AARON.

THE name of Aaron is connected with some of the most remarkable events in Sacred History. He is known to every reader of the Bible as the first high-priest of the Hebrew nation, and the brother of its inspired lawgiver, Moses. He bore a principal part in carrying into effect the deliverance from Egyptian bondage which God wrought for the Israelites, and in establishing that system of religious polity by which they have ever since been distinguished from all the nations of the world.

But though Aaron is thus conspicuous in Sacred History, the materials which it affords us for an outline of his life and character are, comparatively, brief and scanty. His personal history is noticed only so far as it is connected with the great events which he was instrumental in accomplishing, and even in them it is obscured by that of his more illustrious brother. But the Scripture narrative of his life, though short, affords some valuable lessons, and is remarkable for that extreme fidelity which distinguishes every part of the Word of Truth. The great defects of his character, the sins into which he fell, and the punishments with which he was visited for his offences, are all faithfully recorded. Though the transgressions of the high-priest might tend to injure the holy cause of God, yet truth required that they should be told. And it is this inflexible adherence to truth, in all parts of Sacred History, which brings to the mind a strong and powerful conviction of the authenticity and credibility of the whole.

Aaron was the son of Amram and Jochebed, the daughter of the patriarch Levi. He was the elder brother of Moses, having been born three years before that illustrious lawgiver, during the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt. (Exod. 7. 7.) His birth appears to have happened before the cruel edict of the Pharaoh then reigning over Egypt, who, in order to prevent the rapid increase of the Hebrews, decreed that all their male infants should be thrown into the Nile; for there is no account of Aaron's exposure to any danger in consequence of that decree, although the escape of Moses is so minutely detailed. The birth of Aaron took place, according to the common chronology of the English Bible, B.C. 1574.

On the early history of Aaron, the Scriptures are silent. He is first noticed as having married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, and sister of Naashon, a prince of the house of Judah, whence it may be inferred that he was a person of some distinction. Some writers have supposed, without sufficient grounds, that he was the governor of the Israelites under Pharaoh. By his wife, Elisheba, he had four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. (Exod. 6. 23.) He is next mentioned on the occasion of his conference with Moses on Mount Horeb. The journey which he undertook thither was under a Divine command, and he found, on his arrival at that place, that he had been associated with his brother in the important work of delivering his countrymen from their Egyptian bondage. (Exod. 4. 27.) His eloquence peculiarly qualified him for the task of

pleading the cause of the oppressed Israelites before Pharaoh, and of denouncing those terrors of the Lord, which were more especially to be wrought through the hand of his brother. On this account, though the authority of his commission was honoured, as well in the outset as afterwards, by the possession of miraculous power, he is, by a strong figure, called the prophet of Moses, who was made as it were, "a god unto Pharaoh," (Exod. 7. 1.) Aaron was eighty-three years old, when, in conjunction with his brother, he delivered to Pharaoh the Divine message, requiring that prince to allow the Israelites to proceed three days' journey into the wilderness, to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. Their first mission was unsuccessful. The king, regarding the application as a sign that the Hebrews were becoming restless, and were endeavouring to escape from their bondage, treated them with additional cruelty and severity; but after a train of the most astonishing miracles had been wrought by God, through the hands of the two brethren, they succeeded in their mission, and Pharaoh reluctantly consented to the departure of the people. See MOSES and EXODUS.

In the progress of the Israelites through the wilderness, Aaron was distinguished by peculiar marks of the Divine favour. Although not admitted to communications with God so immediate as those enjoyed by Moses, he was permitted, together with his sons, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, to behold the symbol of the Divine Presence. On this account it is said that they "saw the God of Israel." (Exod. 24. 10.)

During the absence of Moses and Joshua in the mount, Aaron, together with Hur, had the charge of the people. It was during this period that the flagrant act of idolatry was perpetrated, which has affixed so great a stain upon his character. The people, who had become restless at the protracted absence of Moses, were clamorous that Aaron should make them "gods," to go before them, that they might pursue their journey. And even while God was designating him high-priest of his people, and giving commands respecting the mode of his ordination, his office, and sacred habits, Aaron, notwithstanding all he had witnessed, and all the miracles of which he had been the instrument, yielded to their importunity. Whether he had himself imbibed the idolatrous notions of the people, or whether he yielded through want of firmness, or fear of the consequences of opposition, is very uncertain, but the last seems most probable.

