Great-grandson of Levi, son of Jacob, brother of Moses. Spokesman to Pharoah for Moses. One of the leaders of the people Israel in the desert. Caused the casting of the golden calf which the Israelites worshiped in the wilderness (Exodus 32). The rod of Aaron blossomed as a sign that he had been chosen by God to be first high priest of the Old Law. Not allowed to enter the Promised Land.

(Saint) High Priest of the Old Law. (July 1) (15th cent. B.C.) The great grandson of Levi, son of Jacob, and the first of the Jewish High Priests, to which office he was appointed by God Himself. He was the brother of Moses, the Hebrew Lawgiver, with whom he shared the leadership of the people of Israel. Like Moses, he never entered the land of Promise ; but died on Mount Hor, on the borders of Edom. He was succeeded by his son Eliezer (B.C. 1471) In art he is represented with a rod in flower, a censer and a Jewish mitre. The Book of Exodus contains all that we know concerning him.

Brother of Moses, and High Priest of the Old Law.

Altogether different views are taken of Aaron's life, according as the Pentateuch, which is the main source on the subject, is regarded as one continuous work, composed by Moses or under his supervision — hence most trustworthy in the narration of contemporary events — or as a compilation of several documents of divers origins and dates, strung together, at a late epoch, into the present form. The former conception, supported by the decisions of the Biblical Commission, is held by Catholics at large; many independent critics adopt the latter. We shall study this part of the subject under this twofold aspect, although dwelling longer, as is meet, on the former.

According to 1 Chronicles 6:1-3, Aaron (the signification of whose name is unknown) was the great-grandson of Levi, and the second of the children of Amram and Jochabed, Mary being the eldest and Moses the youngest. From Exodus 7:7, we learn that Aaron was born eighty-three, and Moses eighty years, before the Exodus. It may be admitted, however, that this pedigree is probably incomplete, and the age given perhaps incorrect.

We know nothing of Aaron's life prior to his calling. The first mention of his name occurs when Moses, during the vision on Mount Horeb, was endeavouring to decline the perilous mission imposed upon him, on the plea that he was slow of speech and lacking in eloquence. Yahweh answered his objection, saying that Aaron the Levite, who was endowed with eloquence, would be his spokesman. About the same time Aaron also was called from on high. He then went to meet Moses, in order to be instructed by him in the designs of God; then they assembled the ancients of the people, and Aaron, who worked miracles to enforce the words of his divine mission, announced to them the good tidings of the coming freedom (Exodus 4). To deliver God's message to the King was a far more laborious task. Pharao harshly rebuked Moses and Aaron, whose interference proved disastrous to the Israelites (Exodus 5). These latter, overburdened with the hard work to which they were subjected, bitterly murmured against their leaders. Moses in turn complained before God, who replied by confirming his mission and that of his brother. Encouraged by this fresh assurance of Yahweh's help, Moses and Aaron again appeared before the King at Tanis (Psalm 77:12), there to break the stubbornness of Pharao's will by working the wonders known as the ten plagues. In these, according to the sacred narrative, the part taken by Aaron was most prominent. Of the ten plagues, the first three and the sixth were produced at his command; both he and his brother were each time summoned before the King, both likewise received from God the last instructions for the departure of the people, to both was, in later times, attributed Israel's deliverance from the land of bondage; both finally repeatedly became the target for the complaints and reproaches of the impatient and inconsistent Israelites.

When the Hebrews reached the desert of Sin, tired by their long march, fearful at the thought of the coming scarcity of food, and perhaps weakened already by privations, they began to regret the abundance of the days of their sojourn in Egypt, and murmured against Moses and Aaron. But the two leaders were soon sent by God to appease their murmuring by the promise of a double sign of the providence and care of God for His people. Quails came up that same evening, and the next morning the manna, the new heavenly bread with which God was to feed His people in the wilderness, lay for the first time round the camp. Aaron was commanded to keep a gomor of manna and put it in the tabernacle in memory of this wonderful event. This is the first circumstance in which we hear of Aaron in reference to the tabernacle and the sacred functions (Exodus 16). At Raphidim, the third station after the desert of Sin, Israel met the Amalecites and fought against them. While the men chosen by Moses battled in the plain, Aaron and Hur were with Moses on the top of a neighbouring hill, whither the latter had betaken himself to pray, and when he "lifted up his hands, Israel overcame: but if he let them down a little, Amalec overcame. And Moses' hands were heavy: so they took a stone, and put under him and he sat on it: and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands on both sides" until Amalec was put to flight (Exodus 17). In the valley of Mount Sinai the Hebrews received the Ten Commandments; then Aaron, in company with seventy of the ancients of Israel, went upon the mountain, to be favoured by a vision of the Almighty, "and they saw the God of Israel: and under his feet as it were a work of sapphire stone, and as the heaven when clear." Thereupon Moses, having entrusted to Aaron and Hur the charge of settling the difficulties which might arise, went up to the top of the mountain.

