Data Over Dogma Podcast

Currently Playing: Was Aaron's Rod an Asherah Pole?

Twelve tribal leaders each turn in a stick, and overnight Aaron's sprouts buds, blossoms, and ripe almonds — proof, Moses says, of who's actually in charge. But the story is careful to park that rod in FRONT of the ark rather than inside it, and that one preposition opens onto something much stranger: a stylized, blossoming almond tree standing in the holy of holies, and a 2019 argument that this whole episode is the priestly writers quietly explaining away an Asherah pole. Then it's on to Numbers 20, where Moses forfeits the promised land for smacking a rock with a staff — a story that gets much more interesting when that staff is Aaron's rod. _______________________________________________ Get your Data Over Dogma merch at our online store: https://data-over-dogma-shop.fourthwall.com/ _______________________________________________ Support Data Over Dogma and get every episode early and ad-free, plus exclusive bonus content — become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/DataOverDogma _______________________________________________ Listen to the podcast on every app: https://pod.link/1681418502 _______________________________________________ Follow us: Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/dataoverdogmapod TikTok — https://www.tiktok.com/@data.over.dogma.pod Threads — https://www.threads.com/@dataoverdogmapod X — https://x.com/data_over_dogma Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/DataOverDogmaPod _______________________________________________ Get Dan McClellan's New York Times bestselling book, The Bible Says So: https://static.macmillan.com/static/smp/bible-says-so-9781250347466/ _______________________________________________ Chapters: 0:00 A White Sox Miter 1:28 What's That: Aaron's Rod 2:05 Aaron, Moses's Mouthpiece 3:10 Rebellion in the Wilderness 4:31 Hebrew vs. English Chapters 5:09 Twelve Staffs, One Test 6:10 "Before the Covenant" 7:31 A Rigged Contest? 9:25 Buds, Blossoms, Ripe Almonds 10:58 Bel and the Dragon 12:27 Before the Ark, Not Inside 13:04 The Bronze Serpent 13:45 Josiah's Asherah Pole 14:36 Kuntillet Ajrud's Almond Tree 15:33 Who Was Asherah? 16:13 The Priestly Asherah 17:20 Would It Even Fit? 19:00 Numbers 20 and the Rock 20:42 Which Staff Was It? 22:28 Hitting God's Wife 23:11 Asherah and Living Water 25:00 The Menorah Connection 25:53 The Lachish Ewer 26:46 Numbers Is Bonkers 28:01 Closing _______________________________________________ #DataOverDogma #BibleScholarship #Asherah #BookOfNumbers #AaronsRod