um, and so that is the, the, the tablets of the law.

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan And as I have argued in print, uh- ... the, the testimony s- is a stand-in for God. Like, to be before the testimony is kinda like being before God, but when we're thinking about the temple, it means in front of the Ark of the Covenant. So keep that in mind, in front of the Ark of the Covenant. Uh, so the rods are all placed in front of the Ark of the Covenant.

Dan Beecher Yeah, everybody brings their stick. All of the, uh-

Dan McClellan Yeah

Dan Beecher ... all the 12 tribes.

Dan McClellan Yeah, you gotta, you gotta pick out a nice stick.

Dan Beecher Gotta get a good stick.

Dan McClellan Like, we... Yeah. We, we see videos on TikTok of, of guys who are like, "Look at this stick I found." And you can just imagine they were like, "We gotta get the best stick-

Dan Beecher Yeah

Dan McClellan ... in our tribe." So, uh, they, they get all the sticks and, uh, God says, "The staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus, I will put a stop to the complaints of the Israelites that they continually make against you." So-

Dan Beecher Now-

Dan McClellan ... Mose- Go ahead

Dan Beecher ... as, as I was imagining this story-

Dan McClellan Mm-hmm

Dan Beecher ... it's Moses who's tell- who's sort of... God's saying this to Moses, and then-

Dan McClellan Yes

Dan Beecher ... Moses is repeating it to these people, right? Right, right. I think that that is funny to me, that these guys are all like, "Who made you the, the mouthpiece of God? Why do we- ... have to listen to you?" And then he's like, "Well, here's what God says about how that-

Dan McClellan Yeah

Dan Beecher ... is gonna work." Here's-

Dan McClellan Yeah, you can you can imagine a lot of them being like, "This kinda s- feels like a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan Like, you're, you're-

Dan Beecher So this is... So you tell us what the game is and how the rules-

Dan McClellan Yeah, yeah

Dan Beecher ... work, and then we just go along with that?

Dan McClellan We just pick a card from you. From you. You're the one holding the deck. And, uh, he's thinking, "I will prove to everybody-

Dan Beecher Right

Dan McClellan ... that God has chosen me when you tell me what card you chose." Um-

Dan Beecher They're like, "What's up your sleeve?" "The Lord has told me that there is nothing up my sleeve."

Dan McClellan So, uh, they, they, they bring their sticks. They go out and they find their prettiest sticks.

Dan Beecher Mm-hmm.

Dan McClellan Uh, they, they bring it back. Moses places the staffs before the Lord. And what did I just say? Before the testimony or before the covenant?

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan Now they're being placed before the Lord. So this is where we've got the synonymous, kind of one is standing in for the other. And as I argue in my book, Adonai's Divine Images, the Ark of the Covenant, the tablets of the law are divine images which manifest the presence of God. Same, same.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan It's same, different, so. So

Dan Beecher yeah, they, they don't make a distinction between the Ark of the Covenant and before the Lord.

Dan McClellan Yeah. And, uh, so Moses goes into the Tent of the Covenant on the next day, and the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted. It put forth buds, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds.

Dan Beecher That's a-

Dan McClellan And Moses had something to put in his oatmeal. Um- Yes.

Dan Beecher That's impressive. Uh-

Dan McClellan Yeah

Dan Beecher ... that is, that's a, that's a lot of, of stuff to happen overnight.

Dan McClellan Yeah. And then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the Israelites, and they looked, and each man took his staff. And the Lord said to Moses, "Put back the staff of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept as a warning to rebels, so that you may make an end of their complaints against me, or else they will die."

Dan Beecher Which-

Dan McClellan Moses did so. Which what?

Dan Beecher Which is funny. Like, that, like, to me, seeing a sprouting, uh, rod with almonds on it does not immediately make me think, "Oh, I have to follow this guy or I'll die." Like, that, it feels like a much nicer image than just- ... a skull and crossbones style message.

