Aaron

Aaron (אַהֲרֹן;, "bearer of martyrs", also related to the Egyptian "Aha Rw," "Warrior Lion"), Standard Hebrew Aharon), was the elder brother of Moses and the eldest son of Amram and Jochebed (Exodus 6:16 ff.; Numbers 33:39). He is considered the founder, ancestor and head of the Jewish priesthood. Together with Moses, he performed many miracles and led the Israelites out of Egypt. The greater part of his life-history is preserved in Biblical narratives.

Although he is particularly famous for his role in forging the idolatrous Golden Calf, Aaron is also revered in rabbinical tradition for his faithful support of Moses in all other ways, and especially for his role as the first high priest of the Tabernacle which was the sacred shrine of the Israelites until the establishment of the Temple of Jerusalem. In Christian tradition, Aaron was and ancestor of Jesus and Mary, as well Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist.

Biblilcal narrative

In the Book of Exodus, Aaron first enters the story when Moses is standing in front of the burning bush and asks God for help, fearing that the Hebrew slaves in Egypt will not believe him. God appoints Aaron to be Moses' spokesperson. God speaks to Aaron and commands him to meet Moses at "the mountain of God." The two then return to Egypt and gather the elders of the Israelites. Aaron speaks to them and performs signs for them, leading them to believe in Moses' message of God's concern for their suffering (Exodus 4:29-31)

Miracles and plagues

Moses and Aaron, aged 83, (Exodus 7:7) approach the king of Egypt and demand that he allow God's people to leave for a three-day pilgrimage to offer sacrifice to "the Lord" or Yahweh. When the Pharoah refuses, Aaron takes the lead in demonstrating God's power before the king. First, Aaron throws down his staff, and it becomes a snake. The king's magicians, however, perform the same feat. Aaron's snake swallows the Egyptian serpents, but this only hardens the heart of the king against the Israelites.

Next Aaron turns the Nile to blood, killing its fish. Again, the Egyptian magicians accomplish the same feat, and again Pharaoh refuses to relent. Aaron then causes frogs to emerge from the Nile to plague the land. The Egyptian magicians do the same. This time Pharaoh asks Moses to pray to Yahweh to take the frogs away. God responds to Moses' entreaty, but the king again hardens his heart. Aaron now performs a miracle that the Eyptians cannot duplicate: a plague of gnats. The magicians testify, "this is the finger of God," but Pharaoh stubbornly refuses to listen. The pattern of miracles now shifts away from Aaron, and Moses takes the lead in bringing about the remain plagues and finally forcing the Pharoah to allow the Israelites to leave.

The Exodus

God gives his instruction concerning the Exodus and the commemoration of Passover to both Moses and Aaron. (Exodus 12:31, 43) Likewise, the Israelites obey "Moses and Aaron" (Exodus) and also rebel against them jointly. (Exodus 16:2)

Aaron plays a major role in the early stages of the Exodus. When God provides manna for the people's food needs, Aaron preveres some in a jar for posterity and places it in front of a God's altar. (Exodus 16:34) In battle against the Amalekites, Aaron holds Moses' hands aloft, allowing the Israelites to prevail. (Exodus 17:12) When Moses' father-in-law Jethro visits the encampment and offers sacrifices, Aaron comes "came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law in the presence of God. (Exodus 18:12) When Moses first ascends Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments verbally, Aaron alone is commanded to join him on the mountain, while other priests, elders, and the people generally are forbidden to do so. (Ex. 19:24)

Aaron ascends the sacred again together with Moses and the 70 elders of Israel, at which time God's covenant with the Israelites is confirmed and the priesthood is formally initiated. This version of the story relates that Aaron was among those who actually "saw the God of Israel."

Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself... They saw God, and they ate and drank. (Ex. 24:10-11)

Moses leaves Aaron and Hur in charge as he ascends the mountain once, more, this time with Joshua, to receive the Ten Commandments in written form. It is as this point where Aaron commits the sin for which he will always be remembered.

=The Golden Calf

Unity between Aaron and Moses was crucial for the success of Moses' mission. Hence, when at the incident of the Golden Calf, it was for Aaron to stand firm as Moses' representative. But he failed, and out of weakness he acceded to the people's demands to lead them in building the idol. This disunity was one of the reasons why the Israelites continued to murmur against Moses and why they had to wander for 40 years in the wilderness. In the end it is not Aaron but Joshua who rises to the occasion as Moses' firm supporter and successor.

Nevertheless, Aaron retains his position as the founder of Israel's priesthood. In the book of Numbers there are a number of controversy stories concerning the legitimacy of priestly lineages; some passages favor Moses and others favor Aaron. Aaron's position as the ancestor of the Israelite priesthood was sealed by his grandson Phineas, who at the plague of Baal Peor (Num. 25) stood strongly with Moses to stop the Israelites from sliding into idolatry. His courage and righteousness in that situation earned for his family, and for Aaron his grandfather, the status of Israel's priests.

