AaroN

AARON, the traditional founder and head of the Jewish

priesthood, who, in company with Moses, led the Israelites

out of Egypt (see EXODUS; MOSES) . 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

him and 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 (see

CALF, GOLDEN). 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 (q.v.) (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 (Ant. iv. 4. 7).

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.; for parallels see Gray comm.

ad loc., p. 217). 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 (Journ. of Theol. Stud.,

1905, pp. 161 sqq.), corresponding to the Mosaite founder

of Dan (q.v.). This throws no light upon the name, which

still remains quite obscure: and unless Aaron (Aharon) is

based upon Aron, ``ark'' (Redslob, R. P. A. Dozy, J. P.

N. Land), names associated with Moses and Aaron, which are,

apparently, of South Palestinian (or North-Arabian) origin.

For the literature and a general account of the Jewish

priesthood, see the articles LEVTTES and PRIEST. . (S. A. C.)

Source: An unnamed encyclopedia from a project that puts out-of-copyright texts into the public domain.

This is from a *very* old source, and reflects the thinking of the turn of the last century.