His long delay finally excited in the minds of the Israelites the fear that he had perished. They gathered around Aaron and requested him to make them a visible God that might go before them. Aaron said: "Take the golden earrings from the ears of your wives, and your sons and daughters, and bring them to me." When he had received them, he made of them a molten calf before which he built up an altar, and the children of Israel were convoked to celebrate their new god. What was Aaron's intention in setting up the golden calf? Whether he and the people meant a formal idolatry, or rather wished to raise up a visible image of Yahweh their deliverer, has been the subject of many discussions; the texts, however, seem to favour the latter opinion (cf. Exodus 32:4). Be this as it may, Moses, at God's command, came down from the mountain in the midst of the celebration — at the sight of the apparent idolatry, filled with a holy anger, he broke the Tables of the Law, took hold of the idol, burnt it and beat it to powder, which he strewed into the water. Then, addressing his brother as the real and answerable author of the evil: "What," said he, "has this people done to thee, that thou shouldst bring upon them a most heinous sin?" (Exodus 32:21). To this so well deserved reproach, Aaron made only an embarrassed answer, and he would undoubtedly have undergone the chastisement for his crime with the three thousand men (so with the best textual authority, although the Vulgate reads three and twenty thousand) that were slain by the Levites at Moses' command (Exodus 32:28), had not the latter prayed for him and allayed God's wrath (Deuteronomy 9:20).

In spite of the sin, God did not alter the choice he had made of Aaron (Hebrews 5:4) to be Israel's first High Priest. When the moment came, Moses consecrated him, according to the ritual given in Exodus 29, for his sublime functions; in like manner Nadab, Abiu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, Aaron's sons he devoted to the divine service. What the high priesthood was, and by what rites it was conferred we shall see later. The very day of Aaron's consecration, God, by an awful example, indicated with what perfection sacred functions ought to be performed. At the incense-offering, Nadab and Abiu put strange fire into the censers and offered it up before the Lord, whereupon a flame, coming out from the Lord, forthwith struck them to death, and they were taken away from before the sanctuary vested with their priestly garments and cast forth out of the camp. Aaron, whose heart had been filled with awe and sorrow at this dreadful scene, neglected also an important ceremony; but his excuse fully satisfied Moses and very likely God Himself, for no further chastisement punished his forgetfulness (Leviticus 10; Numbers 3:4, 26:61).

In Leviticus 16 we see him perform the rites of the Day of Atonement — in like manner, to him were transmitted the precepts concerning the sacrifices and sacrificers (Leviticus 17, 21, 22). A few months later, when the Hebrews reached Haseroth, the second station after Mount Sinai, Aaron fell into a new fault. He and Mary "spoke against Moses, because of his wife the Ethiopian. And they said: Hath the Lord spoken by Moses only?" (Numbers 12). From the entire passage, especially from the fact that Mary alone was punished, it has been surmised that Aaron's sin was possibly a mere approval of his sister's remarks; perhaps also he imagined that his elevation to the high priesthood should have freed him from all dependence upon his brother. However the case may be, both were summoned by God before the tabernacle, there to hear a severe rebuke. Mary, besides, was covered with leprosy; but Aaron, in the name of both, made amends to Moses, who in turn besought God to heal Mary. Moses' dignity had been, to a certain extent, disowned by Aaron. The latter's prerogatives likewise excited the jealousy of some of the sons of Ruben; they roused even the envy of the other Levites. The opponents, about two hundred and fifty in number, found their leaders in Core, a cousin of Moses and of Aaron, Dathan, Abiron, and Hon, of the tribe of Ruben. The terrible punishment of the rebels and of their chiefs, which had at first filled the multitude with awe, soon roused their anger and stirred up a spirit of revolt against Moses and Aaron who sought refuge in the tabernacle. As soon as they entered it "the glory of the Lord appeared. And the Lord said to Moses: Get you out from the midst of this multitude, this moment will I destroy them" (Numbers 16:43-45). And, indeed, a burning fire raged among the people and killed many of them. Then again, Aaron, at Moses' order, holding his censer in his hand, stood between the dead and the living to pray for the people, and the plague ceased.