Due to Aaron's ambiguous relationship to Moses, the biblical representation of his character is negative and shadowy. Scholars who accept the documentary hypothesis distinguish various portrayals of Aaron in different sources, making for a confusing composite:

1. Aaron as fallible (Elohist [E]). These passages do not represent Aaron as a sacrosanct priest. He comes to meet Moses (Exodus 4:14), supports him in war (Exodus 17:12) and jurisprudence (Exodus 24:14). He yields to the people and makes the calf (Exodus 32), and, with Miriam, criticises Moses for marrying a Cushite woman. Miriam is subsequently punished (Numbers 12). He is present at the sacrificial covenant meal between Israel and the Kenites (Exodus 18:12). In this aspect, Joshua, instead of Aaron, serves in the Tent (Exodus 33:11).
2. Aaron as Moses's prophet (Jahwist [J]). This representation concerns the covenant meal on Sinai (Exodus 24:1, 2, 9-11) and the vague charge that Aaron "let the people loose" (Exodus 32:25). Aaron seems to be an afterthought in the plague narrative (Exodus 8:25). In both this and the last view, Moses is the viceregent of God and Aaron is Moses' prophet (Exodus 4:16, 7:1).
3. Aaron as idolatrous (Deuteronomist [D]). In Deuteronomy 9, Aaron is partly responsible for the building of the Golden Calf. The story says that Yahweh is so angry toward Aaron that he was about to destroy him. It appears that it is only Moses's intercessory prayer and his destruction of the Golden Calf which saves Aaron. The account of his death in Deuteromy 10:6 is different from that in Numbers 20:22. According to Deuteronomy it occurred at Moserah, seven stations from Mount Hor (Numbers 33:30), in the early months of the wandering because of the sign of the Golden Calf. The only other passage in reference to Aaron in Deuteronomy merely states that he is the brother of Moses (Deuteronomy 32:50).
4. Aaron as subordinate (Priestly source [P]). The first three, simpler, plagues Aaron brings on at Moses' command; thereafter Moses himself is the actor. In the narratives (Numbers 16, 17) it is Moses in each case who vindicates him. Aaron dies at Mount Hor in the fortieth year of the Exodus (Numbers 20:22, 33:38), because of rebellion at Meribah (cf. Deuteronomy as above).
5. Aaron as non-priestly (Holiness Code [H]). In Leviticus 17-26, Aaron appears only in redactional passages connecting the Holiness Code with its context in the narrative.
6. Representative Priest In Exodus 25-30 and 35-40, and in Leviticus and Numbers, Aaron's name occurs frequently, but evidently as a convenient priestly symbol demonstrating the priestly function to the people. What was done to and for Aaron was what whould be done with any high priest. The ceremonial enduement prescribed in Exodus 28, 29 and Leviticus 8 is a manual for the sanctuary ritual. The prominence of Aaron's name in Exodus and Numbers reveals and emphasizes the necessity felt for prescriptive rights for the priesthood.

Although Aaron was said to have been sent by the Lord to meet Moses at the "mount of God" (Horeb, Exodus 4:27), he plays only a secondary part in the incidents at Pharaoh's court. After the "exodus" (from Greek, going out) 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 (Exodus 24:1; 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 (Exodus 17:8-16). Hur held up the right hand of Moses while Aaron lifted up his brother's left hand. With their help, Moses was able to hold the rod up high in supplication to God.

Hur and Aaron were left in charge of the Israelites when Moses and Joshua ascended the mount to receive the Tables of the Law (Exodus 24: 12-15), and when the people, in dismay at the prolonged absence of their leader, demanded a god, and persuaded Aaron to fashion the golden calf. 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 (Deuteronomy 9:20). Hur was, according to legend and tradition, murdered by the mob when he refused to go along with the people's idolatrous demands. Aaron, wishing to avoid such a fate for himself, acceded to their demands and built the calf. 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 first Ten Commandments (Exodus 33 and following).

Aaron was given the priesthood when Moses, who was supposed to receive the priesthood along with the leadership of the Jewish people, argued with God that he should not be the leader. It was then given to Aaron. Aaron received the priesthood along with his children and any descendents that would be born subsequently. However, his grandson Pinchas (Phineas) had already been born, and did not receive the priesthood until he killed the prince of the Tribe of Simeon and the princess of the Midianites (Numbers 31:11–12).

It was for striking a rock in anger at Kadesh that both Aaron and Moses were prohibited from entering the Promised Land (Numbers 20). Aaron is said to have died at Moserah (Deuteronomy 10:6), or at Mount Hor; the latter is an unidentified site on the border of Edom (Numbers 20:23, 33:37; for Moserah see Numbers 30-31), and consequently not in the neighbourhood of Petra, which has been the traditional scene from the time of Josephus (Antiquities iv.4.7).

Aaron's son Eleazar was buried in an Ephraimite locality known after Aaron's grandson as the hill of Phinehas (Joshua 24:33). Little historical information has been preserved of either. The name Phinehas (apparently of Egyptian origin, Pi Nehas, "the Nubian") 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 Chronicles 4:1) with Jether and Heber.

Recently, the tradition that Kohanim are actually descended from Aaron was supported by genetic testing (Skorecki et al., 1997). Since all direct male lineage shares a common Y chromosome, testing was done across sectors of the Jewish population to see if there was any commonality between their Y chromosomes. There was proven to be certain distinctions among the "Kohen" Y chromosomes, implying that the Kohanim do share some common ancestry. This information was used to support the claim of the Lemba (a sub-Saharan tribe) that they were in fact, a tribe of Jews.

In the Qur'an he is known as Harun.

See also

Wikisource has an original article from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica about:

Aaron

• Kohen
• Y-chromosomal Aaron
• Documentary Hypothesis - theories on the alternate meaning of Aaron's presence in the Torah.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

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