Aaron Nietschke

According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek (Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of Moses. Knowledge of Aaron, along with his brother Moses, exclusively comes from religious texts, such as the Hebrew Bible, Bible and the Quran.

The Hebrew Bible relates that, unlike Moses, who grew up in the Egyptian royal court, Aaron and his elder sister Miriam remained with their kinsmen in the eastern border-land of Egypt ( Goshen). When Moses first confronted the Egyptian king about the enslavement of the Israelites, Aaron served as his brother's spokesman ("prophet") to the Pharaoh (). Part of the Law given to Moses at Sinai granted Aaron the priesthood for himself and his male descendants, and he became the first High Priest of the Israelites.

Aaron died before the Israelites crossed the Jordan river. According to the Book of Numbers, he died and was buried on Mount Hor, Deuteronomy however places these events at Moserah. Aaron is also mentioned in the New Testament of the Bible (Luke, Acts, and Hebrews).

Biblical narrative

According to the Book of Exodus, Aaron first functioned as Moses' assistant. Because Moses complained that he could not speak well, God appointed Aaron as Moses' "prophet" (). At the command of Moses, he let his rod turn into a snake. Then he stretched out his rod in order to bring on the first three plagues. After that, Moses tended to act and speak for himself.

During the journey in the wilderness, Aaron was not always prominent or active. At the battle with Amalek, he was chosen with Hur to support the hand of Moses that held the " rod of God". When the revelation was given to Moses at Mount Sinai, he headed the elders of Israel who accompanied Moses on the way to the summit. While Joshua went with Moses to the top, however, Aaron and Hur remained below to look after the people. From here on in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, Joshua appears in the role of Moses' assistant while Aaron functions instead as the first high priest.

High Priest

The books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers maintain that Aaron received from God a monopoly over the priesthood for himself and his male descendants. The family of Aaron had the exclusive right and responsibility to make offerings on the altar to Yahweh. The rest of his tribe, the Levites, were given subordinate responsibilities within the sanctuary. Moses anointed and consecrated Aaron and his sons to the priesthood, and arrayed them in the robes of office. He also related to them God's detailed instructions for performing their duties while the rest of the Israelites listened. Aaron and his successors as high priest were given control over the Urim and Thummim by which the will of God could be determined. God commissioned the Aaronide priests to distinguish the holy from the common and the clean from the unclean, and to teach the divine laws (the Torah) to the Israelites. The priests were also commissioned to bless the people. When Aaron completed the altar offerings for the first time and, with Moses, "blessed the people: and the glory of the appeared unto all the people: And there came a fire out from before the , and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat hichwhen all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces". In this way, the institution of the Aaronide priesthood was established.

In later books of the Hebrew Bible, Aaron and his kin are not mentioned very often except in literature dating to the Babylonian captivity and later. The books of Judges, Samuel and Kings mention priests and Levites, but do not mention the Aaronides in particular. The Book of Ezekiel, which devotes much attention to priestly matters, calls the priestly upper class the Zadokites after one of King David's priests. It does reflect a two-tier priesthood with the Levites in subordinate position. A two-tier hierarchy of Aaronides and Levites appears in Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles. As a result, many historians think that Aaronide families did not control the priesthood in pre-exilic Israel. What is clear is that high priests claiming Aaronide descent dominated the Second Temple period. Most scholars think the Torah reached its final form early in this period, which may account for Aaron's prominence in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers.

Conflicts

Aaron plays a leading role in several stories of conflicts during Israel's wilderness wanderings. During the prolonged absence of Moses on Mount Sinai, the people provoked Aaron to make a golden calf. This incident nearly caused God to destroy the Israelites. Moses successfully intervened, but then led the loyal Levites in executing many of the culprits; a plague afflicted those who were left. Aaron, however, escaped punishment for his role in the affair, because of the intercession of Moses according to Deuteronomy 9:20. Later retellings of this story almost always excuse Aaron for his role. For example, in rabbinic sources and in the Quran, Aaron was not the idol-maker and upon Moses' return begged his pardon because he felt mortally threatened by the Israelites.

On the day of Aaron's consecration, his oldest sons, Nadab and Abihu, were burned up by divine fire because they offered "strange" incense. Most interpreters think this story reflects a conflict between priestly families some time in Israel's past. Others argue that the story simply shows what can happen if the priests do not follow God's instructions given through Moses.

The Torah generally depicts the siblings, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, as the leaders of Israel after the Exodus, a view also reflected in the biblical Book of Micah. Numbers 12, however, reports that on one occasion, Aaron and Miriam complained about Moses' exclusive claim to be the 's prophet. Their presumption was rebuffed by God who affirmed Moses' uniqueness as the one with whom the spoke face to face. Miriam was punished with a skin disease (''tzaraath'') that turned her skin white. Aaron pleaded with Moses to intercede for her, and Miriam, after seven days' quarantine, was healed. Aaron once again escaped any retribution.