Dan McClellan Yeah. But, but it's also, like, so the place that only you are allowed to go in-

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan ... you went into- ... and you brought out this stick with all these leaves on it, and that's supposed to be the sign to us that you're in charge.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan And he's like, "I, well, I promise it was all that was in the..." Um-

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan Yeah. And this is, you, you'll recall the story of Bel and the Dragon where they put the, they put the food in the temple for, uh, uh, for the god. And then when they go in to, to check and see what happened to the, the food, they, they use the sand-

Dan Beecher Right

Dan McClellan ... uh, and they can see the footprints of the priests who have come out from behind-

Dan Beecher Right

Dan McClellan ... and, and taken it, and all that kind of stuff.

Dan Beecher Yes, yes.

Dan McClellan Like, it's, it's suspicious. And they-

Dan Beecher It does, it does feel like the, the, uh, the rest of the tribes, the leaders of the rest of the tribes could've been a little... If they're, if they're, like, that bent about Moses' leadership, they could be a little less credulous about this whole thing.

Dan McClellan Well, they do seem to be a little less credulous. There's less credulity than God seems to think there would have been, because the very next verse says, "The Israelites said to Moses, 'We are perishing, we are lost, all of us are lost. Everyone who pr- approaches the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all to perish?'"

Dan Beecher Right. 'Cause it's like- Feels like an overreaction.

Dan McClellan Yeah. G- Moses goes in, puts the sticks down, comes back out, and is like, "This is the stick that had the thing on it, and now you can't go in, though, 'cause you'll die- ... if you go in there." Uh-

Dan Beecher Yeah, I, I say it's an overreaction, but I have read the previous, uh, chapter.

Dan McClellan Yeah.

Dan Beecher So I guess nothing's an overreaction.

Dan McClellan Yeah.

Dan Beecher We'll get, we'll get to that next week, but, like, yeah, nothing's an overreaction to-

Dan McClellan Yeah

Dan Beecher ... holy cow.

Dan McClellan In a world of overreactions, this is the least overreaction.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan Um, but, but here's the cool thing that I love about all of this. Uh, we have basically... And, and so the, Aaron's budding rod was put back in the temple.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan They were like, "Here, k- get your stick out of here."

Dan Beecher Mm-hmm.

Dan McClellan But Aaron's, they, they put back before the covenant-

Dan Beecher Right

Dan McClellan ... in front of the Ark of the Covenant. Now, in later traditions, it's in the Ark of the Covenant.

Dan Beecher Oh.

Dan McClellan But in this story, it's not. It's before the testimony, which means it's in front of or next to the Ark of the Covenant. Now, I wanna talk about, uh, there's a, there's another story in Numbers where we have the bronze, or the brazen serpent. Do you remember this story, the Nehushtan?

Dan Beecher No.

Dan McClellan Where-

Dan Beecher I don't know, I don't know this one.

Dan McClellan You don't remember this story? Okay, so this is where they have the, the serpents, the fiery serpents, uh, bite the Israelites, and they're, they're gonna die, but then God tells Moses to put a bronze serpent on the end of a pole.

Dan Beecher Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dan McClellan They look at the serpent, and they live.

Dan Beecher Yes.

Dan McClellan And then that gets put in the temple, and then later on, they have to, uh, Hezekiah has to take it out and smash it to dust because they're worshiping it-

Dan Beecher Oh

Dan McClellan ... as an idol, as a divine image.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan Now, in Josiah's day, they bring some things out of the temple and smash them to dust because they were being worshiped, and one of those things was an Asherah pole.

Dan Beecher Oh.

Dan McClellan Ooh.

Dan Beecher Wait, I think I see-

Dan McClellan Yeah

Dan Beecher ... where you're going with this.

Dan McClellan You th- yeah. Where some dots are slowly beginning to connect. Yes, the, uh, so according to the Deuteronomistic authors, who are telling the stories about what was going on, uh, with the worship of Adonai, there was an Asherah pole in the temple in the days of Josiah.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan Now, this is, what we're reading here is not from the Deuteronomistic layer. It's from the priestly layer. And the priestly layer never condemns Asherah or Asherah poles. But an Asherah pole would have been a stick, maybe a stylized tree, and one of the, uh, we've, we've talked about the Kuntillet Ajrud drawings and inscriptions in the past on the show.

Dan Beecher Mm.