The authority of the Supreme Pontiff, strongly confirmed before the people, very probably remained thenceforth undiscussed. God, nevertheless, wished to give a fresh testimony of His favour. He commanded Moses to take and lay up in the tabernacle the rods of the princes of the Twelve Tribes, with the name of every man written upon his rod. The rod of Levi's tribe should bear Aaron's name: "whomsoever of these I shall choose," the Lord had said "his rod shall blossom." The following day, when they returned to the tabernacle, they "found that the rod of Aaron . . . was budded: and that the buds swelling it had bloomed blossoms, which, spreading the leaves were formed into almonds." All the Israelites, seeing this, understood that Yahweh's choice was upon Aaron, whose rod was brought back into the tabernacle as an everlasting testimony. Of the next thirty-seven years of Aaron's life, the Bible gives no detail; its narrative is concerned only with the first three and the last years of the wandering life of the Hebrews in the desert, but from the events above described, we may conclude that the life of the new pontiff was passed unmolested in the performance of his sacerdotal functions.

In the first month of the thirty-ninth year after the Exodus, the Hebrews camped at Cades, where Mary, Aaron's sister, died and was buried. There the people were in want of water and soon murmured against Moses and Aaron. Then God said to Moses: "Take the rod, and assemble the people together thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak to the rock before them, and it shall yield waters" (Numbers 20:8). Moses obeyed and struck the rock twice with the rod, so that there came forth water in great abundance. We learn from Psalm 105:33, that Moses in this circumstance was inconsiderate in his words, perhaps when he expressed a doubt as to whether he and Aaron could bring forth water out of the rock. Anyway God showed himself greatly displeased at the two brothers and declared that they would not bring the people into the Land of Promise. This divine word received, four months later, its fulfilment in Aaron's case. When the Hebrews reached Mount Hor, on the borders of Edom, God announced to Moses that his brother's last day had come, and commanded him to bring him up on the mountain. In sight of all the people, Moses went up with Aaron and Eleazar. Then he stripped Aaron of all the priestly garments wherewith he vested Eleazar, and Aaron died. Moses then came down with Eleazar and all the multitude mourned for Aaron thirty days. Mussulmans honour on Djebel Nabi-Haroun a monument they call Aaron's tomb, the authenticity of this sepulchre, however, is not altogether certain.

By his marriage with Elizabeth Nahason's sister four sons were born to Aaron. The first two, Nadab and Abiu, died without leaving posterity, but the descendants of the two others, Eleazar and Ithamar, became very numerous. None of them, however, honoured Aaron's blood as much as John the Baptist, who besides being the Precursor of the Messias, was proclaimed by the Word made Flesh "the greatest among them that are born of women" (Matthew 11:11).

Aaron's history takes on an entirely different aspect when the various sources of the Pentateuch are distinguished and dated after the manner commonly adopted by independent critics. As a rule it may be stated that originally the early Judean narrative (J) did not mention Aaron — if his name now appears here and there in the parts attributed to that source, it is most likely owing to an addition by a late redactor. There are two documents, principally, that speak of Aaron. In the old prophetic traditions circulating among the Ephraimites (E) Aaron figured as a brother and helper of Moses. He moves in the shadow of the latter, in a secondary position, as, for instance, during the battle against Amalec; with Hur, he held up his brother's hands until the enemy was utterly defeated. To Aaron, in some passages, the supreme authority seems to have been entrusted, in the absence of the great leader, as when the latter was up on Mount Sinai; but his administration proved weak, since he so unfortunately yielded to the idolatrous tendencies of the people. According to the document in question, Aaron is neither the pontiff nor the minister of prayer. It is Moses who raises his voice to God at the tabernacle (Exodus 33:7-10), and we might perhaps understand from the same place (Exodus 33:11) that Josue, not Aaron, ministers in the tent of meeting; in like manner, Josue, not Aaron, goes up with Moses on Mount Sinai, to receive the stone Tables of the Law (Exodus 24:13).

