Meanwhile Moses had been dismissed from the mountain, provided with the decalogue, written ' by the finger of God,' on two tablets of stone. His re-appearance confounded the multitude, who quailed under his stern rebuke, and quietly sub mitted to see their new-made idol destroyed. For this sin the population was decimated by sword and plague. Aaron, when taxed by his brother for his conduct in this matter, attempted to excuse himself by casting the whole blame upon the people, and pleading the necessity of circumstances (Exod. xxxii.) During his long absence in the mountain, Moses had received instructions regarding the ecclesiastical establishment, the tabernacle [TABERNACLE], and the priesthood [PRIEsTs], which he soon afterwards proceeded to execute. Under the new institution Aaron was to be high-priest, and his sons and descendants priests; and the whole tribe to which he belonged, that of Levi, was set apart as the sacerdotal or learned caste [LEVITES]. Accord ingly, after the tabernacle had been completed, and every preparation made for the commencement of actual service, Aaron and his sons were consecrated by Moses, who anointed them with the holy oil, and invested them with the sacred garments. Aaron's elevation was soon followed by a most afflictive event. His two eldest sons, Nadab and Abihu, were struck dead for daring, seemingly when in a state of partial inebriety, to conduct the service of God in an irregular manner, by offering incense with unlawful fire. On this occasion it was enjoined that the priests should manifest none of the ordinary signs of mourning for the loss of those who were so dear to them. To this heavy stroke Aaron bowed in silence (Lev. x. i-ti).
Aaron would seem to have been liable to some fits of jealousy at the superior influence and autho rity of his brother; for he joined in, or at least sanctioned the invidious conduct of his sister Miriam [MIRIAm], who, after the wife of Moses had been brought to the camp by Jethro, became apprehen sive for her own position, and cast reflections upon Moses, much calculated to damage his influence, on account of his marriage with a foreigner--al says an odious thing among the Hebrews. For his, Miriam was struck with temporary leprosy, vhich brought the high-priest to a sense of his inful conduct, and he sought and obtained for ;iveness (Num, xii.) Some twenty years after (s.c. 1471), when the
:amp was in the wilderness of Paran, a ffirmidable :onspiracy was organized against the sacerdotal • Luthority exercised by Aaron and his sons, and the :ivil authority exercised by Moses. This con piracy was headed by chiefs of influence and ,tation—Korah, of the tribe of Levi, and Dathan ind Abiram, of the tribe of Reuben [KoRAH]. But the Divine appointment was attested and con irmed by the signal destruction of the conspirators, Ind by a fierce pestilence which broke out among hem, and by which they fell by thousands on the pot. When this was seen, Aaron, at the corn nand of Moses, filled a censer with fire from the sitar, and, rushing forward to the point where life lad ended and death had not begun, he stood here, and the plague was stayed where he stood. This was in fact another attestation of the Divine ippointment; and, for its further confirmation, as regarded Aaron and his family, the chiefs of the several tribes were required to deposit their staves, md with them was placed that of Aaron for the ribe of Levi. They were all laid up together over night in the tabernacle, and in the morning it was Found that, while the other rods remained as they were, that of Aaron had budded, blossomed, and yielded the fruit of almonds. The rod was pre served in the tabernacle, as an authentic evidence of the Divine appointment of the Aaronic family to the priesthood—which, indeed, does not appear to have been ever afterwards disputed. (Num. xvii. 1).
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. For when the host arrived at Mount Hor, in going down the Wady Arabah [ARABAH], in order to double the mountainous territory of Edom, 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. lie was 123 years old when his career thus terminated; and his son and his brother buried him in a cavern of Mount Hor. The Israelites mourned for him thirty days; and on the first day of the month Ab, the Jews still hold a fast in commemoration of his death.—J. K.