In order to gratify their wishes, he commanded them to break off their golden ear-rings, and bring him the gold. The precious metal was melted and moulded into the form of a calf, or rather of a young bullock, the same Hebrew word, by being also used in that sense in other passages. (See Gesenius in voce.) The idol was set up by Aaron, and an altar erected before it, on which they offered sacrifices with great rejoicings. (Exod. 32. 1-6.)

But why should the Israelites have chosen a calf as the object of their idolatry, in preference to any other

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animal? Calmet and the commentators are generally agreed, that this was done in imitation of the worship of Apis and it seems impossible to give any reasonable account of the transaction, without some reference to Egyptian superstitions. Yet it would appear that the commentators are not quite correct, in supposing Apis to be the deity whose worship was imitated on this occasion. The Egyptians gave that name to a living bull which they worshipped at Memphis: but they also worshipped another living bull, in the city of On, or Heliopolis, which they called Mne, or, according to the Greek form, Mnevis, and which they adored as the living emblem of the sun. Now, the Israelites, from the circumstance of their living in the land of Goshen, in or near which Heliopolis was situated, and also, from the connexion of Joseph, the head of their nation, with one of the priestly families of that city, must have been well acquainted with its peculiar forms of idolatry.

It is also very probable that many of them had joined in those rites during their sojourn. We might, therefore, naturally suppose that they would adopt them on this occasion; and the supposition that they did so, is confirmed by a very curious fact, which has not yet been noticed, as bearing upon this question. Champollion has observed, in his Panthéon Egyptien, that Mnevis is said by Porphyry and Plutarch to have been a black bull, as Apis unquestionably was; but he assures us that this is not the case with regard to the existing remains of ancient Egypt. For, although in the Egyptian paintings Apis is either coloured black, or black and white, Mnevis, on the contrary, in the only figure of him hitherto discovered, is coloured bright yellow, evidently with the intention of representing a golden image. This fact, though not a conclusive proof, affords a strong presnmption, that the golden calf was made according to the usual form and colour of the images of Mnevis.

The annexed engraving represents this symbolical deity of Heliopolis, as he is painted on the coffin of a mummy at Turin, the name being distinctly written in hieroglyphical characters, MNE, without the Greek termination. It differs in colour only, and not in form, from another painting on the same coffin, which bears the name of Apis. Both have the same trappings; the sun's disk between the horns, surmounted by the plume of ostrich feathers, signifying justice, and the whip, the emblem of power; and both are accompanied by the serpent, representing the spirit of the gods. The engraving may therefore, at at all events, be fairly considered as a correct representation of the form of the Golden Calf, which was set up by Aaron, at Sinai.

It does not follow, from this view of Aaron's transgression, that either he or the Israelites intended to worship the sun, when they set up this idol. For, as Mnevis was only a symbol of the power and attributes of the luminary, considered as the chief deity of Heli

opolis, they might mean to worship, under the same symbol, their own guardian deity, Jehovah. Indeed, it is evident from the narrative, that the Israelites, or at least Aaron himself, did intend the calf for a symbolical representation of the true God. Aaron announces the festival, which was to take place in honour of the calf, in these words::-"To-morrow is a feast to the Lord." And the Psalmist, speaking of the transaction, observes, "they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass." But the offering was heathenish in its character, and it was, as might be expected, not unattended with heathenish excesses and abominations. For this deadly transgression, Aaron, and, indeed, the whole nation, were with much difficulty saved from extermination, at the earnest intercession of Moses. A terrible example was, however, made of the principal offenders. At the call of Moses, "Who is on the Lord's side?" the tribe of Levi, eager, apparently, to obliterate the stain which so illustrious a member of their tribe had brought upon the people, "gathered themselves unto him," and executed the judgment of God, by destroying 3000 Israelites with the sword. (Exod. 32. 28.)

Aaron having repented, and acknowledged his transgression, was received to pardon and favour with God; and, afterwards, with ceremonies of much pomp and solemnity, was ordained the high-priest of the people, and the office was restricted to his family; but his family were not all of them worthy of their high distinction. Shortly after their consecration, two of his sons, Nadab and Abihu, having acted contrary to the command of God, by putting " command of God, by putting "strange fire" into their censers when they offered incense, were destroyed by fire from the Lord. The cause of their offending in this manner against God, is supposed by some commentators to be pointed out by a law which was made immediately after this occurrence-"Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die." This heavy calamity was represented in its true light by Moses, and the unhappy father submitted with resignation to the will of God. (Levit. 10. 1-3.)