In the Priestly narratives (P) Aaron, on the contrary, occupies a most prominent place — there we learn, indeed, with Aaron's pedigree and age, almost all the above-narrated particulars, all honourable for Moses' brother, such, for instance, as the part played by Aaron in the plagues, his role in some memorable events of the desert life, as the fall of the manna, the striking of water from the rock, the confirmation of the prerogatives of his priesthood against the pretensions of Core and the others, and, finally, the somewhat mysterious relation of his death, as it is found in Numbers 20. From this analysis of the sources of his history Aaron's great personality has undoubtedly come out belittled, chiefly because of the reputation of the writer of the Priestly narrative; critics charge him with caste prejudices and an unconcealed desire of extolling whatever has reference to the sacerdotal order and functions, which too often drove him to exaggerations, upon which history can hardly rely, and even to forgeries.

Whatever opinion they adopt with regard to the historical value of all the traditions concerning Aaron's life, all scholars, whether Catholics or independent critics, admit that in Aaron's High Priesthood the sacred writer intended to describe a model, the prototype, so to say, of the Jewish High Priest. God, on Mount Sinai, instituting a worship, did also institute an order of priests. According to the patriarchal customs, the first born son in every family used to perform the functions connected with God's worship. It might have been expected, consequently, that Ruben's family would be chosen by God for the ministry of the new altar. According to the biblical narrative, it was Aaron, however, who was the object of Yahweh's choice. To what jealousies this gave rise later, has been indicated above. The office of the Aaronites was at first merely to take care of the lamp that should ever burn before the veil of the tabernacle (Exodus 27:21). A more formal calling soon followed (28:1). Aaron and his sons, distinguished from the common people by their sacred functions, were likewise to receive holy vestments suitable to their office. When the moment had come, when the tabernacle, and all its appurtenances, and whatever was required for Yahweh's worship were ready Moses, priest and mediator (Galatians 3:19), offered the different sacrifices and performed the many ceremonies of the consecration of the new priests, according to the divine instructions (Exodus 29), and repeated these rites for seven days, during which Aaron and his sons were entirely separated from the rest of the people. When, on the eighth day, the High Priest had inaugurated his office of sacrificer by killing the victims, he blessed the people, very likely according to the prescriptions of Numbers 6:24-26, and, with Moses, entered into the tabernacle so as to take possession thereof. As they "came forth and blessed the people. And the glory of the Lord appeared to all the multitude: And behold a fire, coming forth from the Lord, devoured the holocaust, and the fat that was upon the altar: which when the multitude saw, they praised the Lord, falling on their faces" (Leviticus 9:23, 24). So was the institution of the Aaronic priesthood inaugurated and solemnly ratified by God.

According to Wellhausen's just remarks, Aaron's position in the Law with regard to the rest of the priestly order is not merely superior, but unique. His sons and the Levites act under his superintendence (Numbers 3:4), he alone is the one fully qualified priest; he alone bears the Urim and Thummin and the Ephod — he alone is allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, there to offer incense (Leviticus 23:27) once a year on the great Day of Atonement. In virtue of his spiritual dignity as the head of the priesthood he is likewise the supreme judge and head of the theocracy (Numbers 27:21 - Deuteronomy 17). He alone is the answerable mediator between the whole nation and God, for this cause he bears the names of the Twelve Tribes written on his breast and shoulders; his trespasses involve the whole people in guilt, and are atoned for as those of the whole people, while the princes, when their sin offerings are compared with his, appear as mere private persons (Leviticus 4:3, 13, 22; 9:7; 16:6). His death makes an epoch; it is when the High Priest, not the King, dies, that the fugitive slayer obtains his amnesty (Numbers 35:28). At his investiture he receives the chrism like a king and is called accordingly the anointed priest, he is adorned with a diadem and tiara like a king (Exodus 28), and like a king, too, he wears the purple, except when he goes into the Holy of Holies (Leviticus 16:4).