Dan McClellan The big pithos A that has the drawing of Adonai and his Asherah and the inscription. The other side of that pithos has a stylized tree with ibexes feeding on either side of it. And what's interesting is, a lot of people have suggested that the particular tree that is being depicted is an almond tree-

Dan Beecher Okay

Dan McClellan ... because it has some buds, some flowers, and what look like almonds. And so, hmm.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan Isn't it peculiar that we have a story where we have this narrative that accounts for why there is a stylized tree, not in the Ark of the Covenant, but in the temple next to the Ark of the Covenant?

Dan Beecher And w- sorry, I just realized that one thing we should probably do is remind people that Asherah was, uh, another divine being and-

Dan McClellan Yes

Dan Beecher ... potentially the consort of Adonai.

Dan McClellan The wife of God, yes.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan Um, Asherah, Athirat in the Ugaritic literature, was a, a goddess who was in charge of a variety of different things, uh, warfare, motherhood, uh, fertility, things like that. And Asherah is demonized within the Deuteronomistic literature and later literature, but pre-Deuteronomistic texts never s- have anything nasty to say about Asherah. And so there's an argument, and there's been a paper that was published on this, uh, 2019, by Ranen Aichler, uh, called The Priestly Asherah, which makes the case that the story is actually an attempt to account for why there was an Asherah pole-

Dan Beecher Hmm

Dan McClellan ... in the Holy of Holies. And we have-

Dan Beecher A- an account, so, so, like, as opposed to the idea of Asherah worship having been condoned, you're saying that this, the, the, the theory is that this would've been a re- a retcon of why that pole was in there that doesn't involve Asherah?

Dan McClellan Uh, yeah. Yeah, this is, this is a way, this sanitizes the presence-

Dan Beecher Okay

Dan McClellan ... of this, of this pole in there. Now, it depends on, on when this was written. Uh, it depends on, on a lot of different things. But th- this is a fascinating way to, uh, to account for, bec- because you, later on, again, when they talk about Aaron's budding rod, it's always like, oh, they stuck it in the Ark of the Covenant. They were like, "Put it in the garage- ... in the big box."

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan Remember, we have the, we have the two tablets of the law. We have the, the manna that we put in there. Throw the rod in there as well. Even though it seems to me, I've a- I've always been confused by this. I picture the Ark of the Covenant as yay big. A walking staff would not fit inside the way I have always understood the dimensions of the Ark of the Covenant-

Dan Beecher Right

Dan McClellan ... unless it was a very, very small-

Dan Beecher And it does spell out, the Bible does spell out the dimensions of the ark.

Dan McClellan Yeah. Like, un- unless it's bottom corner to opposite top corner being wedged in there, I'm, it just doesn't seem to me like it would fit. But the story doesn't say it went in the Ark of the Covenant. The story said it went lifnei. Ha'idut. It went before, in front of-

Dan Beecher Okay

Dan McClellan ... the, the covenant, uh, or the testimony, which... And, and, uh, there's, there's a book called Biblical Ambiguities, uh, by, uh, another scholar named David Aaron, that talks a little bit about why things go in front of divine images, uh, in, in, rather than inside or whatever. But th- And, and this happens with, with, uh, a few different things. The testimony, there's a, the, uh, the two tablets of the law at one point, they are to be before the Ark of the Covenant rather than in.

Dan Beecher Mm.

Dan McClellan It's only later stories where they go in. So, like, there are a bunch of different ways that the, the story is suggestive of something, something peculiar here. But it also, it also raises an interesting question related to, uh, the, what goes on in Numbers 20. Numbers 20 is the entire reason that Moses did not get to enter the Promised Land.

Dan Beecher Oh, right.

Dan McClellan Do you recall anything about, uh, that story?

Dan Beecher Uh, that he did not get to go into the Promised Land. That's-

Dan McClellan That's what you recall. That

Dan Beecher is what I recall.

Dan McClellan That is accurate. Um, so the, the purpose was they had no water for the congregation. They ga- They... Everybody gathers together against Moses and Aaron. They're all mad again, even though God said, "This would stop them from being mad at you." Uh, and they're all whining. And God tells Moses, he tells him something to do. He says, "Take the staff." Okay, what staff?

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan It just says the staff. Uh, I believe it's hametah. Uh, but he, uh, "Take the staff, assemble the congregation, and then command the rock before their eyes to yield its water." Uh, Numbers 20:9, "So Moses took the staff, hametah," not metah. Excuse... I don't know why I did that. "Hametah, um, from before the Lord."

