Numbers 17:3

WEB

You shall write Aaron's name on the rod of Levi; for there shall be one rod for each head of their fathers' houses.

KJV

And thou shalt write Aaron’s name upon the rod of Levi: for one rod shall be for the head of the house of their fathers.

Commentary

And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi,.... Or upon the rod that was for the tribe of Levi; the name of "Aaron" was to be written, not the word " Levi", or a "Levite", as Josephus (e); for that would not have decided the controversy about the priesthood, which chiefly lay between the Levites and the family of Aaron, who were of the same tribe: for one rod shall be for the head of the house of their fathers; one rod for the head or prince of every tribe, every prince representing his own tribe he was the head of, and the rod the prince; and though the tribe of Levi was divided into two families, the family of the priests, and the family of the Levites; yet, as Jarchi observes, they were but one tribe, and so one rod for them, as for the other tribes. (e) Antiqu. l. 4. c. 4. sect. 2.