Aaron, first High Priest of the Old Law, is most naturally a figure of Jesus Christ, first and sole Sovereign Priest of the New Dispensation. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews was the first to set off the features of this parallel, indicating especially two points of comparison. First, the calling of both High Priests: "Neither doth any man take the honour to himself, but he that is called by God as Aaron was. So Christ also did not glorify himself, that he might be made a high priest, but he that said unto him: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee" (Hebrews 5:4-5). In the second place, the efficacy and duration of both the one and the other priesthood. Aaron's priesthood is from this viewpoint inferior to that of Jesus Christ. If indeed, the former had been able to perfect men and communicate to them the justice that pleases God, another would have been useless. Hence its inefficacy called for a new one, and Jesus' priesthood has forever taken the place of that of Aaron (Hebrews 7:11-12)

Souvay, Charles. "Aaron." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 1 Jul. 2020 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01003a.htm>.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

In the post-exilic parts of the OT (including Ezra, Neh., Ch., and for our present purpose some of the Psalms) Aaron is the ancestor of all lawful priests, [1] and himself the first and typical high-priest. This view is founded upon the priestly document in the Hexateuch, according to which Aaron, the elder brother of Moses, took a prominent part, as Moses’ prophet or interpreter, in the negotiations with Pharaoh, and was ultimately, together with his sons, consecrated by Moses to the priesthood. The rank and influence which are assigned to him are manifestly not equal to those of Moses, who stood to Pharaoh as a god (Ex. 7 1). He does, indeed, perform miracles before Pharaoh—he changes his rod into a serpent which swallows up the rods, similarly transformed, of the Egyptian sorcerers; and with the same rod he changes the waters of Egypt into blood, and brings the plagues of frogs and lice—but the order to execute the marvel is in each case communicated to him through Moses (Ex.7 f.). It is Moses, not Aaron, who disables the sorcerers by boils {Ex.9 8 f.), and causes the final destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea (14 15-18). Through his consecration by Moses, Aaron became ‘the priest’ (so usually) or, as he is elsewhere called, ‘the anointed priest’ (Lev. 43 5 16 6 15) or ‘the high-priest’ (Lev. 21 10 Nu. 35 25 28). His sons, representing the common priests, act under him (Nu. 3 4). As high-priest he has splendid vestments, different from those of his sons (Ex. 28); he alone is anointed (Ex.29 7) [2]; he alone, once a year, can enter the holy of holies (Lev. 16). He is the great representative of the tribe of Levi; and his rod, unlike the rods taken to represent the other tribes, buds miraculously, and is laid up for ever by the ark (Nu. 17 6 f. [21 f.]). Within this tribe, however, it is only the direct descendants of Aaron who may approach the altar, so that Korah the Levite, when he claims the power of the priesthood, is consumed by fire from Yahwè (Nu. 16 35). Aaron occasionally receives the law directly from Yahwè (Nu. 18). Even his civil authority is great, for he, with Moses, numbers the people (Nu. 1 3 17), and it is against him as well as against Moses that the rebellion of the Israelites is directed (Ex. l6 2 Nu. 14 2 5 26 16 3). This authority would have been greater but for the exceptional position of Moses, for in the priestly portions of Joshua the name of Eleazar (q.v. i), the next high-priest, is placed before that of Joshua. The ‘priestly’ writer mentions only one blot in the character of Aaron : viz., that in some way, which cannot be clearly ascertained in the present state of the text, he rebelled against Yahwè in the wilderness of Zin, when told to ‘speak to the rock’ and bring forth water (Nu. 2O 12). In penalty he dies, outside Canaan, at Mount Hor, on the borders of Edom (v. 22 f.).

As we ascend to the exilic and pre-exilic literature, Aaron is still a prominent figure; but he is no longer either the high-priest or the ancestor of all legitimate priests. Ezekiel traces the origin of the priests at Jerusalem no farther back than to Zadok (q.v. 1, § 3) in Solomon’s time. Dt. 10 6 (which mentions Aaron’s death, not at Hor but at Moserah, and the fact that Eleazar succeeded him in the priesthood) is generally and rightly regarded as an interpolation. In Mic. 6 4 (time of Manasseh?) Aaron is mentioned between Moses and Miriam as instrumental in the redemption of Israel.