The conduct of Aaron was, however, on other occasions, far from blameless. We find him afterwards involved with his sister, Miriam, in a kind of rebellion against the authority of Moses. Their brother's marriage had, it appears, given them some offence, and on this, they took occasion to set up their authority as equal with his. Miriam was immediately stricken with leprosy. Aaron was not thus punished, either because the uncleanness of the high-priest would have left Israel without ministration, and exposed the priesthood itself to contempt, or because, as is much more probable, he had only been accessary, and his fault was immediately acknowledged, as we find was the case. He was, however, more appropriately punished for this sin of rebellion against lawful authority, by the prevalence of a similar spirit against himself. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, together with 250 principal persons, disputed the peculiar priestly rights of Aaron, and contended that, because all the congregation were, in one sense, holy, they had, therefore, an equal right to exercise that ministry to which Aaron, by the appointment of God, was exclusively designated. The heads of the conspiracy fell by a conspicuous judgment of God; the ringleaders were engulfed in the earth, which opened to swallow them alive, and their 250 immediate adherents were consumed by fire from God, in the act of offering incense.

The conspiracy, however, seems to have been much more extensive, inasmuch as 14,700 died in consequence

by the pestilence; and it was only at Aaron's official intercession with God that "the plague was stayed." But it pleased God to afford a testimony to the authority of Aaron, which might, by its permanence, vindicate the rights of his posterity also from similar intrusion. Not only, in memorial of the transaction, were the censers, offered by Korah and his company, "made broad plates for a covering of the altar, that no stranger, who is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense unto the Lord;" but the princes of the different tribes were commanded to bring their rods or sceptres of office to Moses, with their names written thereon; Aaron's name was written on the rod of Levi, and the whole deposited in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony. On the following morning, Aaron's rod "was budded, and brought forth buds, and blossomed blossoms, and yielded almonds." Moses commanded this rod to be laid up before the testimony, for a token against the rebels. How long it continued there is uncertain; but such was the effect of the warning, that, until the time of King Uzziah, we read of no further invasion of the high-priest's office in Judah.

Aaron was implicated in the disobedience of Moses at the water of Meribah. The people had murmured on account of the absence of water in the wilderness of Sin, and Moses and Aaron were commanded to speak to the rock in their presence, which should immediately produce water for their relief. This command both the brothers disobeyed; for, instead of speaking to the rock, they spoke to the people; and, by saying, "Must we fetch you water out of this rock?" and striking the rock, they appeared to appropriate to themselves the glory of the miracle that followed. For this transgression both For this transgression both Moses and Aaron were forbidden to enter the promised land. About a twelve-month after this transaction, Aaron's life drawing towards its close, he was commanded to come up into Mount Hor, and there to be divested of his priestly garments, which were put upon his son Eleazar. He then expired on the mountain, at the age of 123 years, and was buried there. (Numb. 20. 28.) It is said, in Deut. 10. 6, that he died at Mosera; but as that is mentioned as the place of encampment, it seems to mean that he died while the Israelites were encamped there.

Aaron is justly regarded as a type of Christ, but it is rather officially than personally; we, therefore, refer our readers, for the typical part of his character, to the article HIGH PRIEST.

The figures of Aaron, in his priestly robes, which have appeared in Calmet, and in various editions of the Bible, have been drawn merely from the written descriptions given in the Book of Exodus. And as these descriptions themselves have not been always well understood, the representations are, in a great degree, fanciful. Nothing, surely, can be more absurd, than to give a Turkish dress to a person who was born and educated in Egypt, under the command of the Pharaohs. The only source from whence we are likely to gain accurate information upon this point, is in those monuments of ancient Egypt, in which the dress of the Egyptians is described. But before we refer to these monuments, it is necessary to say a few words, in order that we may not be misunderstood. Some writers seem to have been deterred from acknowledging the resemblance which exists between certain parts of the Mosaic ritual, and the religious ceremonies of ancient Egypt, by the fear of being thought to countenance the infidel notion, that Moses borrowed his religion from the Egyptians. Nothing, certainly, can be more false than such a notion; for, in all important points, the religion taught by the inspired lawgiver was in direct contradiction to the Egyptian superstitions; yet we need

