Aaron
Brother of Moses, and
High Priest of the
Old Law.
I. LIFE
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.
(a) Traditional Catholic Standpoint
According to I Paral., vi, 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 Ex., vii, 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 (Ex., iv). 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 (Ex., v). 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 (Ps. lxxvii, 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 (Ex., xvi). 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 therm 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 (Ex., xvii). 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. Ex., xxxii, 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 strowed 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?" (Ex., xxxii 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 (Ex., xxxii, 28), had not the latter prayed for him
and allayed God's wrath (Deut., ix, 20).
In spite of the sin, God did not alter the choice he had made of Aaron
(Hebr., v, 4) to be Israel's first High Priest. When the moment came, Moses
consecrated him, according to the ritual given in Ex., xxix, 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 (Lev., x, Num., iii, 4, xxvi, 61).
In Lev., xvi, 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 (Lev., xvii, xxi, xxii). 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? " (Num., xii). 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" (Num., xvi, 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" (Num., xx, 8). Moses obeyed and struck the rock twice with the rod, so
that there came forth water in great abundance. We learn from Ps. cv, 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" (Matt., xi, 11).
(b) Independent Standpoint
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 Aaronif 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 (Ex., xxxiii, 7-10), and we might perhaps understand from the
same place (v. 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 (Ex., xxiv, 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 Num., xx. 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.
II. PRIESTHOOD
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 (Ex., xxvii, 21). A more formal calling
soon followed (xxviii, 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 (Gal., iii, 19), offered the different
sacrifices and performed the many ceremonies of the consecration of the new
priests, according to the divine instructions (Ex., xxix), 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 Num., vi, 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|Lev . ix. 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 (Num., iii, 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 (Lev., xxiii, 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 (Num., xxvii, 21- Deut., xvii). 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 (Lev., iv, 3, 13, 22,
ix, 7, xvi, 6). His death makes an epoch; it is when the High Priest, not the
King, dies, that the fugitive slayer obtains his amnesty (Num., xxxv, 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
(Ex., xxviii), and like a king, too, he wears the purple, except when he goes into
the Holy of Holies (Lev., xvi,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 Xigh 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" (Heb., v, 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 (Heb., vii, 11-12).
CHAS. L. SOUVAY
The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia