The people have been denied entry to the Edomite country and are not able to travel through it on their way from Kadesh (where Moses' sister Miriam died) to the promised land. They must go around Edom and in today's study they end up at Mount Hor where Moses' brother Aaron dies.
"The whole Israelite community set out from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor." (Numbers 20:22) Mount Hor was about a day's journey from Kadesh, along one of the borders of Edom, in the Desert of Zin.
The Lord has some bad news to impart at the base of Mount Hor. "At Mount Hor, near the border of Edom, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 'Aaron will be gathered to his people. He will not enter the land I give to the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against My command at the waters of Meribah.'" (Numbers 20:23-24) When the Lord says "Aaron will be gathered to his people" He means Aaron is going to die. We studied the incident at Meribah earlier in the week, so if you missed it you might like to go back and read days 64 and 65 of our study of the book of Numbers. We discussed what Moses did and said at the waters of Meribah and talked about how Aaron was in agreement with him and supported him. We looked at several explanations for why the Lord was so displeased with these brothers' attitudes and behaviors.
Moses and his two siblings will never reach the promised land. Miriam, the oldest of the three, already passed on earlier in our chapter. Aaron, the middle child, will die at the end of our chapter. Moses, the youngest of the three, will come the closest to the promised land. The Lord will graciously allow him to have a glorious view of it, but Moses will die on Mount Nebo without ever setting foot in the promised land.
We aren't told Aaron's age at death until Numbers 33:39 but I'll go ahead and reveal that information to you now: he is 123 years old. Men and women are still living extended lifespans at this point in history, though no one is living anywhere near as long as they did prior to the great flood. Adam, the first man, lived to be 930. Noah, who survived the flood, lived to be 950 years old. By contrast, Abraham lived only 175 years, his son Isaac lived to be 180, and Isaac's son Jacob was 147 when he died. We see lifespans gradually decreasing in the Old Testament until they reach modern levels. For example, King David died at age 70. The Apostle John is believed to have died around age 93. So we see that by the time of Christ a normal lifespan for a male was anywhere from 70 to 100, much as it is today.
Aaron and his family must have known he would die before long since the Israelites are close to making their entrance to the promised land. The bad news from the Lord is unwelcome but not unexpected, in my opinion. Since Aaron's death is imminent, although we have no indication he has taken ill, the Lord tells Moses how to prepare for this event. "Get Aaron and his son Eleazar and take them up Mount Hor. Remove Aaron's garments and put them on his son Eleazar, for Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will die there." (Numbers 20:25-26) It appears as if Aaron is able to ascend the mountain under his own steam. He's still in good physical shape. The Bible doesn't tell us Aaron's cause of death anymore than it tells us Miriam's or Moses' cause of death. Does Aaron experience a sudden cardiac event after his strenuous climb? (It takes modern hikers about two hours to reach the summit.) Or does the Lord merely take His protective hand off Aaron---the hand that "holds our souls in life" (Psalm 66:9)---and cause his soul to slip out of his body? We don't know, but if we needed to know, the Lord would have told us. There is a mystery to every death because the process of the soul leaving the body is an event that takes place with only the person and the Lord in attendance, no matter how many people are gathered around the deathbed. Even when we know the medical cause of a person's death, the actual process of the soul departing the body, and what the person's body experiences in that moment, and what the person experiences as the freed soul, is something no living person knows.
Eleazar will succeed his father as high priest. Moses is to take the priestly garments from Aaron and put them on Eleazar so that when Eleazar re-enters the camp he will be ready to take up his father's duties. His ascension to the priesthood will be a done deal when he comes down from the mountain and no one will be able to dispute his right to take his father's place.
"Moses did as the Lord commanded: They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community. Moses removed Aaron's garments and put them on his son Eleazar. And Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain, and when the whole community learned that Aaron had died, all the Israelites mourned for him thirty days." (Numbers 20:27-29) The people must not have been told beforehand of the purpose of the journey the three men made up the mountain. The congregation doesn't learn of Aaron's death until the return of Moses and Eleazar.
Moses and Eleazar buried Aaron, according to Deuteronomy 10:6. His body wasn't left on top of the ground; he was given a decent burial by his two closest blood relatives. His body is all of him that was left on the mountain, for his soul had gone on to be with the Lord and with his loved ones and ancestors who had passed on before him. Aaron's family and the congregation mourn their loss of his physical presence but they aren't mourning the loss of his soul. His soul is not lost. He didn't perfectly obey the Lord (no one does) but he didn't lose his faith in the Lord. While the community mourns their former high priest, Aaron's soul is rejoicing in heaven. He has been "gathered to his people", a expression the Bible reserves for believers. When I die, I too will be gathered to my people. I will see my parents again. I will see my grandparents again. I will meet ancestors I never knew in this life but who faithfully served the Lord while they lived on the earth. I will meet the faithful of all the ages, including men like Aaron who made his departure from this world at the end of Numbers 20.
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