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not scruple for a moment to acknowledge, that in mere ritual observances, and other unimportant points, a considerable resemblance may be traced. How, indeed, could it be otherwise? The Israelites were only seventy in number when they went into Egypt. They married into Egyptian families, and adopted Egyptian customs; and though they still preserved their Hebrew peculiarities, yet they must, necessarily, have become, in a great degree, identified in their habits and modes of thinking with the Egyptian people. Unless, therefore, God had chosen, not only to order every minute point of the new ritual, so as to make it entirely different from that of the Egyptians, but also miraculously to alter the habits and notions of the Israelites individually, it would be impossible that there should not be a strong resemblance, in many points, between them. And this, so far from detracting from the claims of Moses to Divine inspiration, or from his veracity as a historian, serves the more strongly to confirm them. The sublime doctrines of the unity and spirituality of the Godhead were taught and preserved by means of institutions, which, when purified from the alloy of heathenism and superstition, were most admirably adapted to the state and condition of the chosen people; and those fragments of primeval knowledge and truth, which had been preserved among the Egyptians, were, no doubt, embodied in the new revelation given by Moses.

As the Israelites had just left a country which was distinguished for the splendour of its religious ceremonies, God saw fit, in condescension to their weakness, to ordain for them a ritual which, while it was perfectly free from idolatry and superstition, was peculiarly solemn and magnificent. The robes of Aaron, as the high-priest, were expressly ordered to be made "for glory and for beauty," and appear, from the description, to have been exceedingly splendid; the colours were blue, and purple, and scarlet, "curiously embroidered" with gold. Next to his body he wore drawers and a tunic, or shirt, of very fine cotton, called, apparently from the material of which it was made, Khetoneth, and, in the New Testament, XeTwv. This is rather oddly translated by the word coat in our English version. Over this he wore a larger garment, called in Hebrew, Meil, y or the robe, in our English Bible. This appears to have been, in later times, furnished with sleeves. It reached from the shoulders to the ankles. At the bottom it was adorned with a golden border, consisting of bells and pomegranates alternately. (See BELL.) For common occasions this garment had merely a fringe instead of the golden border. His uppermost garment was called the Ephod in Hebrew, and eTwμis, or shoulder-covering, in the Septuagint. This was fastened upon the shoulders, and had sleeves which covered the upper part, at least, of the arms. It did not cover the breast completely, but left a part uncovered. The ephod was girded round the waist by a broad girdle or zone, which also confined the other parts of the dress. Upon his head he wore a mitre, (Mitzepheth,) the shape of which is not very certain. The commentators generally consider it to have been a kind of turban, consisting of many folds of linen. wrapped round a cap; but as nothing is said of the folds of linen in the Bible account, we may suppose that part to have been an addition made to the high-priest's headdress in after-ages, as the golden circlets, or crowns, worn in the time of the Maccabees, undoubtedly were. (See Josephus, Antiquities, lib. iii., c. 7, sec. 7.) On the forehead, upon the edge of the mitre, was a plate, or rather leaf, of gold, inscribed with the words, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.

On his breast Aaron wore a breast-plate, about ten inches square, called the breast-plate of Judgment, in

Upon the breast-plate, (see Levit. 8. 8; Heb. and Sept.) and not in it, as in our version, and as Michaëlis and Jahn suppose, were put the Urim and Thummim. These words are generally translated "lights and perfections;" or, according to the Septuagint, "manifestation and truth." This, however, is still a very obscure and difficult point; yet we may, perhaps, be able to throw a little more light upon it from the Egyptian

monuments.

