Commentaire de citation sur Les Nombres 17:18

with a bullock This does not mean that he should bring the bullock into the Holy of Holies. Rather, it means that he must first sacrifice his own bullock as a sin-offering, to atone for himself and for the kohanim (some say that his bullock also atones for the Levites, because they came across the verse “You will inscribe Aaron’s name upon the rod of the Levite tribe” [Numbers 17:18] — but this is far-fetched; the Levites are reckoned with the rest of Israel).

THOU SHALT WRITE EVERY MAN’S NAME UPON HIS ROD. Some commentators¹⁹²I have not identified these sources. See Ibn Ezra. explain that this refers to the name of the founder of the tribe: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. The correct interpretation is that it means the names of the [present] princes [of the tribes at that time], and He considered Aaron the prince of the tribe of Levi. It was necessary to explain¹⁹³In Verses 18 and 21. that they each had only one rod and one prince, meaning: “Even though I have divided them [the Levites] into two families, the priests separately and the Levites separately, yet they are [in fact] one tribe, and have only one prince.” The reason for this is as I have explained,¹⁹⁴Above, Verse 6 (towards the end). that they only needed proof that it was that tribe [i.e., the tribe of Levi] which was chosen out of all the tribes of Israel [to minister in the Tabernacle].