The rod was an apt signification of the head of a family, for the word signifies tribes as well as rod. It is used so: Numbers 34:13.
Related Commentaries of Numbers 17:6
Numbers 17:6
6 And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of their princes gave him a roda apiece, for each prince one, according to their fathers' houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.