According to Numbers 16–17, a Levite named Korah led many in challenging Aaron's exclusive claim to the priesthood. When the rebels were punished by being swallowed up by the earth, Eleazar, the son of Aaron, was commissioned to take charge of the censers of the dead priests. And when a plague broke out among the people who had sympathized with the rebels, Aaron, at the command of Moses, took his censer and stood between the living and the dead till the plague abated ().

To emphasize the validity of the Levites' claim to the offerings and tithes of the Israelites, Moses collected a rod from the leaders of each tribe in Israel and laid the twelve rods overnight in the tent of meeting. The next morning, Aaron's rod was found to have budded and blossomed and produced ripe almonds. The following chapter then details the distinction between Aaron's family and the rest of the Levites: while all the Levites (and only Levites) were devoted to the care of the sanctuary, charge of its interior and the altar was committed to the Aaronites alone.

Death

Aaron, like Moses, was not permitted to enter Canaan with the Israelites because the two brothers showed impatience at Meribah ( Kadesh) in the last year of the desert pilgrimage, when Moses brought water out of a rock to quench the people's thirst. Although they had been commanded to speak to the rock, Moses struck it with the staff twice, which was construed as displaying a lack of deference to the .

There are two accounts of the death of Aaron in the Torah. Numbers says that soon after the incident at Meribah, Aaron with his son Eleazar and Moses ascended Mount Hor. There Moses stripped Aaron of his priestly garments and transferred them to Eleazar. Aaron died on the summit of the mountain, and the people mourned him for thirty days. The other account is found in Deuteronomy 10:6, where Aaron died at Moserah and was buried. There is a significant amount of travel between these two points, as the itinerary in Numbers 33:31–37 records seven stages between Moseroth (Mosera) and Mount Hor. Aaron died on the 1st of Av and was 123 at the time of his death.according to Seder Olam Rabbah 9, Rosh Hashana 2, 3a

Descendants

Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon of the tribe of Judah. The sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Itamar; only the latter two had progeny. A descendant of Aaron is an Aaronite, or Kohen, meaning Priest. Any non-Aaronic Levite—i.e., descended from Levi but not from Aaron—assisted the Levitical priests of the family of Aaron in the care of the tabernacle; later of the temple.According to Samaritan sources, a civil war once broke out between the sons of Itamar Eli (Bible) and the sons of Phineas (son of Eleazar) that resulted in a division of those who followed Eli and those who followed High Priest Uzzi ben Bukki at Mount Gerizim Bethel. (A third group followed neither.) Ironically, and likewise according to Samaritan sources, the high priests' line of the sons of Phineas died out in 1624 CE with the death of the 112th High Priest, Shlomyah ben Pinhas, at which time the priesthood was transferred to the sons of Itamar. See article Samaritan for list of High Priests from 1613 to 2004—the 131st high priest of the Samaritans is Elazar ben Tsedaka ben Yitzhaq. Also see article, Samaritan

The Gospel of Luke records that both Zechariah and Elizabeth and therefore their son John the Baptist were descendants of Aaron.

Family tree

Historicity

In religious traditions

Jewish rabbinic literature

The older prophets and prophetical writers beheld in their priests the representatives of a religious form inferior to the prophetic truth; men without the spirit of God and lacking the will-power requisite to resist the multitude in its idolatrous proclivities. Thus Aaron, the first priest, ranks below Moses: he is his mouthpiece, and the executor of the will of God revealed through Moses, although it is pointed out that it is said fifteen times in the Torah that "the Lord spoke to Moses ''and'' Aaron."

Under the influence of the priesthood that shaped the destinies of the nation under Persian rule, a different ideal of the priest was formed, according to Malachi 2:4-7, and the prevailing tendency was to place Aaron on a footing equal with Moses. "At times Aaron, and at other times Moses, is mentioned first in Scripture—this is to show that they were of equal rank," says the Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael, which strongly implies this when introducing in its record of renowned men the glowing description of Aaron's ministration.

In fulfillment of the promise of peaceful life, symbolized by the pouring of oil upon his head, Aaron's death, as described in the aggadah, was of a wonderful tranquility. Accompanied by Moses, his brother, and by Eleazar, his son, Aaron went to the summit of Mount Hor, where the rock suddenly opened before him and a beautiful cave lit by a lamp presented itself to his view. Moses said, "Take off your priestly raiment and place it upon your son Eleazar! and then follow me." Aaron did as commanded; and they entered the cave, where was prepared a bed around which angels stood. "Go lie down upon thy bed, my brother," Moses continued; and Aaron obeyed without a murmur. Then his soul departed as if by a kiss from God. The cave closed behind Moses as he left; and he went down the hill with Eleazar, with garments rent, and crying: "Alas, Aaron, my brother! thou, the pillar of supplication of Israel!" When the Israelites cried in bewilderment, "Where is Aaron?" angels were seen carrying Aaron's bier through the air. A voice was then heard saying