Aaron

Older brother of Moses (by three years, Exo 7:7) and partner in leadership over the Israelites whom they led out of Egypt towards the Promised Land. Aaron died, aged 83, shortly before Moses, both failing to enter the Promised Land.

Background

Nothing is known about Aaron before God, in anger with Moses (for refusing to heed God's call to return to Egypt to rescue Israel from their bondage), appointed him—in his absence—as Moses' "spokesman to the people" (Exo 4:14). Instructed by God to visit Moses, Aaron learned of his appointment from his brother (v27), Aaron quickly embraced his calling and thus began four decades of—not always smooth and easy—partnership until death separated them. It is only in Exo 6 that we begin to get a clearer glimpse of him as a person: he was the second child but first son of Amram and Jochebed (v20) and that he was married to Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, with whom he had four sons, Nadab, Alihu, Eleazar and Itthamar (v23).

Character

Not having had the formal education and exposure that Moses had in the courts of Pharaoh, Aaron lacked the self-confidence that so marked Moses. As he result he was given often to doing the wishes of others rather than out of his own conviction. This is clearly apparent in the incidence of the making of the golden calf at Mount Sinai (Exo 32:1ff.). Confronted by Moses, Aaron could only respond with a limpness that would have been laughable if it was not so serious:

You know how prone these people are to evil. They said to me, 'Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him.' So I told them, 'Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.' Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!" (Exod. 32:22-24).

This lack of a steady spine seemed also to be at work in Num 23, when he followed his sister, Miriam, in speaking against Moses (the account opens with Miriam's name, suggesting that she was the master-mind). Some commentators have suggested that it may also have been this readiness to give others leeway in his own decisions that led to his ban from, and death outside, the Promised Land. Ordered at Meribah to speak to the rock that was supposed then to issue the water that the people so badly needed, Moses struck the rock twice instead (Num 20:11). Aaron, it has been suggested, failed to counsel his younger brother against his anger and went along with Moses instead. It is difficult, however, to see how Aaron could have disavowed himself from Moses since the latter obviously had acted on the spur of the moment.

Office

Though not enjoying the prestige Moses enjoyed, Aaron shared in the high calling at a crucial time in the history of Israel when she was birth as a people of God. As "Moses's prophet" (Exo 7:1), they confronted Pharaoh time and again, working the mighty signs of God, until the king relented. Together they led the people as they were pursued by the pharaoh's army once the latter had recovered from his humiliation. At Sinai, he and his sons came into their own when Yahweh commanded that they serve Him as priests and given garments to mark them out with dignity and honour (Exo 28:1ff.). Despite Aaron's failure with the golden calf soon afterwards (Exo 32), he was not removed from office. Disaster and tragedy, however, would soon befall him when his two sons, Nadab and Abihu were consumed by fire from Yahweh when they "offered unauthorized fire" during a sacrifice at the altar (Lev 10:1). What made it doubly difficult for Aaron must have been the fact that he was disallowed to mourn for them or to attend to their burial personally (vv4-7). It is likely that the two sons had been under the influence of alcohol when they offered up the "fire" because, immediately afterwards, Yahweh instructed Aaron that he and his sons were "not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the tent of meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, so that you can distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, and so you can teach the Israelites all the decrees the Lord has given them through Moses" (10:9-11). Though blessed with the additional privileges of consuming the foods offered to the Lord, Aaron found little joy in them (v19).

Death and Succession

Aaron's death came soon after they arrived at Mount Hor, near the borders of Edom. Informed of his brother's impending death, Moses took Aaron and Eleazar up the mountain. There Aaron died, aged 123. "Moses removed Aaron's garments and put them on his son Eleazar." (Num 20:28). In his honour, the whole community of Israelites mourned for him thirty days.

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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (longer) M

Eaton's Illustrated Bible Dictionary (shorter) M