AARON (exalted, perhaps mountaineer). The son of Amram and Jochebed, of the tribe of Levi. He was the elder brother (by three years) of Moses (Exodus. vi. 20, vii.7).
Of his early life we know nothing; but when Moses was called out of Midian to require the deliverance of Israel from Pharaoh, Aaron was appointed his assistant and spokesman, as being naturally eloquent (Exodus, iv. 14-16). Accordingly Aaron received a command from God to go into the wilderness to meet his brother (Exodus, iv. 27); and after that time we find the two acting in conjunction; Aaron in subordination to but not entirely dependent upon Moses (Leviticus x. 8; Numbers xii. 2). Thus it was by Aaron's hands that many of the miracles in Egypt were wrought (Exodus vii. 9, 10, 19, Exodus viii. 5, 6, 16, 17). After the passage of the Red sea we have several notices of Aaron while the people were on their way to Sinai (Exodus xvi. 6, 9, 10, 33, 34, xvii. 10-12., xviii. 12., xxiv.). And then, when he was left in charge of Israel while Moses was in the mount, he weakly and sinfully yielded to the people's demand to have some image of a deity for them to worship. The image he made was a calf after the form of the Egyptian Apis or Mnevis (Exodus xxxii.; Psalm cvi. 19, 20). It is remarkable that Aaron's own tribe either did not share this sin, or at least were the first to declare their abhorrence of it, and were used as the instruments of punishing the guilty (Exodus xxxii. 26-29). Moses prayed for Aaron (Deuteronomy ix. 20); and, in spite of his transgression, the previous determination was carried out of appointing him and his children to the priesthood (Exodus xxviii., xxix., xl.; Leviticus viii., ix.). An awful judgement was inflicted on Aaron's two elder sons, Nadab and Abihu, at the time of consecration: they were consumed; and the agonized father's meek submission has always been justly taken to mark peculiarly the power of divine grace in his hear (x.).Aaron's history thenceforward is almost exclusively that of the priesthood. It was because this was restricted to his family that Korah rebelled; and a special sign of God's choice of Aaron was given (Numbers xvi., xvii.). Of his personal acts there are but two to be noticed: his jealousy (with Miriam) of Moses (xii.), and his joining in Moses' distrust at Meribah; for which both were excluded from Canaan. He died soon after on mount Hor (xx.), where his grave (as it is called) is still pointed out; the mount bearing Aaron's name. He was 123 years old at his death (xxxiii. 38, 39). The Mosera, where (Deuteronomy x. 6) he is said to have died, was the station close by Hor. See HOR.
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 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 Livitical 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 genealogiy of Caleb (I 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), it must be placed in a line with the other un-Hebraic and difficult 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 Levites and Priest.
(Stanley Arthur Cook.)
Aaron, a Moor, beloved by Tamora, queen of the Goths, in the tragedy of Titus Andronicus, published amongst the plays of Shakespeare (1593).
(The classic name is Andronicus, but the character of this play is purely fictitious.)