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan And, no, it do- Wait, it doesn't, it doesn't say the Lord. Uh, the congre- And, oh, um, hakah- uh, eh, hadatah. Okay, yeah, from before the Lord. So th- this is a staff that's sitting before the Lord. So this is not like, "Hey, that staff that's in your hand-

Dan Beecher Right

Dan McClellan ... do it with that." No, God says, "Take the staff from before the Lord." What staff is before is lifnei Adonai.

Dan Beecher Well-

Dan McClellan It's Aaron's bod- budding rod.

Dan Beecher There you go. That's, that's only two chapters earlier, so-

Dan McClellan Yeah, that's, that's-

Dan Beecher ... it makes, uh, like, yeah, if this were in a different book, then it would, then there would be much more question, but this is the same book. This is just two chapters separated, so it feels like-

Dan McClellan Yeah

Dan Beecher ... it's very safe to assume that we're talking about that rod.

Dan McClellan Yeah. I, uh, so yeah. Vayikach Moshe et-hamateh milifnei Adonai, uh, kay-asher tzivah hu, uh, as he commanded him. So we've got what seems to be Aaron's budding rod or an Asherah pole, and God tells Moses, "Take the Asherah pole and then command the, the rock, and it will bring forth water." And Moses goes, "Ha!" And, and-

Dan Beecher Mm-hmm

Dan McClellan ... and basically just smacks the rock with the budding rod, which may be the Asherah pole. And now God is like, "That's it. You lost. That was your last chance. No more going into the Promised Land for you, buddy." And it's, it's, it's always struck me and, and most readers of the Bible, most, most critical readers of the Bible as a, another overreaction, uh- ... for God to be like, "I told you to just command the rock, and you hit it. And that- ... so that's it. You don't get to go into the Promised Land. We've been wandering for 40 years-

Dan Beecher Yeah, right

Dan McClellan ... and it was all... And, and you gave it all up just because you wanted to slap that rock with a stick." Um-

Dan Beecher It does, it does seem like a, an overreaction. It, yeah, it seem, it, like, that, that could just be a misunderstanding.

Dan McClellan Yeah, but it, if, if there is more significance to the rod, particularly as an Asherah pole, uh, it's not the, Moses' own staff. It's the flowering rod of Aaron, which is supposed to represent the authority-

Dan Beecher Right

Dan McClellan ... that, that Moses and Aaron have. This is God's sign to the people that this is, uh, this is the person in whom I am placing, uh, this authority. Uh, it takes on new significance, and there, there, there are different ways that one could understand this. It's like, "Hey, that's my wife." You're, you're doing that too, uh-

Dan Beecher Right, right

Dan McClellan ... if, if we understand this as, as-

Dan Beecher You could have broken that. She was, she worked very hard on that.

Dan McClellan Yeah. Um, then, yeah, it's, it kind of changes the story a little bit.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan It is... I- and you know, it's a, it's a source of blessing. The, the one who is God's authorized spokesperson is the source of blessing. And what is, what is the Asherah if not a source of blessing? Now, blessing related to things like conception and childbirth and breastfeeding and fertility and things like that in, um, in ancient Israelite worship practices. But it's still a source of blessing. It, it, and it is associated with water as well, as, you know, it's a staff that's budding. It represents a tree. It, it can represent the tree of life.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan Uh, and so here, uh, yeah, it is the means of bringing water so that everybody can survive. So, uh, there, there are-

Dan Beecher Which is nice. You, you like to survive. Surviving is, uh- ... is good-

Dan McClellan Yeah

Dan Beecher ... for the most part

Dan McClellan ... so there's, yeah, there's, uh, there's a lot of interesting stuff in understanding, uh, Aaron's budding rod as- as an Asherah pole. And, you know, if we're understanding the, uh, the Nehushtan, which is the bronze serpent that, uh, Moses put on the end of a pole as another divine image that was in the temple, and I, I have argued that the tablets of the law were a divine image that were put into the temple. Like, they're, they were just collecting all kinds of divine images there, uh, in that temple, and that's why Hezekiah and later Josiah, at least from the perspective of the southern Judahite authors who are telling these stories, that was all big-time no-no.

Dan Beecher Yeah.

