(9) Death. Aaron was not allowed to enter the Promised Land, on account of the distrust which he, as well as his brother, manifested when the rock was stricken at Meribah (Num. xx :8-13). His death indeed occurred very soon after that event (B. C. 1602). For when the host arrived at Mount Hor, the Divine mandate came that Aaron, accompanied by his brother Moses and by his son Eleazar, should ascend to the top of that mountain in the view of all the people; and that he should there transfer his pontifical robes to Eleazar, and then die (Num. xx :23-29). He was one hundred and twenty-three years old when his career thus terminated (Num. xxxiii :32), and his son and his brother buried him in a cavern of the mountain. (See Hoa, The Israel ites mourned for him thirty days; and, on the first day of the month Ab, the Jews yet hold a fast in commemoration of his death. The Arabs still show the traditionary site of his grave (Num. xx :28; xxxiii :38; Deut. xxxii:5o), re ported to be in Petra.
(10) Descendants. His descendants, termed 'Children of Aaron' (Josh. xxi :4, to, 13, etc.), and, poetically, 'House of Aaron' (Ps. cxy :to, 12), were the priesthood in general (his lineal descendants being the high-priests, who were con fined to the firstborn in succession). (See AARON ITEs.) Even in the time of David these were a very numerous body (I Chron. xii :27).
(11) Character. 'Judging from the acts of his life, we should suppose him to have been, like many eloquent men, a man of impulsive and comparatively unstable character, leaning almost wholly on his brother ; incapable of that endurance of loneliness and temptation which is an element of real greatness; but at the same time earnest in his devotion to God and man, and therefore capable of sacrifice and of discipline by trial' (Smith's Bib. Diet.).
FiguratiVe. Aaron's priesthood was designed as 'a shadow of heavenly things,' to lead the Israelites to look forward 'to better things to come,' when another priest should arise 'after the order of Melchizedek' (Heti. vi :20). (See MELCHIZEDEK.) 'Aaron was a type of Christ, not in his personal, but in his official, character : As high-priest, offering sacrifice; (2) in entering into the holy place on the great day of atonement, and acting as intercessor ; (3) in being anointed with the holy oil by effusion, which was prefigurative of the Holy Spirit with which our Lord was en dowed; (4) in hearing the names of all the tribes of Israel upon his breast and shoulders, thus pre senting them always before God, and representing them to him; (5) in being the medium of their in (miring of God by Urim and Thummim, and of the communication of his will to them' (McC. & S., Cyc.). 'With unequaled purity, patience, pity, courage, and labor, Christ, amidst inconceivable injuries and temptations, faithfully executed his work. At the expense of his life he averted the burning plague of endless vengeance from his un reasonable foes; and, having finished his work of obedience, he publicly and willingly, on Cal vary, surrendered himself unto death, bequeathing his robes of finished righteousness to his spiritual seed' (Brown's Bib. Diet.).