In the Elohistic document of the Hexateuch (E) he is mentioned as the brother of Miriam the prophetess (Ex. 15 20; for other references to him see Ex. 17 12 24 1 9 10 14, Nu. 12 1); but it is Joshua, not Aaron, who is the minister of Moses in sacred things, and keeps guard over the tent of meeting (Ex. 33 11), and ‘young men of the children of Israel’ offer sacrifice, while the solenm act of sprinkling the blood of the covenant is reserved for Moses (Ex.24 5 6). Aaron, however, seems to have counted in the mind of E as the ancestor of the priests at ‘the hill of Phinehas’ (Josh. 24 33) and perhaps of those at Bethel. At all events, the author of a section added in a later edition of E speaks of Aaron as yielding to the people while Moses is absent on Mount Horeb, and taking the lead in the worship of Yahwè under the form of a golden calf. The narrator, influenced by prophetic teaching, really means to attack the worship carried on at the great sanctuary of Bethel, and looks back to the destruction of Samaria by the Assyrians in 721 as Yahwè’s ‘visitation’ of the idolatrous worship maintained in N. Israel (Ex. 32 ; see especially v. 34).

It is extremely probable that Aaron’s name was absent altogether from the earliest document of the Hexateuch (J) in its original form. In it Aaron appears only to disappear. For example, according to our present text, Pharaoh sends for Moses and Aaron that they may entreat Yahwè to remove the plague of frogs ; but in the course of the narrative Aaron is ignored, and the plague is withdrawn simply ‘at the word of Moses’ (Ex. 8 8-15 a [4-11 a]). Apparently, therefore, the name of Aaron has been introduced here and there into J by the editor who united it to E (cp Exodus, § 3 n.). If that is so we may perhaps agree with Oort that the legend of Aaron belonged originally to the ‘house of Joseph,’ which regarded Aaron as the ancestor of the priests of Bethel, and that single members of this clan succeeded, in spite of Ezekiel, in obtaining recognition as priests at Jerusalem. So, doubtfully, Stade (GVI i. 583), who points out that no strict proof of this hypothesis can be offered.

As to the derivation of ‘Aaron,’ Redslob’s ingenious conjecture that it is but a more flowing pronunciation of hā’ārōn, ‘the ark,” is worth considering only if we can regard Aaron as the mythical ancestor of the priests of Jerusalem (bnē hā’ārōn = bnē Aharōn).

Aaron, the traditional founder and head of the Jewish priesthood, who, in company with Moses, led the Israelites out of Egypt. The greater part of his life-history is preserved in late Biblical narratives, which carry back existing conditions and beliefs to the time of the Exodus, and find a precedent for contemporary hierarchical institutions in the events of that period. Although Aaron was said to have been sent by Yahweh (Jehovah) to meet Moses at the “mount of God” (Horeb, Ex. iv. 27), he plays only a secondary part in the incidents at Pharaoh’s court. After the “exodus” from Egypt a striking account is given of the vision of the God of Israel vouchsafed to himand to his sons Nadab and Abihu on the same holy mount (Ex. xxiv. 1 seq. 9-11), and together with Hur he was at the side of Moses when the latter, by means of his wonder-working rod, enabled Joshua to defeat the Amalekites (xvii. 8-16). Hur and Aaron were left in charge of the Israelites when Moses and Joshua ascended the mount to receive the Tables of the Law (xxiv. 12-15), and when the people, in dismay at the prolonged absence of their leader, demanded a god, it was at the instigation of Aaron that the golden calf was made. This was regarded as an act of apostasy which, according to one tradition, led to the consecration of the Levites, and almost cost Aaron his life (cp. Deut. ix. 20). The incident paves the way for the account of the preparation of the new tables of stone which contain a series of laws quite distinct from the Decalogue (Ex. xxxiii. seq.). Kadesh, and not Sinai or Horeb, appears to have been originally the scene of these incidents (Deut. xxxiii. 8 seq. compared with Ex. xxxii. 26 sqq.), and it was for some obscure offence at this place that both Aaron and Moses were prohibited from entering the Promised Land (Num. xx.). In what way they had not “sanctified” (an allusion in the Hebrew to Kadesh “holy”) Yahweh is quite uncertain, and it would appear that it was for a similar offence that the sons of Aaron mentioned above also met their death (Lev. x. 3; cp. Num. xx. 12, Deut. xxxii. 51). Aaron is said to have died at Moserah (Deut. x. 6), or at Mt. Hor; the latter is an unidentified site on the border of Edom (Num. xx. 23, xxxiii. 37; for Moserah see ib. 30-31), and consequently not in the neighbourhood of Petra, which has been the traditional scene from the time of Josephus.