Dan McClellan And, uh, they, those things had to be brought out. They had to be crushed to dust, and the people who were responsible for facilitating that worship were, were killed, and their bones were ground to dust, and all kinds of, um, of bizarre stuff, uh, happened. But there's... And, and the connection with the tree of life is interesting. We've talked about the m- the menorah on the show in the past, haven't we?

Dan Beecher I... Pff, maybe. I don't know. How do I know what we've talked about?

Dan McClellan 'Cause the menorah is another connection here because even, even if we, um... You know, the, Aaron's budding rod is not always in the picture.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan It, we have a story about it here. Later on, it's in the Ark of the Covenant. But there is something else that is always in front of, or lifnei HaDut, uh, the, or the Ark of the Covenant, and that is the menorah, the lamp stand- Okay ... which is, uh, early drawings of it, kind of crude drawings, represent a, a, a central branch and then three half-circles pointed up, um, crossing that central branch.

Dan Beecher Right.

Dan McClellan And that's a menorah. But there's an interesting artifact known as the Lachish viewer from a place that, uh, is called Lachish, that it has a painting, uh, well, it has a few drawings and an inscription, and one of the drawings is a s- a tree with ibexes feeding on either side of it. But the tree is a central branch and then three upturned half-circles- Uh-huh ... representing the other branches.

Dan Beecher Okay.

Dan McClellan And so there are a number of scholars who have argued that the menorah, in its own way, represents Asherah or an Asherah pole. An Asherah pole. Okay. Yeah. And that, that Lachish viewer has an inscription, says, "For the goddess," on it. All right. So, so we've got, we've got a number of connections between things that are in the temple and Asherah, and Aaron's budding rod is just another connection that I, I think is fascinating. It's, it's an interesting story in its own right. In the kind of cycle of mumbling, God publicly kills thousands of people, mumbling- ... God publicly kills thousands of people, mumbling, and- Yeah ... they, then God says, "Well, this will stop the mumbling."

Dan Beecher This'll do it for sure. Yeah,

Dan McClellan and then it doesn't, and then God kills a bunch of people. So, uh, we've got... And then, uh, Moses, you know, the... Everybody's done terrible stuff, but Mo- uh, like, even Aaron created a divine image and told all of Israel to worship it while- Damn ... Moses was above getting, uh, the tablets of the law that say, "Don't worship divine images." Yeah. Aaron's fine. Like, Aaron's never threatened with death, but Moses slaps a rock with a stick, and suddenly he's not allowed to enter the Promised Land, so.

Dan Beecher You know, uh, mysterious ways, I think.

Dan McClellan The Book of Numbers is bonkers- It's wild ... is, uh, is what we're trying to say here. It's wild. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

Dan Beecher Well, uh, that is fun. I really love the Asherah connection. I think the Asherah stuff is fantastic. I'm a big, big fan of Asherah whenever- Yeah ... she pops up. Uh, so that's always good. Uh, listen, friends, that's it for the show today, but if you would like to become a part of making this show happen, of keeping us rolling, of, of, uh, you know, making us, uh, salient as an organization Uh, you can, you can actually do so in a couple of ways now. Um, you can subscribe here on YouTube, and I'm apo- I a- I have to apologize because I don't really understand how this works, but I'm guessing that if you look in the comments section of this, of this, uh, YouTube video, you will find the link to subscribe to us here. Or if you would rather, you can go and become a patron over on patreon.com/dataoverdogma where you can be a, uh, you can choose what level you want to sign up, and that's where you can receive early, uh... Oh, the YouTube thing, you get early access also. You'll get, you'll get all of the, all of the stuff a day early I think. But over on Patreon, there's also YouTube-exclusive content, or not You- Gosh dang it. I'll get through this, I promise. There is, there's patron-only content over there, uh, so, so consider s- signing up for one or the other of them. I'm, I'm guessing that we're, Dan, you and I are gonna start doing some, uh, YouTube exclusive, uh, like lives for- Mm-hmm ... our members and stuff, so. So sign up wherever you can. If you can do both, do both. Uh, but we don't expect it. Otherwise, thanks so much to Roger Goudy for editing the show. Thanks to Sam for being our right-hand man, and thanks to all of you for tuning in. We'll talk to you again next time. Bye, everybody.