The dress of Aaron was certainly not borrowed from that of the Egyptian Priests, their official dress being a panther's skin worn over their ordinary dress; but it appears, by the above description, to have resembled very closely that of the Egyptian Kings. In the opposite engraving, the whole-length figure is a representation of the Pharaoh, Ramses the Sixth, who, according to Manetho, was one of the grandsons of the Pharaoh under whom the Exodus took place. He is here represented offering incense and libations, as he is painted in his tomb among the royal sepulchres at Thebes. He differs very little, if at all, in the different parts of his dress, from the earlier monarchs who lived during the time of Moses; but we have copied his portrait from Rosellini's engraving, because his robes are more complete than those of any of the earlier remaining representations. They are represented as having exactly the same colours as those which adorned the robes of Aaron, namely, scarlet, purple, blue, and gold. The parts of the dress which corresponded with those of Aaron are the linen, or rather cotton, drawers; the tunic, or shirt, (called coat in the English Bible,) reaches below the knees to the upper row of fringe. The robe reaches to the ankles; and the ephod covers the shoulders and arms. The two last parts of the dress are partly confined by the girdle, which is "of curiously embroidered work," and the fringe may be noticed at the bottom of the robe. Aaron seems to have had no collar, though worn almost universally by the Egyptians. But it appears, that all the parts of his dress, which are described in the Book of Exodus, are found in this figure, except the mitre and breast-plate. These, however, may be easily supplied from similar representations of Egyptian monarchs.

The mitred, or crowned head, fig. 1, is that of Amenoph III., the Memnon of the Greeks, who probably flourished before the time of Moses. Another common, and very ancient form of mitre, is that found on fig. 2;

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

but it is impossible to determine, whether either of them was of exactly the same form as that which was worn by Aaron.

The breast-plate, fig. 3, is from another figure of Amenoph-Memnon, in the sanctuary of Kneph, or Cnouph, at Elephantine, given by Sir John Wilkinson in the Hieroglyphics published by the Royal Society of

Literature. The device on this breast-plate is also remarkable. It consists of the title of the king, which was "the Sun, the Lord of Justice and Truth." This is expressed by a circle representing the sun, and by the female figure representing justice or righteousness. The square breast-plate, fig. 4, is that of the Pharaoh Osiree

Menephthah, copied from the portrait in his tomb, discovered by Belzoni at Thebes. It contains also the figure of Horphre, or Horus, the sun, (here represented under the form of a man with the head of a hawk,) and also that of Justice, with an obelisk between them. Now the Egyptians considered the sun to be the manifestation (Enλwors) of celestial light in the material world. This celestial light they called Hor, and Or, which is evidently the Ur of the Chaldæans and Hebrews; and, as their kings wore a representation of it on their breast-plates, it seems but a fair inference to suppose, that the Urim (the plural of Ur) worn by Aaron, was either that word itself in Hebrew characters, or a symbolical representation of Divine light, engraved, or in some way fixed, upon the breast-plate. And so of the word Justice and Truth; these two attributes being expressed by the same hieroglyphical character. (See Champoll. Lettre XVIII.) The name of the female figure representing these attributes, was Them, or Theme, (whence the Themis of the Greeks,) the plural of which in Hebrew would be Themim, or Thummim. Hence the meaning of the words or symbols Urim and Thummim on Aaron's breast-plate, would be either "manifestation and truth," as in the Septuagint, or, literally, "light and righteousness," referring the words, in their highest sense, to the attributes of light, and of justice and truth, as revealed, or manifested, in the revelation given by Moses. (See URIM and THUMMIM.)

With regard to the etymology of Aaron's own name, Gesenius observes, that its root is not to be found in Hebrew; and, although he gives an Arabic root from whence it might be derived, yet the derivation is anything but satisfactory. We may, therefore, venture to suggest an Egyptian origin; for Aaron, or Aahron, or Aharon, would be more easily derived from the Egyptian word Aah, the moon; as in the common name, Ahmes; and there do not seem to be any valid reasons why we should not derive it from that language. The name of Moses is undoubtedly Egyptian, and though given by an Egyptian princess, was retained by him to the end of his life.

It is a very singular fact, that idolatrous customs are still connected with the name of Aaron, in the regions in which he led, or sanctioned, the idolatry of the Israelites, though in a very different manner. For he has himself long been an object of superstitious worship to the Arabs, who offer sacrifices at his tomb on Mount Hor.

Burckhardt has given us a very curious account of this superstition. He was the first European in modern times who visited the ruins of Petra, and he found great difficulty in reaching that place, on account of the suspicions entertained of him by the people. He everywhere passed for an Arab, and, being not very scrupulous in the use of means to keep up his assumed character, he pretended that he had made a vow to slaughter a goat in honour of Aaron. "To this," says