Several difficulties in the present Biblical text appear to have arisen from the attempt of later tradition to find a place for Aaron in certain incidents. In the account of the contention between Moses and his sister Miriam (Num. xii.), Aaron occupies only a secondary position, and it is very doubtful whether he was originally mentioned in the older surviving narratives. It is at least remarkable that he is only thrice mentioned in Deuteronomy (ix. 20, x. 6, xxxii. 50). The post-exilic narratives give him a greater share in the plagues of Egypt, represent him as high-priest, and confirm his position by the miraculous budding of his rod alone of all the rods of the other tribes (Num. xvii). The latter story illustrates the growth of the older exodus-tradition along with the development of priestly ritual: the old account of Korah’s revolt against the authority of Moses has been expanded, and now describes (a) the divine prerogatives of the Levites in general, and (b) the confirmation of the superior privileges of the Aaronites against the rest of the Levites, a development which can scarcely be earlier than the time of Ezekiel (xliv. 15 seq.).

Aaron’s son Eleazar was buried in an Ephraimite locality known after the grandson as the “hill of Phinehas” (Josh. xxiv. 33). Little historical information has been preserved of either. The name Phinehas (apparently of Egyptian origin) is better known as that of a son of Eli, a member of the priesthood of Shiloh, and Eleazar is only another form of Eliezer the son of Moses, to whose kin Eli is said to have belonged. The close relation between Aaronite and Levitical names and those of clans related to Moses is very noteworthy, and it is a curious coincidence that the name of Aaron’s sister Miriam appears in a genealogy of Caleb (1 Chron. iv. 17) with Jether (cp. Jethro) and Heber (cp. Kenites). In view of the confusion of the traditions and the difficulty of interpreting the details sketched above, the recovery of the historical Aaron is a work of peculiar intricacy. He may well have been the traditional head of the priesthood, and R. H. Kennett has argued in favour of the view that he was the founder of the cult at Bethel, corresponding to the Mosaite founder of Dan. This throws no light upon the name, which still remains quite obscure; and unless Aaron (Aharon) is based upon Aron, “ark”, it must be placed in a line with the other un-Hebraic and difficult names associated with Moses and Aaron, which are, apparently, of South Palestinian (or North-Arabian) origin.

Brother of Moses and high priest of the Old Law; chosen by Moses to be his spokesman before Pharoah (Exodus 4, 7, 8). He caused the casting of the golden calf which the Israelites worshiped in the wilderness (Exodus 32), but at the prayer of Moses he was spared the fate of the three thousand worshipers (Deuteronomy 9). The rod of Aaron blossomed as a sign that he had been chosen by God to be first high priest (Leviticus 8). He was not allowed to enter the Land of Promise, but died on Mount Hor (Numbers 20). His son Eleazar and descendants, Aaronites, were consecrated as an hereditary priesthood.

See Aaron, God’s anointed priest,
Within the veil appear;
In robes of mystic meaning dressed,
Presenting Israel’s prayer.

The plate of gold which crowns his brows,
His holiness describes;
His breast displays, in shining rows,
The names of all the tribes.

With the atoning blood he stands,
Before the mercy-seat;
And clouds of incense from his hands,
Arise with odor sweet.

Urim and Thummim near his heart,
In rich engravings worn;
The sacred light of truth impart,
To teach and to adorn.

Through him the eye of faith descries,
A greater Priest than he;
Thus JESUS pleads above the skies,
For you, my friends, and me.

He bears the names of all his saints,
Deep on his heart engraved;
Attentive to the state and wants
Of all his love has saved.

In him a holiness complete,
Light and perfections shine;
And wisdom, grace, and glory meet;
A Savior all divine.

The blood, which as a Priest he bears
For sinners, is his own
The incense of his prayers and tears
Perfume the holy throne.

In him my weary soul has rest,
Though I am weak and vile
I read my name upon his breast,
And see the Father smile.